At the beginning of the ride I was thinking of putting my water bike order on hold but after getting caught in the rain twice on today’s ride I think I will keep it in place. As I was leaving home at 11:11 I could see some dark clouds in the distance but I thought the “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route would not get underneath those clouds. My first doubt was as I rode through Kingwood Greens Village in Kingwood in a light drizzle. This drizzle stayed with me until I got to Kings Parkway where the roads were wet but the drizzle stopped.
The dark clouds were still in the distance but not as far away as before. Riding through Atascocita and then Walden I was dry and making good progress. The temperature was in the low 80’s and so was the humidity which made it feel cool as I moved through the thick air. On FM1960 going east over Lake Houston I picked up speed and changed to a higher gear in a bid to improve my average speed. I turned right onto Fairlake Drive and as I rode by the church there was another biker getting ready to ride. I hope he stayed drier than I did.
I made it to FM2100 21 miles into the ride and rode north to Huffman. I rounded the bend where I could see the railroad tracks and it looked foggy around the crossing. As I passed the Lake Houston United Methodist Church the first big rain drops hit me. I thought about turning around and making a dash for the church’s porch but southbound traffic was coming and I could not get across the road so I headed on to the traffic light at FM1960. I hoped the light would change by the time I got there so I wouldn’t have to stand in the rain but it didn’t. I stood in the rain for about 30 to 45 seconds and the light changed and I made a dash for the Huffman Chevron across FM1960. I could tell the moment I got under the canopy but the water was dripping off of me. I got some paper towels to dry off some and took this picture of the Garmin Edge 520.
Originally I was going to only make a quick stop at the Chevron station but with rain coming down I got a Greensheet newspaper and sat down leaning against one of the canopy poles. I dried off more and ate a couple of Kashi bars. A motorcycle pulled under the canopy and he was almost as wet as I was. And then another motorcycle arrived. He was even wetter but he didn’t stay long. After a few minutes the rain slowed and then stopped. I took the water screenshot and this picture of the water as I waited to be sure the rain was done for now.
I checked the radar on my phone to get an idea of where the rain was. It looked like it was all the way west to W. Lake Houston Parkway. I resigned myself to get wet all of the way home getting on my bike and getting on FM1960. The road was wet and I was getting road spray from passing cars but when I reached E. Lake Houston Parkway the road was dry. I was glad to say the least. The roads and streets were dry as I rode through Atascocita west of the lake but when I turned right onto W. Lake Houston Parkway I felt a few rain drops. Ahead at eh norht end of the bridge over the San Jacinto River I could see heavy rain but by the time I got there it had slowed to a few sprinkles. I rode through Kingwood Greens with a light drizzle falling until I was back at W. lake Houston Parkway. From there to home I was dry with damp streets in places.
Checking the Edge 520 I noticed at the 32.90 mile point it had frozen up. I stopped and powered it off hoping to get it working again. It did, losing only a couple of tenths of a mile of the route. I made it home at 2:03 and stopped the 520. Later I would out the ride file would upload to Garmin Connect because it was corrupt. I put the bike in the garage and went inside to put some ride gear down. I went back out to wash my bike and as I started the rain came down again but this time I got back in the garage in time to not get soaked a third time. I am no longer consider the Edge 520 reliable enough to use and will begin to look for a replacement.
June biking is not off to a good start with all of the rain. My goal of 975 miles does not look realistic but I am going to keep it and see how close I can get. I am 800 miles ahead where I was in 2015 which gives me a cushion.
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