As I was getting to leave on today’s ride I told my wife I needed to ride 200 miles if I was going to reach my mileage goal for April. Then I laughed and said 50 or 60 miles will be how far i ride today. To go that far I decided to ride what i call the ” Montgomery County” route. Except for the first couple of miles and the last 4 miles this ride was in Montgomery County. I wasn’t sure how far I would ride since i haven’t done this route since October 22nd 2011. Back then I only rode 48.43 miles compared to today’s 61.12 miles. The difference is because I rode FM3083 to Loop 336 today rather than staying on SH242 to FM1314 like in 2011.
The weather was so perfect I couldn’t keep myself from riding a shorter route. The sky was clear, the wind light and the temperature was in the 80’s. I think I would order weather like this for almost every bike ride. I got an earlier than usual start (for me at least) leaving home at 10:52 and I got back home at 3:42. This is the longest ride this year.
I stopped at the Valero station on FM3083 and Albert Moorehead Road to refill my water bottle and give my legs a break. I wasn’t there too long. This is my Edge 520 screen.
The average speed was great due to the lack of wind. Before I got to the Valero station I passed the spot of a tragic truck and SUV accident a few days ago. The pavement was scarred and 4 crosses were standing back from the road. I saw the Conroe city limit sign on FM3083 and it caught my attention with the population number at 71,000+. I can remember when it was around 25,000. Conroe is no longer a sleep town north of Houston.
The weather conditions when I was at the Valero station.
Rolling away from the rest stop I continued north on FM3083 to Loop 336 where I turned left to ride to FM1314. Traffic was good until I approached FM1314 where a piece of heavy equipment was being loaded onto a trailer parked in the right lane. I got around that and positioned myself in the left turn lane waiting on the signal to change. Riding southeast on FM1314 the light breeze offered more resistance than I had up to then but I was able to maintain a good pace. The shoulder is smooth and wide on FM1314. After crossing SH242 about a mile further the shoulder changes from asphalt to concrete and is even wider. For some reason the concrete shoulder seems to have more sand and rock debris than the asphalt but this might be location specific rather than road surface related.
When I reached the Shell station at Cumberland Crossing I stopped for a longer break to drink some Gatorade, eat a trail mix bar and a granola bar. I was tempted to buy something else but I resisted. I found a cool spot out by the pumps in the shade. The light breeze felt good while my legs recovered for the 14+ mile ride to home. People stopped at the Church’s Chicken store in the station building and I kept looking at the food pictures in the window but my resistance held up. The weather while I was resting.
Along with the great temperature the humidity was a dry 38% keeping my jersey dry. I did notice while I sitting by the pump that my shorts has salt in the ribs of the material. Somewhat rested I left there and rode on to Old Sorters Road to take the streets through Briar Tree and Oakhurst to get back to Kingwood. I could see some evidence of high water from the Sunday night rain in places along the ride but the water has drained out of the ditches the roads I was on.
Once I was back in Kingwood I slowed down as my legs were starting to notice how far they had pedaled. This pulled my average speed down from 15.7 mph to the final 15.2 mph average speed at the end.
I am now within 210 miles of my April goal. With 6 potential biking days left (Thursday I cannot ride) it will be a tall order to reach my goal but I will keep biking and see how close I can get. I will need to ride an average of 35 miles each day.
I did see one other biker near the end of the ride.
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