As I was getting ready to leave on today’s ride I looked at the airport weather to find the wind from the south at 20 mph with 31 mph gusts. I told my wife and she asked why I didn’t stay home. I told her the wind is our hills here. The land is pretty flat with highway overpasses presenting the only “climbing” challenge.
I rolled away at 12:08 heading south and east on the “Atascocita South – Walden – Huffman” route. This route would put me into the wind most of the way until I made the left turn off Old Atascocita Road onto FM2100. Riding east over Lake Houston on FM1960 the concrete guardrail blocked the wind some but I could still feel the gusts particularly when the traffic was not beside me.
With the somewhat warm temperatures the azaleas are producing brilliant blooms. This picture is not too far from the start of the ride in Kingwood.
Azalea blooms in Kingwood
I had to wait on Old Atascocita Road at the railroad crossing for a slow moving long train. As the cars moved by I was amazed at all of the graffiti on the sides of the cars. Apparently some people have lots of time to create their works of art. Boxcars are the favorite. There were some new car carriers with BNSF on the side that had escaped the painters. After the train passed I had a problem pedaling up the slight incline to get over the tracks. I should’ve stopped back further where it was a little flatter.
I decided to stop at the Huffman Chevron to get a break from the wind but it was blowing so hard I sat beside a car hoping it would shield me some but it didn’t do much. I ate a couple of granola bars and drank water before going inside to refill my bottle. While i was inside the wind caught my bike and threw it on its side. I looked for damage but didn’t find much except for the left pedal and the DT Swiss Ratchet skewer had a nick. I thought I had leaned it against the building enough but the wind grabbed hold of it. A weather screen shot and my Garmin Edge screen while I was there. I gave up on the screen capture function in the Edge 520.
From the Chevron I headed west on FM1960. The wind was helping from my left rear quarter until I got on the causeway over Lake Houston. Riding east the concrete guardrail blocked most of the wind but on the west bound shoulder I caught the full brunt of the wind. I had to keep a tight grip on the handle bar and lean left into the wind to offset the gusts trying to push me into the side barriers. Getting across the causeway was hard but I made it. The deep dish wheels acted like sails when the gusts came. I stayed on FM1960 to Pinehurst Trail Drive where I turned right and got the wind behind me for most of the ride home.
I continue to have a problem with the Edge 520 disconnecting from my phone. Usually within the first 10 miles it will disconnect once and about 10 seconds later I get a message that is reconnecting. Then it stays connect the rest of the ride. Version 4.1 of the Edge 520 firmware was supposed to help this but it is still not fixed.
The ride ended at 3:02 when I reached home. Today’s 34.28 miles increased March miles to 182 towards the 631 mile goal for March. This was the third time riding the “Atascocita South – Walden – Huffman” route this year. A comparison is below.
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