It was an early start on today’s bike ride as I wanted to ride before the forecasted rain arrived. I wasn’t sure how far the ride would go but some miles is better than no miles. Aboard my Cervelo Caledonia bike it began at 8:24 AM (in the video I give the wrong date, it is 2023 not 2024) and within a few yards I felt a light mist. As I say in the video at that point I thought the ride might be just around the block but I kept riding. The route was cobbled together as I pushed on with fits of a light rain and then no rain, dry streets and then wet streets. Entering Woodridge Forest my thinking was to get to 10 miles which I consider an “official” ride. I rode to Brooklyn Trails and back to a different entrance into Woodridge Forest. Crossing Northpark Drive after motioning the car beside me to move forward to trigger the traffic light I rode through North Woodland Hills, Bear Branch, and Kings Forest. This encouraged me that I could maybe get more miles than expected. I was riding along Kingwood Drive when the rain started falling heavily. With no place to get out of the rain I pedaled on the greenbelt crossed Kingwood Drive into Town Center and found an overhang at one of the stores to wait for the heavy rain to slow or stop.
After a few minutes the rain slowed and I gingerly moved to the next store and paused another couple of minutes to be sure the rain had slowed. Back on the street I rode south to Kingwood Greens on wet roads. On W Lake Houston Parkway the pavement was wet but no rain. With the route not resembling anyone that I rode in the past I took Kings River Drive and Atascocita Shores Drive to FM 1960 intending to cross FM 1960, ride through Walden and head back to Kingwood before more rain arrived. I pulled under the pump canopy at the unopened Shell gas station to decide where to ride. Looking at the sky I made the decision to go over Lake Houston and ride as I do most Saturdays to Old Atascocita Road and FM 2100. I started seeing other cyclists on FM 1960 and Fairlake Lane wondering if they rode in the rain or missed it.
Up to this point the wind was out of the SE and a headwind. I was ready for some tailwind and biking north on FM 2100 it arrived. East of Atascocita Shores Drive the roads were dry and they were like that on the return ride. I made the left turn at FM 1960 and Atascocita Shores Drive and the sky looked wet ahead. That’s when I decided to not ride through Walden and take Farmingham to Pinehurst Trail Drive and head back to Kingwood. What had looked like a short ride had now turned into one exceeding the 24.2 mile daily goal. At FM 1960 four cyclists were on the other side waiting for the light to change. We waved as we passed. Not long after riding by the library on Pinehurst Trail the wind changed to the NW and the temperature dropped several degrees. Just what a wet cyclist needed. I picked up the speed hoping the body heat would offset the chilly wind. As I got closer to W. Lake Houston Parkway the rain came down. I took the greenbelt lane north over the river hoping the trees would block some of the rain but they didn’t do much and I was soaked again. In Kings Harbor I took shelter in the parking garage for a few minutes to wait for the rain to slow or stop. That didn’t take too long and I rode back on the street. I followed the usual route from there to home with light rain falling most of the way and finished at 11:39 AM. One soaked cyclist. I will wash the Cervelo and hope the next ride is not as wet as this one.
With all the rain and wet roads I had these Strava segment results: PR on Kris Spraggins Memorial Route (2:16) and PR on North by Northpark (1:44). Those were early in the ride.
Weather summary: Start 78 degrees, humidity 83%, dew point 72.8, overcast light rain, wind SE 10 mph; Finish 69 degrees, humidity 94%, dew point 67.4, rain, wind N 13 mph gusts 21 mph. My kit was shorts, short sleeve jersey and arm sleeves.
With all of the cobbled together streets I had to come up with a name for the route. I consider something with rain in it but went a descriptive location name, Brooklyn Trails – Atascocita – Huffman. I doubt that I can remember the street combination again so this may be a one ride route unless I upload the route to my Bolt computer.
