The power of reaching a goal was evident on today’s bike ride. It all began at 11:14 AM as I set out on my Canyon Endurace bike. The route was going south through Atascocita with a side trip to Bike Barn in Atascocita (now Trek) to check out a bike I saw online, the Checkpoint SL with SRAM Rival eTap. After Bike Barn I headed east through Walden, across Lake Houston staying on FM 1960 all the way to Liberty County. After a short ride in Liberty County a u-turn took me to Huffman-Eastgate Road. Riding west I turned right onto Willy Road. Will Road took me to May Park at Wolf Road. Going west on Wolf Road I battled a strong headwind to FM 2100. FM 2100 south to Smith Road, riding west on Smith to E. Lake Houston Parkway took me back to FM 1960. Back across Lake Houston, north on Atascocita Shores Drive to Kings River Drive. W. Lake Houston Parkway brought me back to Kingwood. All of those streets and roads are what I label the “Huffman – Liberty County Line” route. I was back home at 3:02 PM but not as quickly or as dry as I planned.
The last time I rode this route was October 15th, 2020. There are other routes that include some of the roads I rode today.
Not long after the ride began a light mist fell but not for long. This was a hint of what was to come. While it was warm at 73 the sky was overcast with the sun breaking through for a few seconds from time to time. The mist returned as I rode through Woodland Hills in Kingwood. Later in Kingwood Greens the mist became a little stronger but again went away. Some rain fell on me s I approached Bike Barn but by the time I came back outside it was gone. I hoped that was the end of the rain but it got worse. My first heavy rain encounter came at Wolf Road and FM 2100. I turned around as I rode south on FM 2100 heading back to the Texaco store for shelter. The lasted about 10 minutes. The road was wet but I went. About a mile south the road was dry and I thought the rain was over.
Not true. At E. Lake Houston Parkway and FM 1960 I took shelter at the Exxon station while heavy rain fell. Again about 10 minutes the rain stopped. During all of this rain I got wet and riding in the wind meant chill as my jerseys allowed the wind through. As I neared Lake Houston the road dried or missed the rain. But the wind coming off the lake chilled me and to offset that I upped my pedaling to generate some body heat. I don’t think it made much difference, I was still chilled. As I crossed the lake I looked to the north to see some dark clouds where I was headed. I wished they would be gone by the time I got there. They weren’t.
Rain caught me on Atascocita Shores Drive at Water Point Lane. I moved to the greenbelt trail thinking the trees would keep some of the rain from getting to me but they were wet from previous rain and didn’t provide much shelter. I made it to the Kings River Pool and stopped under the roof to wait out this rain. It rained hard and thundered but again after about 10 minutes it stopped. While I waited I checked the weather radar on my phone. It didn’t look good. Between me and home the radar showed yellow with a little red meaning rain. Back on the bike I was about 5 1/2 miles from home and I pedaled quickly. To avoid the spray from cars on W. Lake Houston Parkway I took the greenbelt over the San Jacinto River and lake. all was going okay but on the north side of the river it started raining lightly. I ducked onto the porch of the old Wells Fargo Bank but the rain didn’t last more than a few minutes.
The sky still looked threatening as I rode the greenbelt north but no rain. Ahead I spotted some orange triangles with warnings. The City of Houston was power washing the railing of the bridge I needed to use. Fortunately their truck blocked the right lane with some cones to the left just wide enough for me to ride through. At Kings Crossing I moved back to the greenbelt and stayed on it until the Park and Ride entrance where I crossed and into the bank parking lot. I was about 2 miles from home. The streets were damp and a few drops fell but I made it home not getting any wetter. Inside a few minutes the sky opened and it rain hard for 20 minutes or more. I dodged that bullet.
I took a hot shower to warm up after getting out of my soaked bike clothes. When I turned on my computer to write about my ride my second monitor desktop photo was of a previous ride where I stopped for rain at the same Texaco station I stopped at today.
Back to the goal, I was chasing the 300 road mile goal for January. The weather turns cold later tonight and will not get out of the 50’s or below for 5 to 7 days. That means no road biking, just Zwifting. With today’s 41.5 miles I am at 225.3 miles. I don’t know if I will get there. I am ahead on my Zwift goal and will probably increase that lead with the cold weather.
As a reward for getting soaked and chilled I earned a 2nd fastest time record in Strava, 2nd fastest time on Home Stretch (2:10).
