I didn’t check the weather radar before starting today’s bike ride and if I had I don’t think it would’ve change the ride. I got started a little later than I planned after watching stage 1 of Vuelta a Burgos. I rode away at 10:24 AM on my Canyon Endurace bike. I wanted to ride at least 40 miles and after thinking of a route I hadn’t done in a while that would do that I chose my “FM1960 to FM686 – Back Extended” route. I biked a large portion of this route recently but the last time I rode this route was September 6th, 2016. Then I biked 43.28 miles and today I went 44.09 miles. I think the difference came from the streets I took for the first 4 miles. In 2016 I rode my Stradalli Red Pro bike. On May 7th, 2016 I biked this route and had a flat tire. These are the only recorded bike rides on this route. No flat tire today but Liberty County wasn’t nice to me today.
The “Back Extended” part of the route name comes from biking Huffman-Eastgate on the return rather than staying on FM 1960. There is a spot on FM 1960 west bound with a couple of dogs I would rather not challenge. I rode the “FM1960 to FM686 – Back” on August 20th, 2020. That route stays on FM 1960 going west.
Weather came into play during today’s bike ride. In the video I show some of it. From a few rain drops to full rain. Some damp streets and some very wet ones. I saw them all. Liberty County provided the most rain and once I got back into Harris County the rain stopped and the roads turned dry quickly. I felt a few rain drops on Smith Road and the clouds to the west looked threatening as I neared Kingwood on the return leg. After finishing the ride at 1:50 PM I hosed off the Canyon bike. Fortunately I didn’t ride in muddy conditions so the grit wasn’t too bad.
The FM 1960 road surface east of the railroad overpass still is chip seal. The road work stopped just west of the overpass. When I turned back at FM 686 I think there road work signs to the east towards Dayton. I’m glad I didn’t air up the Canyon’s tires before the ride. My teeth and arms would’ve not been happy from the vibrating. The resurfaced section in Liberty County was smoother than the Harris County road.
Strava awarded me the Local Legend on 1 hill in a sea of flat (East) after my 2nd ride there.
