The MSU (Midwestern State University) Holiday decorating is nearing completion. Today I rolled my bike’s wheels north on the Circle Trail, eventually making it to MSU and the Yellow Brick Road.
The Emerald City, Toto, Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tinman and Cowardly Lion do not quite look like the Wizard of Oz movie version.
It’s Saturday which means today’s route is “Atascocita – FM 2100 – Walden”. Early morning fog starting lifting and around 8:45 AM I could see the sun and blue clouds. Before getting ready I made a batch of fruit salad for after the ride and beyond. I hoped starting the bike ride at 9:32 AM would not be too late to see other cyclists along the route. It turned out to not be late as you can see in the video.
Getting dressed I decided it would warm up enough during the ride to not wear leg warmers which was a good choice. To offset that I wore a long sleeve thermal jersey and a windbreaker jacket. That was fine for the first 15 minutes then a regular long sleeve jersey would’ve been better. At the 11:56 AM finish the jersey was soaked with sweat, the sleeves of the jacket were wet too. But I unzipped the jacket when I started getting warm and it didn’t feel too hot.
Weather conditions: start 68 (90% humidity, 65.3 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind NE 8 mph; finish 79 (62% humidity, 64.5 dew point), partly cloudy, wind NE 6 mph. The wind was light but riding east on Old Atascocita Road it seemed stronger as I pedaled hard to keep my speed up.
I rode my Canyon Endurace bike today with the Koobi saddle. It felt much better than the Fabric saddle on the Lynskey R300 on yesterday’s ride. When my new Bisaddle arrives I will move the Koobi to the Lynskey replacing the Fabric saddle.
10 times I biked today’s route in 2020. It is a recent addition due to the construction on FM 2100. Once that is completed I should return to biking through Huffman.But I will keep this route in my portfolio.
Golden Cheetah creates a colorful overview of today’s bike ride.
Yesterday my zone 6+7 power dropped but today it bounced back to 16% of the ride time. Ride distance of 32.43 miles took 2:20:15 moving time, overall was 2:24:11. The week mileage is now 169.83 miles; I didn’t realize I only needed .17 of a mile to get to 170.
The next call for projects to be submitted for the Houston-Galveston Area Council Transportation Improvement Program will be in September 2021, but The Woodlands Township board of directors has started to discuss what it might include in that request.
The call for projects takes place every four years. The regional initiative allows entities, such as governments and public transit authorities, to apply for consideration for funding in improving area infrastructure as part of a long-term transportation strategy. The last call for projects was held in 2018 for projects that would be …
— Trek Bicycle Mission (Bike Masters) (@thebikemasters) November 21, 2020
Protected bike lanes are actually mentioned by @rgvmpo in their Active Transportation Plan (among other – much worse! – possible road changes). Let protected bike lanes and slow-speed shared space zones be the new norm in the transformation of #RioGrandeValley infrastructure. https://t.co/v6MBtvynfC
The @HoustonBCycle e-bike has a top speed of 12 mph. Check to see if there's a bike near you by opening the app – a lighting bolt will indicate if there's an e-bike nearby. Make sure the bike is turned on and check the battery before taking off! pic.twitter.com/S4Mnnj7jPX
WOW! We're so honored & incredibly proud to be awarded one of "America's Best Bike Shops for 2020"! We're 1 of only 5 shops in Texas & 150 in America who achieved this! We strive, daily, to be the BEST, because that's what our customers deserve.#AmericasBestBikeShopspic.twitter.com/8p86FJEuig
The mountain bike racing holiday classic is back for 2020! Each lap is 10ish miles. Club Spinistry members save 25%! Feel free to load up on those carbs Thanksgiv… https://t.co/HAXtqvYUcL
Jim Humphrey jimbojrh@outlook.com (817) 690-5521 Rides are on, weather permitting. Check the FWBA webpage for time and arrive 30 minutes early. Ride… https://t.co/Eg7eh0D84I
New Event Texas Cycle Werks South Austin Trail Rides – Austin, TX The Austin Mountain Bikers Meetup Group Texas Cycle Werks, proud sponsors of the ATX100K endurance race series, hosts weekly shop rides each Tuesday and Thursday leaving from the shop in … https://t.co/vCM17GzEqJ
New Event Thursday Morning Cruise – Canutillo, TX El Paso Bicycle Club Meet at 7:45 am at Starbucks at the Outlet Mall in Canutillo. Ride out at 8:00. 20-25 miles at 14-16 mph pace. Mostly flat, a few hills. Maintain physical distance of at least six fe… https://t.co/Q8nSmVUc2M
Back to a route I ride regularly for today. Starting at 11:31 AM on my Lynskey R300 bike I headed north on my “Kingwood – SH 242 – Kingwood” route. I finished at 2:25 PM after biking 35.87 miles. My week now totals 137.4 miles and November totals 547.72 miles, well passed my 360 mile goal. Year to date I am at 8,724 miles more than I ever biked in a year. Before I retired in 2011 a good year was 4,500 to 4,800 miles.
The ride video is different: shorter length, no music just me talking, and no gauges. This speeds up the editing. The Hero 7 Black camera failed twice and the Hero 7 Silver camera which is usually reliable failed once too.
That low humidity and dew point weather has left the building. The overnight low was 65 degrees versus 39 degrees on Monday. When I began today’s bike ride it was 77 prompting me to lighten up on my bike kit: shorts, short sleeve jersey, and arm sleeves. I was comfortable for most of the ride until the last few miles when I rode in the shade more and the wind cooled me off. 80% humidity at the beginning made for a muggy ride thankfully that went down to 65% by the end. The dew point didn’t change as much; 70 going down to 67 when I finished.
A few times lately I mentioned seeing a number of large inflated turkeys in front yards. Today I captured one in Woodridge Forest.
So far in 2020 I rode today’s route 12 times; 10 on my Canyon Endurace and 2 times on my Lynskey R300. Generally the route remains the same except at the SH 242 US59 overpass where construction barriers eliminated one lane in every direction. Fortunately traffic was light and I maneuvered the lane changes.
Yesterday I wrote about changing the saddle on my Canyon Endurace from the Fabric one to the Koobi. My Lynskey also has a Fabric saddle. ON today’s bike ride I noticed how uncomfortable the Fabric saddle is compared to the Koobi. When my new BiSaddle arrives next week I will remove the Fabric saddle from the Lynskey and add the Koobi.
No big change in the overall average speed on the ride. I rode fast enough to register 14.1 mph from FM 1485 to Kingwood Drive where slowing to go under US59 it fell to 14.0 mph. My zones 6+7 power output dropped big time from yesterday to 8% from 16%. With the headwind back to Kingwood I thought I was needing lots of power but I guess not. The bike ride data summary from Golden Cheetah.
