Thankfully I chose a long sleeve jersey even though the temperature was 73 degrees at the start, 70 degrees at the end. So I did not chill out when I did stop. One of the weather slides below shows the rain on the radar at the start but I thought it would not have enough momentum to get to the ride area before I got back home. The slide at the end of the ride shows the rain still south of where I biked but the rain fell anyway. Rain is forecast for tomorrow so the plan to ride in Katy at the Puddle for the Ducks will probably not happen for me.

February mileage standings:

• 47.83 miles
• YTD 315.07 miles

Garmin Connect data link                              RideWithgps.com data link

2-3-2012 Bike Ride Data and Route Map

2-3-2012 Home Weather Station End

[[Show as slideshow]]

Weather was great with wind not being an issue for a change. When I got home the temperature was a “cool” 95 degrees. Compared to the 100+ temperature and heat indices from earlier in the week this could almost be thought of as a fall day.

I ended up riding 64.6 miles which was my goal. This is in preparation for next Saturday’ ride in Wichita Falls. Due to the large crowds I try to skip the first two rest stops so being able to ride 30 miles without resting is a requirement.

Because of the restrictions on Youtube.com I had to make two videos. I plan on taking some video of my ride at the HHH. Uploading could be interesting since my laptop hard drive died and I am waiting for the replacement to arrive. I am now running Ubuntu on my original (I had upgraded) laptop hard drive and I have not tried to join multiple Flip camera clips into one video and then add some intro information. I have read up on how to do it but I will see how this does from a hotel room in Wichita Falls.

In the video I meet David Usher as he begins his ride west of Splendora on FM2090. We visited while we rode until his turn off. I should have videoed his interview but I did not think about until he was on his way.

Here are the two videos from my ride. Part 1 is first.

Part 2 video.

I now have a better idea about how this will work for my next long ride. One of the problems I had was where to keep the Flip while I was not shooting. I ended up using the short cable that is attached to the camera and putting it on my wrist. This was handy but I am concerned about making sudden moves and the Flip getting caught on something on my bike or elsewhere. So after my ride I stopped by a Big Lots store to see what they had in cheap cellphone holsters and camera bags. I did not find a big enough cellphone holster so I settled for a small camera bag with a belt loop connector ($5.40) that I will attach to my Camelback shoulder strap. This should keep the Flip out of the way but handy enough for shooting.

Kingwood-Conroe-Kingwood

Now for the actual ride. I created a map at Bikely.com. (Click on the map image to go to the actual map at Bikely.com) While the route shows 60 miles it was actually 63.2 miles when I got to my house. Lately I have been trying to change up my routes even though I go on some of the same roads. This ride I rode in reverse of my typical direction. It is interesting that I saw some things that I did not remember from the other direction. Construction activity is almost gone. Last Saturday I saw many bikers on this route but this time I saw only one. There was a ride sponsored by Northwest Cycling so many of them may have went there. Most of the riders are probably from The Woodlands.

As you see in the video the road conditions are good and traffic was moderate and the weather was perfect, in my opinion. As I wrote earlier, this video is an experiment so there are times when you will see and hear some unexpected things. Right off you hear me clip into my pedals. There are a couple of sections where I show my bike computer for distance and such. I am not a threat to Hollywood, yet.