As I began today’s bike ride I was suffering from Vuelta a España withdraw after watching 21 stages. The road racing calendar has some blank days which doesn’t help either.

I decided to counter the withdraw symptoms by riding the Community Drive – The Highlands – Oakhurst route for the second time (previous ride was May 22nd this year). This route goes north along US59 to TX99 with a short segment to Loop 494 before returning to US59. I stayed on the TX99 frontage road to Valley Ranch Blvd. then under TX99 to Valley Ranch Bend Drive. Following side streets to Forest Colony took me to Azalea Blvd. Valley Ranch Parkway (lot of Valley Ranch names) to FM1314 where I turned to the NW. A quick visit to Porter High School and back to FM1314. Cumberland Blvd. was the way to The Highlands. I rode to the far west end of The Highlands where the golf course resides. Back to FM1314 and the NE wind escorting me to Old Sorters Road. Through Briar Tree and Oakhurst on streets I rode yesterday in the opposite direction. Returning to US59 taking the u-turn at Kingwood Drive, over to Loop 494 and into Kings Manor meant the ride finish was about 5 miles away. I started at 10:29 AM and finished at 1:44 PM with some pretty abnormal Houston weather: Start 78 degrees, humidity 52%, dew point 58.8, partly cloudy, wind NE 10 mph; @ The Highlands 84 degrees, humidity 40%, dew point 57, a few clouds, wind NE 12 mph; Finish 86 degrees, humidity 53%, dew point 66.7, a few clouds, wind NE 15 mph. Humidity this low is super special and the dew low dew point added to that. I barely noticed I was sweating until I saw the salt stain on my gloves and arm sleeves. My Cervelo Caledonia performed smoothly, too. I rode 40.63 miles compared to 37.87 the previous time on this route. September now totals 276.42 miles or 32% of the way to my goal of 866 miles. I have a slight edge on the miles per day to reach the goal.