The last time I rode the “Eagle Springs – Walden – Huffman” route was June 11th, 2016. The route is good but has bad memories for me so it doesn’t come on my route plans very often. The bad memory is from September 3rd, 2013, when a car pulled out in front of me at Atascocita High School and I slammed into the back part of the car. I was off the bike for a couple of weeks but the worst part is the teenage girl driver left the scene and the Humble ISD Police did not charge her with that. I had to track down the driver and insurance.
Today I rode the route again without incident and it was a good ride for a total of 37.4 miles. The weather was typical Texas August fare with temperatures around 96 and humidity 56%. The partly cloudy sky and light breeze made for a hot and muggy ride but as long as I was moving it wasn’t that bad. With today’s ride I am up to 325 miles for August with 475 miles to go to reach my 800 mile goal. The week totals 149.8 miles.
As I rode north on Atascocita Shores Drive south of FM 1960 I saw a bicyclist in a driveway at Summit Pines Drive. He was putting away a pump and I wasn’t sure if he was riding or not. A few minutes later as I stood at the traffic light at FM 1960 and Atascocita Shores Dr. he pulled beside me. We talked about the rains and weather and asked if I was riding over the lake. He said he was going north to Kingwood where he will be opening a new bike shop in September called Tailwind Bicycles. I asked where in Kingwood and he replied next to Ace Hardware. We parted and I made a note to check it out on the way back in Kingwood. Later I rode into the strip center between Ryan’s Cleaners and the hardware store looking for the shop. Here is what I saw.
I rode over to the front door and the young man I met back at the traffic light came out and we chatted about the store as I handed him a Texbiker.net business card. He said he would let me know when the shop will open and other information. They will have rides and other events. I failed to get the young man’s name though.
Back on the ride I stopped at the Huffman Chevron as usual for a rest break and to cool down. I was at the 26.1 mile point at 12:46 pm. I sat in the shade outside enjoying the breeze hoping it would dry up some of the body moisture I was producing. Eating some snack crackers and drinking ice water I felt refreshed and resumed the ride about 25 minutes after arriving.
Since I took a different set of streets through Atascocita on the way to Eagle Springs I stayed on FM 1960 riding west to Pinehurst Trail before turning north to ride back to Kingwood. Earlier when I was riding along Kingwood Drive I encountered the construction workers replacing the greenbelt trail beside the west bound lanes and moved to the closed lane to ride where I could cross and ride to the south. I will need to modify my route for a few days until the construction finishes. Maybe the east bound greenbelt will be finished.
More hot and dry weather for Saturday which means I will be biking.
RideWithGPS.com map and metrics
