Maybe I should have taken the hint when it rained while I ate breakfast but it went away and the sun came out. Radar didn’t show any rain so it looked good for today’s bike ride. I left at 10:33 after watching the Tour up to 26 miles left to ride the “New Caney – Gene Campbell Road” route for 37.2 miles. The sky was mostly cloudy and the temperature was 88 but the humidity seemed high as I rode through Kingwood on the way to US59. I felt a few rain drops while biking in Woodridge Forest but being optimistic I pedaled on.
The service road turned damp north of Community Drive from earlier rain but I pressed on. FM 1485 and Gene Campbell Blvd were dry and I made good time to FM 1314 where I turned left. I could see some dark clouds to the south but I figured they would stay away which they did. The road was wet spraying dirt and grime on my shoes and bike. At 25.2 miles I stopped for a break at the Valero station at Sorters Road and FM 1314. I drank orange Gatorade and dried off some of the sweat but the breeze didn’t reach the nook I sat in between the propane tank exchange cage and the ice machine. When I finished the Gatorade and walked to the pumps to get some paper towels to wipe the Stradalli off it sprinkled some but quit. I got on the bike and rode to FM 1314 to continue towards Porter but in the distance I could see rain. So much for wiping the Stradalli off.
Riding in the rain for about 1/2 a mile I got soaked and the bike dirty all over again. At Old Sorters Road the rain slowed to a few sprinkles as I rode through Briar Tree and into Oakhurst where it stopped until I came to Bentwood Oaks Drive where it started raining hard. Biking in the rain from there to Kingwood Drive at US59 I got soaked, with my glasses getting so wet I could barely see. As I made my way south on the service road north of Kingwood Drive I saw a collision on I-69/US59 with two fire trucks and an ambulance with lots of traffic on the servie road trying get around the traffic backup. I wiped my glasses off to see better and cut across three lanes to the u-turn. On the other side of the freeway the rain stopped but I heard thunder to the south and west pushing me to hurry to avoid getting caught in rain again. I manged to get home to finish the ride at 1:46 and it started raining as I hosed off the Stradalli and walked to the garage. By the time I got everything put away it rained hard.
A good note on the clicking sounds from my bike. I took the Stradalli to Bike Werks yesterday on the way to my appointment. Jeremy looked it over and took a test ride. He came back and asked how long I heard the clicking and I said a couple of weeks since I rotated the tires. He looked at the valve stems and said he thought the noise was from the valve stem hitting the the carbon rim. He got two nuts and put them on the valve stems. I took a test ride and the clicking sound appeared to go away. I didn’t think of that solution. Duh!!! During today’s bike ride the sound was gone. What an easy fix.
Now to dry off. Tomorrow’s forecast also includes some rain but I will ride if it is dry when I get ready to start.
Link to RideWithGPS.com
Strava ride summary
