Warm weather continues in late December making for great bike riding. Today when I started biking at 11:32 it was 77 degrees with overcast skies and a 9 mph SW breeze. Riding to the north on my “New Caney – Tavola – Valley Ranch” route the wind was friendly but making the turn back south at Roman Forest Blvd. I battled the wind until I rode back into Kingwood. Today’s bike ride totaled 34.79 miles moving December’s total miles to 190.
As I rode on Valley Ranch Parkway I decided to take a detour to check out the new stores under construction. Making my way past stores beside the new Kroger store a number of workers and trucks occupied the road in front. I turned right art the end of the Kroger store to head back to Valley Ranch Parkway. I didn’t pay close attention riding by the pharmacy drive through canopy and looking ahead a few feet was a curb and not enough distance to avoid it. I think it was a strange place for the curb since the soon to be customers will have to drive around it jutting out from the store to line up for the pharmacy window. I slowed quickly to lessen the jolt as my front tire hit the curb and went up onto the concrete surface followed by the rear tire bumping along. A rough ride but I survived it. Back at Valley Ranch Parkway there wasn’t a crossover to the west bound lanes so I had to ride back to where I made the turn into the shopping area and make a u-turn. As I rode I tried to notice any problems that might have popped up from the curb hopping but I didn’t find any. This reminded me of the “road furniture” in European bike racing.
I stopped at FM1314 waiting for the light to change at the 23.6 mile point. By then my average speed was suffering from riding into the wind. Back at Roman Forest Blvd it was 15.1 mph but now was 14.9 mph. By the time I finished at 2:07 my average speed was 14.4 mph.
I saw one other bicyclist as I rode in Oakhurst and we exchanged waves. Schools are out so no traffic problems there.
A “cool” front may arrive tomorrow morning keeping the high temperature in the 70’s. I am not sure if I will ride with family visiting.
Link to RideWithGPS.com map and metrics.
Weather at the start and finish of the ride.
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