My goal was to ride 16 miles on the Kingwood greenbelt trails to put my August miles over 700 to help make the next three days not so demanding to reach my goal. So much for that plan. I started late (3:42) because I watched the replay of stage 9 of the Vuelta a Espana. I checked the weather radar and didn’t see any rain nearby so I set off. The ride was going great but as I rode out of Woodridge Forest I could see the eastern sky getting darker than overcast sky overhead. I thought it would blow by or not be a threat and continued riding. As I exited the trails onto Crystal Springs Drive to make my way across Woodland Hills Drive and the trail the wind gusts came but I was still optimistic that the rain wasn’t coming. Once I was on the trail east of Woodland Hills Drive it started to sprinkle but under the tree cover it wasn’t that bad. Then I came out from under the hevy tree cover and the wind and rain started coming down hard. The nearest cover was the underpass beneath Kingwood Drive but that was a mile or more away. I picked up my speed which wasn’t much faster since I was on my MTB. I made it across the first bridge and came around a corner to see a lady with an umbrella and a very, very large dog in the middle of the trail. She didn’t see me at first because she had the umbrella tipped down but as I got closer she noticed me and moved to the side of the trail and tugged at the leash to move the dog with her. He wasn’t too interested in that and looked like he wanted to come towards me but she talked to the dog and yanked the leash and I rode by without any contact. The second bridge was ahead and I rode quickly over it and turned left about 200 yards from the dry cover under Kingwood Drive. Because Kingwood Drive is 4 lanes, two in each direction, with a center greenway there are two sections. The first one was collecting water so I rode to the second one where another biker was standing. As I pulled in he got on his bike and rode where I came from telling me it was drier where I was headed. Looking at the rain I decided I would stopped and wait for the rain to slow down or stop. My Elemnt computer showed 9.0 miles at this point. As I waited I decided the 16 mile goal wasn’t going to happen today and adjusted my route. I ended up riding 13.57 miles, putting my August total at 699 miles. This was close enough.
This is the first time that I can remember riding the trails in the rain. I biked when the trails were wet but not while it was raining. I waited at the underpass for about 10 minutes and then got back on my MTB to finish the ride. I didn’t take the shortest route home so I could add a few more miles since I was already soaked. I finished the ride at 5:17 and leaned my bike against the trash can to hose it down. Then I found the hose nozzle was broke and added some water to my situation as I unscrewed it from the hose. With the bike washed down I went inside to dry off. Earlier i saw a picture from Wichita Falls with the sun shining and wished that was here. Since the rain arrived last week it doesn’t want to leave.
More rain in the forecast for tomorrow but I am hopeful I can ride.
I biked 206 miles this week. Year to date I am at 5,553 miles.
I checked my rank at the National Bike Challenge: 961 as of earlier today.
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