Great ride to start the week leaving home at 10:25 on the “Kingwood – Hare Cook Road – Kingwood” route. I started a little earlier than usual thanks to no bike races to watch. Last week was bike race watching overload and this week is the opposite. I rode 44.44 miles under scattered clouds and a light south breeze. The temperature was 89 when I started and 97 at the finish (2:08).
The ride was uneventful which is a good thing. I stopped for a rest break at the Huffman Chevron at 33.2 miles at 12:42. I went inside to buy some blue PowerAde but the fountain dispenser was out so I drank good ice water with a Clif bar and some snack crackers.
While I was resting a freight train that had been stopped west of the FM2100 crossing started blowing a warning horn as it move slowly through the crossing. I thought it would gain speed as it went but it didn’t taking many minutes to clear the crossing. About 20 minutes later another train heading west passed through at a good clip. This is unusual because almost all the trains travel to the east. I think the slow moving train pulled onto the siding east of FM2100 to allow the other train to pass. May there is a problem with the west tracks to the south in Crosby.
I left the Chevron station after 2:15 for the 11+ miles home. The wind was favorable for a change and I was able to improve my overall average speed to 15.0 mph.
With today’s ride August miles moved up to 250 miles, leaving 550 miles to reach my goal. I checked my ranking at the National Bike Challenge and I am at 807 not counting today’s ride. Big drop from Saturday. The weekend riders were busy. I hope to move up with this week’s riding. More hot and dry weather tomorrow. No bike races to watch so I should be able to ride earlier than usual.
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