I knew it was going to be windy for today’s ride when I was driving back from the post office and a tree at a corner I stopped at gave a big shower of leaves as the wind raced through the branches. After seeing the large group of riders yesterday I was looking forward to biking today. Not riding as often meant my legs should be rested but the musces might not remember what they are supposed to do when the going gets tough.
Leaving home at 11:33 the wind was from the SW at 12 mph and the temperature was 75. As I was getting ready to leave I decided to add a short sleeve jersey over the long sleeve on I had on. Good idea. The strong wind went right through even those two and the shade was still cooler than I prefer. I zig zagged around Kingwood before getting into Woodbridge Forest and on to US59 to go north. I have been favoring the southern and eastern routes because they seem easier to get going. I rode my second most frequent route, the “New Caney – Gene Campbell Road”. Going north was easy with the wind pushing me along on the frontage road. I got a taste of the wind riding the short leg on FM1314 from YS59 to Loop 494 where I rode north again to New Caney.
As I neared the 10 mile point I looked at the Garmin 510 and was somewhat surprised to see that I recovered the lost time from getting out of Kingwood to get my average speed up to 15 mph. Once I got to New Caney I was again riding perpendicular to the wind on FM1485 but I still kept my speed high enough o increase my average speed to 15.5 mph. By the time I got to Gene Campbell Road I was ready to get buffeted by the wind on the ride to FM1314. The wind was there but not holding me back so much. At FM1314 I saw my average speed was up to 15.9 mph. That would be the high for the ride. I maintained the 15.9 mph average all the way to the Stripes station at Valley Ranch Parkway and FM1314 where I took a break.
While I was at Stripes I ate some snacks and drank Gatorade. With the coolness I probably don’t drink enough during the ride. 32 oz. of Gatorade plus 2/3 of my water bottle should have helped get me hydrated some. For some reason my Garmin 510 lowers my average speed while I am sitting at Stripes but only 1/10 of a mph. After a 25 minute break it was back on the bike and into the wind riding south through Briar Tree and Oakhurst streets. The wind seemed stronger than 12 mph and at home the weather station agreed: SSW wind 14 mph with 21 mph gusts.
I made it home at 2:24 with the temperature up a couple of degrees but the stronger made it feel cooler than when I started. I think the clouds increase as well.
The miles for November (193.63) are more than I expected with all of the cold weather we have had. The weather for Sunday is supposed to repeat today’s so I should get a ride in. This would put me over 200 miles for November. Year to date I stand at 6365 miles, 135 miles from my goal. Today’s ride was 35.25 miles long. This was the 26th time I rode this route this year out of 185 rides.
No other bikers were spotted today.
Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS metrics, charts and maps.
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