After being a couch potato yesterday I was a motivated biker today especially after reading the weather forecast starting tomorrow (Tuesday). Today’s weather was a big draw to be outside. When I got up this morning the temperature was 46 but by the time I left home biking it was 77. The 31 degree move happened in 3 hours. I was out the driveway at 11:43 and back home at 3:02.
Tuesday between 9 AM and noon a cold front is supposed to move through the Houston area dropping the temperature for the rest of the week into the 50’s for highs and maybe the 30’s for the lows. Since I am a cold weather wimp this means today was probably my only shot at biking this week if I believe the weather forecast.
The big factor in today’s ride was the wind. When I started out it was from the SSW at 14 mph with 21 mph gusts. Whenever I got in an open area I could feel the wind trying to move me around. Deep dish rims do not help. By the time I got home it had changed to the south at 9 mph and 18 mph gusts.
I chose a longer route to take advantage of the sunny sky and warm temperature. I wore a long sleeve jersey just in case the wind was cool but it wasn’t that cool until I was riding west over Lake Houston. Sometimes I though I was overdressed except for going over Lake Houston. The “Stroker Road – Huffman” route has some places when I was the tallest thing around and the wind was both a hindrance and a helper. I rode 40.92 miles on this route. This is a mile longer than usual because I took some extra streets in Kingwood to add mileage. With the wind it 20 miles or more before I got my average speed to 15 mph. Once I got there I was able to keep it there and add a little to it. The turning point was when I turned off of FM2100 onto Stroker Road. This put the wind to my right until I reached Ramsey Road and turned left. On Ramsey Road I was able to ride at 20+ mph. My average speed increased to 15.3 mph until I started going west on Old Atascocita Road to FM2100. This was into the wind again. This is where I passed another biker going opposite of my direction.
Back on FM2100 I saw many signs put out to honor our veterans. They were on both sides of FM2100 for several miles. I am not sure who puts these out but each sign has a yellow ribbon and the veteran’s name. With the wind they were getting blown around a lot.
I stopped at the Huffman Chevron to rest my legs and eat some snacks and Gatorade. Sitting in the sun I was warmed while the wind blew. This was at 39.2 miles. My average speed was now 15.1 mph. After resting I got on FM1960 and headed west. The wind was determined to make me pay for every tenth of a mile and my legs were suffering. I was relieved when I got over Lake Houston and turned north on Atascocita Shores Drive. This put among houses and the wind kind of at my back. From that point it was about 8 miles to home. Weaving through Atascocita the wind tried to slow me down and sometimes it did. Going north on West Lake Houston Parkway helped me keep my speed up and I increased my average speed to 15.2 mph until 38.6 miles when I reached Kingwood Drive and the many stops and starts to get home.
This is the tenth time I rode this route this year. The ride comparison is in the slides below.
November miles are up to 92.9. Year to date stands at 6264 miles. 236 miles to reach my 6500 mile goal. With the weather the Spirit Ride in Livingston does not look good. Maybe the weather man is wrong.
Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS metrics, charts and maps.
