Today was a rain sprint ride. Up to about 41 miles I was creating the moisture; sweat. At that point the sky let loose and rain fell catching me away from a place to get out of it. I wanted to ride 45 to 50 miles so I chose what I call the “SR242 – FM1314″ route. I rolled out the driveway at 9:45, a little earlier than last week because no European bike races are on TV. The weather forecast called for 94 degrees and a slight chance of rain. It was 83 degrees under a partly cloudy sky with 60% humidity. The light breeze barely stirred the leaves on the trees.
I thought while I was riding I would check on three projects and take pictures. Biking north on Loop 494 the first project was the Adams St. resurfacing. I didn’t expect any work but I saw signs on Loop 494 warning of road work ahead and a flagman. When I got to the Knox St. railroad crossing I pulled up on the tracks and saw a large 18 wheeler dump truck loading asphalt into the spreading machine. Also the asphalt compressor and a front end loader were moving around. You can see the work in the first 3 pictures in the slide show below.
From there I took E. Knox St. to the US59 north service road to ride to Porter and FM1314 back to Loop 494. This adds some distance to the route so I could reach the 45 mile or more. I stayed on Loop 494 until it ends just south of Roman Forest Bvld. where I returned to the north service road. When I got to Roman Forest Blvd. I stopped to take two pictures of the Tavalo Lake under construction at the entrance to Roman Forest and now Tavalo.
Up to now I was making good time and averaging 17+ mph from mile 5 to mile 15. No real wind resistance helped. Leaving the Tavalo Lake site I rode to SR242 and turned to the west to ride all the way to FM1314. I ran out of water before getting to FM1485 requiring a stop at the Chevron station to get ice and water. Their ice machine dispenses 1/4” or 3/8′ square cubes which fills the water bottle nicely. I added some water and went outside to sit on a bench to cool down some. I never did find any paper towels to soak up some of the perspiration though.
About a half mile after I turned onto SR242 the next project to check on came up. I have been watching the Grand Texas project for sometime looking for some activity. At least this time it looks like they have stirred up a little dirt but the same two excavators were sitting there not moving. The last two pictures in the slides are what I saw.
[wppa type=”slide” album=”352″ size=”auto”][/wppa]
Having cooled down and hydrated at the FM1485 & SR242 Chevron (there are other stations around here, Chevron just seems to be where I need to stop) I resumed biking on SR242 to FM1314. The breeze didn’t slow me down too much (22.59 mile point at the Chevron) as I averaged 16.4 mph in the 20 to 25 mile leg. I was still sweating strongly and the passing traffic helped move some air to help cool me some. My wicking jersey was full of sweat and my bandana was soaked as well letting sweat run down my glasses even when I tried to divert it.
FM1314 arrived and I tuned left to head to Porter (around 27.4 miles). In my mind I calculated how far it was to the Stripes station where I would take a break coming up with a little over 9 miles. The wind didn’t slow me down for the ride to Stripes with intervals 5 and 6 averaging 16.4 and 16.9, respectively. Up to this point the sun was still shining through mostly cloudy skies and the temperature felt hot. The Stripes station came into view and I moved across FM1314 to get there. The calculation I made was off a 1/2 mile or so. Stripes had paper towels and I got 8 of them and went to the shade to wipe some of the sweat from my eyes and arms. I went inside to get a 32 oz drink (they are on sale for $.99) and came back outside to sit in the shade. I pulled out a Kashi bar and a package of Cinnamon Pop tarts. Eating these I started to look at the sky to the west and saw it was getting a darker shade of gray. As I ate the clouds got darker and moved to the southwest. I finished the drink and Pop Tarts, wipe down the Stradalli for sweat thinking I better get going to stay in front of the rain.
Staying in front of the rain worked for a couple of miles through Briar Tree but as I got to Oakhurst the wind picked up and the temperature dropped telling me rain was not too far away. I still thought I had a chance to get in front of the rain as I raced through Oakhurst. It worked until I almost made it to Northpark Drive on Rock Creek Drive. The rain started to come down hard and I decided to take Northpark to US59 and get under US59 out of the rain. As I approached US59 the traffic light for Northpark turned red but no cars were coming so I darted across the service road to get under US59. About then the rain picked up and so did the wind. It was dry there but all of the pigeon dung makes it smell some and a mess to walk around in bike shoes. I waited there over 30 minutes hoping the rain and wind would stop. Finally the rain became a drizzle and the wind let up some and I took the service road south to Kingwood Drive. The road was soaked with puddles but the wind was the biggest obstacle. I was cold from my wet clothes and the wind was already cool. I was glad when I made the u-turn under US59 at Kingwood Drive and headed north on the service road and into Kings Manor. From there until I got to my street the light rain continued but my street was only damp in places where the tree limbs did cover the street. I pulled into my driveway at 2:56. Later after washing the Stradalli my home weather station had 79 degrees.
I reached my goal riding 48.42 miles today and averaging 15.7 mph. Up until 41 miles no rain but there on it was wet. Tuesday the weather forecast calls for 80% chance of rain and 89 degrees. I don’t know if I will get any biking in but I will try.
Mileage standings:
- 48.42 miles this week
- 760 miles for June (125 miles to reach my goal)
- 3164 miles year to date
- Links to Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS
[wppa type=”slide” album=”351″ size=”auto”][/wppa]
