I thought if I put sunscreen on the rain must avoid the area where I rode. Not true! While sunscreen blocks the sun ultraviolet rays it cannot block rain drops but they run off the skin easier. Overcast skies at the start of the ride did not look that threatening. After checking the radar I changed my route from the north to the south to stay away from a band of rain northwest of Conroe and Huntsville, not that I would ride that far. The radar movement showed the rain moving to the northeast.
With the temperature at 78 degrees I set off at 12:43 PM. My departure delay came from grocery shopping. My plan was to wait for the sky to clear up some by the time I got finished at the grocery but the overcast sky remained. The route to Huffman and back is my normal one although I added a different section to the beginning in an attempt to ride 30 miles. That part worked. All went well on the ride. I stopped at the Huffman Chevron for my Diet Pepsi and a trail mix bar. This stop did not take that long since I got a phone call from my wife with disturbing news about her cancer so I wanted to hurry back home.
Back riding again after the brief stop in Huffman I started to feel some rain drops as I approached the east end of the McKay Causeway over Lake Houston on FM1960. Once you are on the causeway there is no place to hide from the rain but it wasn’t raining hard, just sprinkles. By the time I reached the west end of the causeway the rain picked up slightly. I felt the temperature drop but attributed it to the wet jersey. Still not a heavy rain and no lightning or thunder I proceeded to W. Lake Houston Parkway where I turned north. At this point the rain got heavier. I rode along W. Lake Houston Parkway on the trail beside the road to the bridge just north of the YMCA. I took the trail under the bridges and stopped under the south bound bridge for about 10 minutes to see if the rain would move out. It did not so I took off to go home. With the wet streets I reduced my speed to avoid a spill and to not get covered with road grit. I got home at 3:14 and pulled into the garage. Dry felt good. By then the temperature fell to 72 degrees. Thankfully the wind was 4 mph from the WSW.
I did hit my mileage goal, riding 30.24 miles. Surprisingly I managed 15.4 mph average speed even riding slowly the last 3 miles. Max speed was 24.0 mph (SportTracks) with 79.1 RPM average cadence. Garmin Connect and RideWithGPS.com show lower top speeds (20.5 mph and 19.7 mph respectively). Mileage totals: 69.36 for the week, 418.46 for October and 5715.31 YTD. 1:57:57 riding time plus 33:14 stop time.
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