Before today’s bike ride even began I was in hot water. That was a good thing for a change. The plumbers just left are installing a new water heater and now I should not need to go up in the attic to restart the pilot light or get part way through a shower and cold water spray me. The water heater was 20 years old and the gas control valve acted up for probably 15 of them. No more! I stayed home yesterday waiting for the plumbers to come to assess what they needed and today at 8:45 AM they started. The water heater is in the attic in a low height area making for a tough job. It took 3 men to take the old one out and lift the bigger diameter new one up the hide-away ladder through a narrow opening.
After they left I got ready to ride. To make up some of the miles I didn’t ride yesterday I chose the “New Caney – Roman Forest – Valley Ranch” route and biked 41.38 miles starting at 11:57 AM and finishing at 3:16 PM. With those miles my May total stands at 137.8 miles, 21% of the way to my 660 mile goal for May. The Canyon Endurace is up to 16,351 miles. I should check the rear tire for wear since it now has 6,000 miles on it.
I experimented taking the ride video. Instead of using the helmet mount I switched to a selfie stick. The video was better but I don’t have a good place to put the GoPro/selfie stick combo when I am not shooting video. I thought I had a spot using the CamelBak chest strap but the GoPro fell out, landed on the street and I rode over it. Not good. At the 10 mile point I moved the camera to the mount under my Bolt computer. The video was good but my voice was too distant and the lens had a smudge from my jersey pocket. I am thinking tomorrow I will try the camera below the Bolt and use a USB-C mic. The helmet mount weighed more than I liked and I think the helmet was forming grooves in my head.
The sun wanted to be out for the bike ride but the clouds overruled it. What it was like during the bike ride: start 87 (70% humidity, 76.1 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind W 8 mph. Finish 89 (63% humidity, 74.8 dew point), mostly cloudy, wind variable 6 mph. Shorts and a short sleeve jersey was just right. The forecast called for late afternoon rain chance but nothing appeared.
