Being a good patient helps doctors. Today I experienced being patient zero before heading out on my bike ride. I needed to reschedule my Tuesday doctor appointment but I needed my prescription refilled to hold me over until late April. After talking to the doctor’s office they directed me to their website to request the refill. The first time I went to the website I didn’t find the link I thought the lady told me so I called back. The link I wanted was labeled Telemedicine which I found. After going to that page I logged in and a box appeared with my video camera showing me. Below that was a message the doctor was available. Waiting a few minutes a message came up asking me to click on a link and follow the instructions since this was the first day they are using the service. Following the instructions another window came up and I appeared again from my webcam. A few minutes later the doctor appeared on the page and we conversed back and forth. I asked him about being the first day for the telemedicine service and he said I was the first person to use, Patient Zero. Therefore I became Patient Zero but in a good sense.
I began today’s bike ride at 11:47 AM choosing what I call the “New Caney – Tavola – Valley Ranch” route. I added a couple of extra streets to bike 36.09 miles and get within 45 miles of reaching my 585 mile goal for March.
Weather warmed up from yesterday and will get even warmer as the week progresses. During the bike ride weather: start 79 (80% humidity, 72.5 dew point), overcast, wind SW 7 mph. Finish 82 (72% humidity, 72.1 dew point), overcast, wind S 6 mph. I overdressed wearing shorts, long sleeve jersey, and short sleeve jersey. The long sleeve jersey wasn’t necessary. The overcast sky looked threatening towards the end of the ride but no rain fell by the 2:38 PM finish.
I spotted a few people riding along the route and they show in the video. More people walked dogs and children but I left them out. One thing missed in the video happened at FM 1485 on the return to Kingwood. While stopped at the traffic light on the southbound frontage road an oversize load prepared to slip under US59 gong east to west on FM 1485. The front truck with the height gauge stick measuring the clearance barely made it under the overpass. Back at the northbound frontage road intersection I saw the very large white cube straddling the trailer slowly moving toward us. The escort police motorcycles blocked traffic on the northbound frontage road as the truck slowly advanced. One of the motorcycles pulled ahead to the southbound intersection as the light turned green and traffic moved through before the truck arrived and I rode with them missing seeing if the big white cube squeezed under the overpass.
The rest of the bike ride proved uneventful as I rode through Valley Ranch, Auburn Trails and Oakhurst before entering Kings Manor and then Kingwood. With schools closed due to the COVID-19 measures traffic was no problem.
