Spring arrives later tonight and according to what I read this is the earliest time in almost a century. I also read the weather forecast for today and it mentioned the wind would pick up as the day progressed. By the time I started the bike ride at 11:46 AM the wind was from the south at 16 mph. My chosen route, “Stroker Road – Huffman” took me in that direction. Biking east/west was not too bad but riding south was very hard.
When I arrived at Old Atascocita Road and Ramsey Road where I turned south I stopped and checked the wind: from the south at 16 mph with 23 mph gusts. From that spot to Stroker Road where I would turn west was about 2.5 miles. On the bike heading that direction I pedaled hard at 10 to 11 mph. At Peters Road there was a dog leg to the left and then back into the headwind. Near the Stroker Road turn trees on my left slowed the wind some but changing direction had the biggest impact. From there a side wind pushed me to the right as I made my way back to FM 2100. Once on FM 2100 riding north the fierce headwind became a very friendly tailwind. I changed to a higher gear combination and headed to Huffman. I made a brief stop at the Fuel Max store for ice and water and to eat a Clif Bar to replenish what I burned up getting there.
The ride to Huffman went too quickly as I enjoyed the tailwind assist. I hoped the ride west from Huffman wouldn’t be made difficult by the side wind and that held true until the trees and buildings on my left disappeared and the wind open, flat Lake Houston arrived. Biking across Lake Houston with no windbreak protection was almost as hard as riding into the headwind. Occasionally traffic passing on my left interrupted the wind but not for long and biking over the sections where the causeway opened underneath for the water increased the wind even more. Finally the west shore came and not long after a right turn onto Atascocita Shores Drive brought the tailwind back though it had to weave around houses and trees.
Back when I made the shift to traveling north on FM 2100 I changed the combination to big chainring and middle cassette gear to up my speed with the tailwind help. I kept that combination all the way back to Kingwood even when the winds off Lake Houston made it difficult. On the Lynskey R300 the gears are different from the Canyon Endurace. On the Lynskey I find I am using the big chainring combination while on the Canyon Endurace I stay on the small front chainring and making gearing changes just on the rear cluster.
I brought the bike ride to a close at 3:08 PM, almost an hour after heading west from Huffman. I made one stop on Kings River Drive to fix the battery in the GoPro camera which messed up for some reason after changing batteries at the Huffman Chevron. I don’t know why sometimes when I change the battery the camera freezes up until I take the battery out and put it back in.
Not sure about biking on Friday. The weather calls for a front to pass through some time late morning to afternoon and may bring some rain. It may be a Zwifting Friday.
