My original route plan was to ride north and around Lake Houston and down to Huffman. As I was getting ready to get dressed I checked the weather radar because there was a 30 to 40% chance of rain. To the south there were numerous patches of rain on the radar so I decided to ride north to Splendors and then back home with the intent of getting home before the rain moved north of where it was.<\/p>\n
I laid out the route In my mind going north to New Caney, through Roman Forest and up to FM2090 east of Splendora. From there I would head west to US59 and then south to Kingwood. Things were going as planned and as I biked up the street beside the railroad tracks before Roman Forest Blvd. I saw another bicyclist crossing the railroad tracks headed into Roman Forest. I sped up and caught up with him on Roman Forest Blvd. His name was David and I asked him where he was headed. David said he had biked this twice before and was on the same route I was planning on through Roman Forest to Tram Road north to FM2090. We rode together and chatted. He was from Conroe and he mentioned a website he kept up with from time to time: Texbiker.net to my surprise. I introduced myself as Texbiker. David said he was unemployed and rides in the mornings to avoid the heat and keep his afternoon free to look for a job. Later I learned he works with Solidworks, a 3 dimensional design software program.<\/p>\n
We rode up Tram Road and David said he needed to take a break when we reached a store. There was one at the corner of Tram and FM2090 so we stopped there. When we did I started to notice how dark the sky was getting behind us and to the east. After 10 minutes or so we started up again going west on FM2090. A couple of gusts of wind hit us and I could feel the temperature drop from earlier. The wind caught the rear wheel on David’s Trek which had a four spoke rear rim. The Trek was one of the models like the Softride with a beam from the headset to hold the seat, not a triangle frame like my Motobecane Le Champion CF but still carbon fiber material.<\/p>\n
With the help of the wind we made good time to US59 where we parted ways: he stayed on FM2090 to Conroe and I went south on US59. I could see the dark clouds had thinned a little but the wind was strong as I rode into it. Approaching Roman Forest Blvd. I could the rain soaked road from that point going south and figured I would be riding in the rain at some point before I got home. I stopped at the Chevron station at FM1485 & US59 to fill my waterbottle and let the road dry out some. While I waited it started raining again but didn’t last long. About 10 minutes after it stopped I got back on my bike and rode south. The road was wet but it was not raining and it stayed that way until I got to FM1314. After that point the road had patches of wet and dry.<\/p>\n
Now that the rain stopped the humidity must have skyrocketed so I was pouring perspiration. I think I would have been drier if it was raining. I know it would have been cooler. I finished the ride going through the streets of Kingwood pulling into the driveway at 12:56. While I was riding I got a text message from CenterPoint Energy alerting me that our electricity was out. While I was stopped in New Caney my wife called to check on me and said it was off so when I got home I had to fix the garage door opener. My wife had gone shopping and had to open the door manually to get out of the garage. As I prepared to clean my bike I noticed I was soaked with perspiration so much it was running down my legs. Inside the house with the electricity now back on I really felt how soaked I was. A towel absorbed large amounts of sweat as I worked to get my computer network back on to write this report.<\/p>\n
My ride ended up being 38.83 miles<\/strong> long and the average speed was 16.4 mph. I think the higher average speed came from riding with David at a good pace and maintaining a solid pace going south on the US59 service road from Splendora. The wind did not get in my way surprisingly. August miles moved up to 284.79<\/strong>, the week’s miles are now 177.61<\/strong> and year to date I am at 4536<\/strong>. These numbers will stand until at least Monday since I have a church meeting on Sunday. Next week’s biking will be interesting since we are starting a remodeling project and I am not sure how that will affect my riding.<\/p>\n [wppa type=”slideonlyf” album=”216″ size=”auto”][\/wppa]<\/p>\n [iframe http:\/\/connect.garmin.com:80\/activity\/embed\/356650246 470px 570px]<\/p>\n [iframe http:\/\/ridewithgps.com\/trips\/1607708\/embed 95% 700px]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"