{"id":25244,"date":"2014-08-11T17:47:01","date_gmt":"2014-08-11T22:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/?p=25244"},"modified":"2014-08-11T17:47:01","modified_gmt":"2014-08-11T22:47:01","slug":"a-metric-century-on-monday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/2014\/08\/11\/a-metric-century-on-monday\/","title":{"rendered":"A Metric Century on Monday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday I said Monday would be a longer ride. Well it was, 62.28 miles<\/strong> long. The route came to together in part as I rode. I started out biking to Splendora up US59. My plan was to see how I was doing when I got to FM1485 and FM2090 west of Splendora at Caney Creek High School. At that point I had the option to stay on FM2090 or take FM1485 south for a shorter route. I was feeling good at the option intersection so I stayed on FM2090 to Grangerland and FM3083. FM3083 took me to what is called 4 Corners. I think it gets that name from the four roads that intersect there: FM3083, Creighton Road, Rocky Road and Jefferson Chemical Road. This was at the 32.40 mile point.<\/p>\n

I stopped at the Valero Country Store for water and ice. By now I was starting to get hungry. Before I sat on the concrete by the front door the clerk inside motioned for me to come inside where it was cool. I thanked her but said that would cause a problem when I went back out to ride. As I drank the cold water I decided to eat the Kashi Trail mix bar and cookies I had. I was thinking about saving them for the stop at the Stripes station but my stomach won the argument. After about 1\/2 hour of resting and eating I resumed the ride.<\/p>\n

The last time I rode what I call the “Splendora – Creighton Road – FM1314” route was July 20, 2013. Since then a big new Chevron station went up across FM3083 which I did not notice until I came out of the Valero with a refilled bottle and sat down. As big as it was I should have seen it earlier. From the Valero station I took Creighton Road which now has a smooth coat of asphalt all the way to FM1314. Previously it had some rough sections and I dodged some low spots. The first 1\/4 mile still has some washboard in the surface but not as bad as before.<\/p>\n

FM1314 northwest of SR242 is asphalt and not as wide as east of SR242. The traffic is lighter too since most people turn onto SR242 to get to I-45. The road is smooth and I made good time to SR242 and then onto the Stripes station at Valley Ranch Parkway and FM1314. From the Valero station to Stripes was almost 20 miles and I was ready for another break. This time I got a 32 oz Gatorade and sat out by a pump since the shade was gone by the store building. I thought I would get a breakfast taco but they were sold out and I didn’t bring any more snacks. I should have doubled the trail mix bar and cookies. While I was sitting by the pump a man drove up in a Dodge pickup. I am not sure why he drove to the pump I was at since there were a number of others open. He pulled close so I drew my feet up. As he got out he said it was caliente and I agreed adding it wasn’t as hot when I was riding. He said he would only be a few minutes while he got some gas. He walked to the store and several minutes later came back with a package of beer and then put some gas in the Dodge. While he was pumping the gas he offered me a cold can of beer but I said no thanks since I don’t drink. He said he was going to enjoy it. After he left I got up and refilled my water bottle for the 11 mile ride back home.<\/p>\n

The weather was hot. The sky only had a very few small clouds and the sun was beating down. When I left home at 10:31 it was 92 degrees. By the time I got home at 3:45 it was 97 and the heat index showed 112 on my home weather center. I sweat a lot when I stopped at the Valero station but after that I did not notice it as much. With the heat and sun I drank at least 4 water bottles of water plus the 32 oz Gatorade.<\/p>\n

Saturday I was looking around the Garmin Connect website and saw a feature that I have wanted for sometime. Since my ride route are fluid my wife does not the exact route I am biking. I use the Garmin Edge 510 and it has Bluetooth but I never turned it on since I didn’t know what value it would add. If I would install the Gamin Connect app on my Nexus 5 phone and connected via Bluetooth to the 510 the feature called Live Tracking can be activated. This way I email my wife a secure link to a Connect website and she can she where I am biking. With the Hotter’N Hell Hundred coming up on August 23rd I wanted to try this out before to see how it works. At first I couldn’t get the email to send but about a mile into the ride I got the app to email the link to my wife. When I got home I asked her if she looked at the link and she saw me as I rode across Woodland Hills Drive on the way home. So it works. It does increase the battery drain but my phone lasted the 5 hours and 13 minutes I was gone. I will continue to use this to learn more about how it works.<\/p>\n

Where I stand with miles:<\/p>\n