{"id":25336,"date":"2014-08-19T14:43:59","date_gmt":"2014-08-19T19:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/?p=25336"},"modified":"2014-08-19T14:43:59","modified_gmt":"2014-08-19T19:43:59","slug":"red-silicone-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.texbiker.net\/blog\/2014\/08\/19\/red-silicone-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Silicone Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I received the new silicone case for the Garmin Edge 510. I ordered a black one to replace the red one I got with the 510. I knew the red one had faded some form the sun but I didn’t realize how much until I took it off and looked at the inside. The bright red inside was a big contrast to the pale pink exterior. This shows what exposure to all that sun can do. I wonder how my skin and bike cloths fare? The black case looks nice and crisp. I chose black thinking it wouldn’t fade as much. time will tell.<\/p>\n

Today I rode an extended “Atascocita – Walden – Huffman” route. I added some extra streets at the beginning in Elm Grove and Sherwood Trails villages in Kingwood. Later after the usual stop at the Huffman Chevron I rode north on FM2100 to Smith Road rather than the typical FM1960 route. So today I biked 34.79 miles<\/strong> which is about 2 miles more than the typical route to Huffman. My average speed of 15.0 mph was below what it should’ve been thanks to the strong wind from the SW. I didn’t know this until I got home and saw the 10 mph wind was also gusting to 23 mph. This explains the struggle riding west over Lake Houston. Normally this section is where I make up some time to improve the average speed. I was working hard to stay at 14 mph with an occasional burst to 15 mph. Once I made the turn onto Atascocita Shores the wind wasn’t so much coming at me and I sped up some. I could hear some thunder while I riding over Lake Houston towards home and the clouds behind me looked darker. When I left FM1960 I didn’t hear the thunder again until I got home. While I am writing this the sky has clouded up more and the thunder is back but no rain yet.<\/p>\n

Earlier as I was biking south on Fairlake Drive I heard a train whistle. At the time I figured it would be past the crossing on Old Atascocita Road but when I reached the turn to Old Atascocita Road I could see the train was moving slowly over the road. I rode up behind a pickup truck and stopped. The sun and heat were cooking and as I waited the perspiration was making a wet spot below my right elbow on the asphalt. I was almost out of water in my water bottle because I didn’t stop at the Chevron at Atascocita Shores Drive on the west side of Lake Houston. I held off drinking all of my water to wait until I got to FM2100. The train seemed to take 10 minutes to slowly move through. A couple of times the railcars made the loud noise when a train slows and speeds up. I was thinking if it stopped on the crossing I might have to go back to FM1960 and then to Huffman.<\/p>\n

The rest stop at the Huffman Chevron took about 30 minutes. During the stop I cooled down sitting under the canopy eating and drinking. The wind helped cool me. The paper towels and Greensheet were extra wet when I stood up to throw them away as I got ready to ride again. While I was sitting I saw many Jeeps of different colors and models. I am not sure why I was attuned to them today other than we own two of them. One white Wrangler Unlimited went past with some lumber sticking out the back window. I think the various modifications people do to their Jeep catches my eye too.<\/p>\n

Another day closer to the Hotter’N Hell Hundred Saturday. The forecast still shows 102 degrees but now it will be partly cloudy.<\/p>\n

Mileage:<\/p>\n