it must be spring in Houston

As I rode out along the farm road of rural southwest Houston today, it was quite obvious that at least and probably several schools must of had proms over the weekend. How do I know this, you ask? There amidst the grass along the side of the roads, lush from the recent rains and scattered patches of blue day flowers, and evening primroses, were brighter patches of hot pink, red, orange, black and white lacey underpants and thongs. There were also lots of gatuitous beer bottles. I guess we all know what happened after the prom (s).

Other than that, the ride was lovely. We have had a short respite from the typical hot and humid Houston weather with some relatively cooler and drier days. Each day is warmer than the previous, and the humidity is starting to climb again, but the ride today was not as steamy as usual. I can tell the humidity is creeping up when the sweat starts dripping the instant I stop riding. It was dripping enough today that bending over to check my tires and clean my chain resulted in instant, painful temporary blindness as the sweat drippind into my eyes.

There is a new weekly womans' ride at one of the local bike shops that started while I was gone. I plan to stagger out tomorrow and give it a try. Supposedly it is a "no rider left behind" ride, but I have been on group rides with that as an operating premise before and it has yet to prove true. I have hopes for this one. It would be nice to find a group for an occasional ride as an alternate to constantly riding solo.

I am trying to get back onto a steady, regular training routine and keep my speed up so I am pushing hard. It hasn't been so easy this week because I am extremely stiff and sore from rediscovering all the muscles I didn't use on the cross country ride, in my training sessions in the gym. I did manage almost a full 20 miles today at 18 miles per hour, which is a definite step in the right direction. Of course I pooped out a bit on the second half of the ride, at least until I stopped at my favorite coffee shop Fill Your Cup, in Richmond, and had an iced latte. The last 13 miles were back up at 17-18 miles an hour which says a lot for coffee and stopping for a break.

today's stats

48.37 miles

2 hours 40 minutes

17 miles per hour