12 miles Wednesday

Well, the air conditioner crisis is over. We managed to get the fan circuit board on the air handler repaired for a relatively small amount, hopefully less than $300...the exact size of the stimulus check I received Tuesday, what do you know.

I managed to get back on the bike this afternoon for a 12 mile ride. It went well, though, as usual, Houston is hot and humid, even at 6 in the evening. The encouraging part of the ride was the fact that, even with a lay off of several days, the ride didn't tire me excessively. That's great considering my training program is only about a month old. Yes, I'm calling it a training program, though it hasn't been formalized. The intention is to become strong enough to ride a century in the fall, no later than the Spring of '09.

When I first returned to biking, I rode the greenbelt paved trails. But, the trails make a lot of cutesy turns and curves, have too many walkers, joggers, and slow bikers, and aren't made for much speed. I'm not riding that fast yet, usually 13-15 mph with periods of 17-20 mph, but that's too fast for the trails. So, I moved to the streets last week. And, I'm finding that to be a very good choice.

So far, I find Kingwood drivers to accept cyclists very well. I'm not riding the major thoroughfares, the difference in speed between me and the cars is too great considering the traffic and, with the roads being curved, there's no shoulder or easy place to dump if there is a problem. But, I've found a number of back streets that get me through the subdivision. Sometimes, I'll switch to the trials for a short stretch, mainly to connect to another street or to go under one of the thoroughfares . There are a number of pedestrian tunnels tht cross under the major roadways.

In the short time I've ridden the streets, only one driver has taken issue with my being in the road. He was incensed at me for having the audacity to use the left lane to turn left. It seems my taking the lane for the turn slowed him down. One other driver was impatient on a narrow road with no shoulder because I was riding over toward the middle because of potholes and a badly uneven surface near the edge of the road. Strangely, there was no traffic and he could have gone around, which he finally did after blowing his horn a number fo times. Hopefully, the good situation I've experienced to this point will continue as I go forward with my program.