I hit the trail on White Oak. The first thing I noticed was the complete lack of a headwind. That's generally pretty bad news because it means there's either no tailwind assist on the way home, or even worse there's going to be a headwind on the way home. I didn't feel myself going particularly slow, and the grass wasn't bending with me, so I took that to mean the air was just plain still. That was at least some comfort, although keeping up the averages was still going to require more work than previous rides.
I hit the end of the trail and set my mind to traverse the "mountains" on TC Jester. Just north of I-10 is a rail yard, and TC Jester climbs over that rail yard. It's a wicked tall and long climb, as far as Houston climbs go, so I likes it a lot (it's also smack dab in the middle of what would be a slightly-longer-than-half marathon course, which also makes for a spectacular training run).
I scale the "mountain" at no less than 10mph, not spectacular, but serviceable. On the way down I see a biking club coming the other way across I-10, so I latch on to their wheels and pace their leaders up the climb the second time. We split paths at 11th where White Oak Trail begins, and I proceed to beat them to 34th street (not sure if they knew we were racing, and I wasn't sure they were going that way, but since I beat them there, we were definitely racing).
So, the stats for the morning:
13.54 miles,
15.4 mph (average)
25.5 mph (max)
52:01 overall time.
Not a bad ride. Not a bad ride at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment