I didn’t ride to work Monday and I’m taking a day of vacation tomorrow, so I only rode to work 3 days this week. On the way home Tuesday, I rode a couple of miles off my usual route to stop by Performance Bike to pick up an order, and ended up with 29.6 miles.

I thought today was just going to be another standard 105 degree ride home, but I was mistaken. When I went to leave work, I noticed my front tire was low. I pumped it up and headed for home. As soon as I walked out of the shop, I noticed the dark clouds in the north. I didn’t think too much about it. Most of our storms come from the west, so I figured this would stay north of me.

Just over halfway home, I could tell that front tire was getting low again, so I stopped to pump it up. It was obvious by then that this storm wasn’t moving east, it was coming south and gaining on me. I hadn’t quite finished pumping the tire up when the 50 mph north wind and dust storm hit.

The south ride down Crowley Road was nice. I would have averaged over 30 mph if I hadn’t hit every traffic light red. But when I turned west on FM 1187, I was dealing with a 50 mph crosswind, not that much fun on a faired bike. The storm faded before it reached me and all we got at home was wind and dust. It looks like the cooler air reached DFW Airport early enough to end our streak of 100+ degree days at 40, two short of the record.

2011 days ridden to work: 135
2011 commuting mileage: 3295.8

Tuesday commute with side trip to Performance Bike