I did my first 100 mile ride of the year today. I hadn’t gotten to do a bike ride all week, so figured this was a good Saturday to get in that first century. I need to get in a couple more before the Hotter ‘N Hell Hundred at the end of next month.

I took off from home on the F5, rode out to Eustace, then on to Martins Mill, then on to Edom, then south almost to Brownsboro. I rode back to Martins Mill, then took a different route home. I ended up with 100.7 miles.

I struggled mightily at the end, and had to stop several times to rest and cool off. I kind of expected that. I’m dragging around an extra 10 pounds, and hadn’t done a century since last year. Plus, it was almost 100 degrees this afternoon. The heat index got over 100. Hopefully, this will have me in a little better shape for the next century.

Today’s Martins Mill century route.

The last few weeks of hot weather have reminded me of how much better the air is here in Gun Barrel City, in the middle of nowhere, 60 miles southeast of Dallas, than it is in DFW in the summer. That better air quality is definitely appreciated by a lung damaged cancer survivor like me, especially when I’m riding.

Before I moved here, the exercise induced asthma I acquired after my lung surgery was already getting better. It has now improved to the point that I don’t use an inhaler any more at all. I still wheeze some during and after high intensity riding efforts, but not to the point where I ever feel I need an inhaler.

My rides on the last couple of days have been a nice break from the summer heat, with temperatures in the 70’s both days. I ended up with 155 miles on the bike this week. The week’s longest ride was a 53 mile ride on Wednesday, out to Eustace, then a loop out to State Highway 19, then back to Gun Barrel City.

Wednesday’s 53 mile route.

I settled for an easy pace 30 mile ride out to Purtis Creek State Park this morning. That was my only ride of the weekend, but I rode 110 miles during the week, so I ended up with 140 miles total for the week.

A 53.1 mile ride on Thursday morning was the longest ride of the week. It was a bit different route than I normally ride. I got an early start before there was much traffic, so rode out Main Street in Gun Barrel City all the way to US 175, then took the 175 shoulder to Eustace, FM 2709 to CR 2911, then onto CR 2900, left on FM 1861, then a loop out to SH 19, and a more normal return with a stop at Purtis Creek State Park.

My Monday ride got aborted at just 17 miles when I couldn’t stop getting flats on the rear tire. It turned out that my rim tape had moved a bit, and kept moving. With the Velocity A23 offset wheel I have on the rear of the F5, the rim holes are so close to the edge of the rim that rim tape can’t move at all without exposing a hole. I replaced the rim tape with Velo Plugs. Velocity says not to use them on A23 rims, but they seem to work fine on these offset rims.

Thursday’s 53 mile route.

I took off on the F5 yesterday morning and rode to the Purtis Creek State Park, then on to Martins Mill. I did a loop past it, east on FM 858 almost to Ben Wheeler, then south on FM 773, then back west on 2339. I rode a bit different route coming back, heading south on CR 2900 (where I hit the dog a few weeks back), then west on FM 2709. Then, I rode through Eustace and onto US 175.

I ended up with 73.2 miles. I’d already ridden 70 miles during the week, so had 143 miles for the week. I had a total of 461 miles in June. That’s not nearly as many miles as I should be getting this time of year. I need to kick that mileage up in July.

Yesterday’s route.