Hey! Where does that road go?

So yesterday dawned nice, cloudy and almost chilly, (at least for Texas in July), and most importantly with the wind out of the north, it was a great excuse to head north out in the county.  A wind out of the north is a truly rare treat as it means I get a tailwind for my ride home.

I'd laid out my route on Ride with GPS to get an idea for the total mileage but neglected to load it into my GPS as I thought I knew the back roads out in the county.  However I managed to miss a turn onto CR 177 and ended up off course. 

And while it doesn't look like it in the picture, there are some nice hills out at the end of Lonestar Road.  Especially when you are beating into a headwind on a recumbent.



My wanderings off course took me down some roads I wasn't familiar with and led me into trying to find something to get back on route.  Unfortunately I ended up in some ranchers front yard.  A quick consult of Google Maps on my phone and a u-turn and I was back at least heading in the right direction.

My off course route put me onto CR138, a road I usually try and avoid as the chip seal on there is just nasty.

Back on route I did find the county has been out laying some fresh pavement on a lot of the secondary roads.  And for once they are not using large aggregate chip seal.  They did an outstanding job and the roads are outstanding, nice, smooth and fast.

My route ran me up through Gunter and then over to Howe via Mackey Road & Hall Cemetery Road.  I stopped for a quick nutrition break and grabbed a quick picture.

I'd love to find out who ones that stock tank in the background, it just looks loaded with fat hungry bass.

Howe was my turn that took me out of the headwind and started my tailwind home.  At Howe, I was running a 15.2 mph average, by the time I got home, I'd brought that up to a 16.4 average.

Hydration wasn't really an issue due to the cooler temps and heavy cloud cover.  I drank around 36 ounces of water/Nunn tablet electrolyte drink, a small Gatoraid in Gunter, and maybe 50 ounces or so of straight water from my Camelbak.

My changes in on ride nutrition also seem to be working.  I'm switching away from primarily using Clif bars and gels to trail mixes, nuts and the like.  I'm finding salt & vinegar almonds not only work for a good shot of protein on the bike but also help keep my legs from cramping up.

Overall I ended up pretty good.

Looks like I should be ready for a good Tour D' Cure next weekend.