It’s Hard To Be Humble

This morning began much like last night ended – chatting with Tecky. Last night we had reviewed some routing options for today’s ride but that didn’t take long as the options were pretty limited. That said, I felt like I had a pretty straightforward urban ride ahead of me today.

Once again, I loaded up my bike and prepared to hit the road. There was just a matter of getting a photo with Tecky and I was on my way. Oh, there was also a photo of one of Tecky’s many bikes in his garage as he too has a red Nishiki – not quite as old as mine but it was great to see another fully functioning and well maintained Nishiki.

I initially thought my ride through and around Houston would be more than a little unpleasant – mainly because that’s often the case when cycling in big cities. However, the early portion of today’s ride was much more pleasant than anticipated as much of it followed a trail so there was no traffic to face. The only real challenge of the day was flooding.

I had to improvise a bit on my route when the road recommended by Google was closed. When I first saw the “Road Closed” sign I couldn’t help but think, “Is that closed to EVERYONE, or just those in cars?” I decided to investigate. As I neared the barricaded road it became clear that, yes, the road was closed to everyone as water was completely covering the entire road. Fortunately, there was an alternate road that really didn’t add much (if any) distance to my ride. I like it when that happens. Although part of me wanted to ride through the flooded road.

Much like yesterday, the rest of today’s ride was essentially uneventful and not particularly scenic. As such there were no real adventures to speak of and not a lot of photo-worthy opportunities.

I arrived in Humble (where I’m told the “H” is silent) around 3:00. Much like Katy, Humble is also what would appear to be the suburbs of Houston. It’s also conveniently located to the airport which is important since I fly out somewhat early tomorrow morning.

Before arriving at my Warm Showers host, I had to make a quick detour to FedEx. As has become a somewhat frequent occurrence, I once again had a package being delivered to me. Even though UPS was successful last time, I opted to go with FedEx this time. It was a good decision as the package arrived without incident – and the staff at the FedEx Office were very friendly.

From there it was a very leisurely ride to the home of my Warm Showers hosts, Robin and Sheila. When I arrived I was greeted at the front door by Sheila who was incredibly friendly. Sheila had me take my bike around the back of the house where I met Robin who was busy cleaning a rather large fish that he had caught earlier in the day. I probably should’ve taken a photo. Either way, we were clearly having fish for dinner.

Once again, I had a very enjoyable evening with my hosts – which also included Robin’s mother. We enjoyed a great dinner and great conversation. A bit later in the evening, Robin made a trip to the airport to pick up another cyclist who they were hosting. The generosity of Warm Showers hosts continues!

Tomorrow’s plan is pretty simple. Get to the airport and fly back to Toronto. And from there it will be off to Cuba. We’ll see how simple it actual is.

Today’s totals:
Well, there are totals for the day but since I’m writing this a few days after the fact I don’t currently have access to my cycling computer and, as such, I don’t have access to today’s totals. For the moment, all I can report is that today’s ride was about 75 km and I likely average about 20 km/h.

Update:

Today’s ACTUAL totals:
Distance travelled: 76.32 km
Ride time: 3:37:25
Average speed: 21.06 km/h
Maximum speed: 33.53 km/h