Morning Commute

Today I rode my normal 3 mile morning commute, it was a nice ride as my legs stiffened up a bit after yesterdays 26 mile version. I need to learn to stretch and cool down properly to prevent that. I pushed up 7th Ave which is the hardest part of my commute, after that the 14% grade drops down to 4-6% as I head up 112th. I normally recover a bit on the 112th section as I push over the RR tracks at 6mph which is the steepest part of the climb.

My normal residential encounters were nice, saying "Good Morning" to walkers and dog walkers, waving at commuters, etc. After I crossed I405, as I reached 124th Ave, I saw a cycle commuter cross me. Perfect! A rabbit for the last 1/2 mile ride. I pushed up to 20mph and closed the gap a bit on the nice -1% grade but he still was about 200 ft out, I kept him at that distance through the mild rolling hill (15mph) and managed to build up a pleasant burn in my legs for my turn-off to work at 90th St. I haven't seen this particular cyclist before but he was perfectly positioned to get me to work hard on my final 1/2 mile.