Friday Commute

Yesterday, I decided to duck out of work a little early and extend my commute home a little bit on my current favorite longer return route. Apparently WSU Spokane had graduation around that time because the Centennial Trail was clogged with grads wearing gowns and their friends and family. I had to slow way (par for the course on the trail in the late afternoon now that it's warming up) and dodge and weave a bit, but it definitely gave the start of my ride a nice optimistic vibe.

#d0d0d0; background: #755; overflow: hidden; white-space: nowrap;">Ohio – High Bridge CommuteShare your bike routes @ Bikely.com

I crossed over into Riverfront Park as soon as I could and headed for Mallon by the Arena. The Spokane Falls were flowing quite nicely and I contemplated taking a few pictures, but chose to keep riding. Turning onto Monroe was a little crazy once I got to the end of Mallon. The effects of the south bound lane closures on the Maple Street bridge were quite apparent with traffic on Monroe backed up all the way back and part way into the Mallon intersection. I only needed to travel one more block though so it wasn't too rough.

My favorite part of the route is probably the stretch of Ohio that runs from Cedar along the south edge of the future Kendall Yards project. It's mostly gravel, but the views of Spokane, its landmarks and the river below are some of my favorites (Dan, if you're reading this- I scouted some great HDR possibilities along the way). Mary called me about half way so I pulled over and let her know where I was and how much longer I would be.

Thre rest of the ride went pretty quickly, but I did stop and take a couple pictures while crossing the river. Unfortunately getting pictures off my work phone is a bigger pain than I realized (it has bluetooth, but can't send images that way!?!) so I can't post them (yet). Climbing High Drive was good. Even though I'm not in great shape yet, it's pretty cool to climb a couple hundred feet and not feel blown up afterward like I did a year ago at this point.