(My) Seattle To Redmond Commute

I did the full commute to work in Redmond today, via I-90, Mercer Island, and Bellevue. 25 km each way, with small hills & a lake in between. I brought along a little digi camera and snapped some shots (mostly while rolling, can't be late). Enjoy!

(Click any image for its larger original size)

The view of downtown from my porch - yup, looks like a great day! Short sleeve (wool) jersey and arm-warmer kind of weather.

A few km into the trip, this is at Judkins Park in the Central District, on 20th Ave, heading south towards the I-90 trail. I've heard people say this is the "dangerous" part of town but I think that's ridiculous! I haven't had any issues commuting through here so far.

Just down the street from Judkins Park is a nice little view of the Sound - you can barely see it but it's there. I make a point to view (and enjoy) the water every time I roll past this intersection. I guess growing up in Key West means I love large bodies of water!
After the Mt. Baker tunnel, this is the view overlooking the I-90 floating bridge & the northern portion of Mercer Island (facing east). (There's a separated bike path from all that traffic, in case you're wondering)

Now on Mercer Island, this is looking back west towards Seattle. You can see downtown just over the hill there. That's more or less were I started the journey.

A few feet later on Mercer Island Way, briefly heading north. You can't really tell but his little kick can either propel me down it at 30-35 mph, or slow me down to 10 mph, depending if I'm going up or down it. It's really short but steep enough to make a difference. One day, I hope to sprint up it at 20 mph..

This is kind of in between Bellevue & Redmond, about 22 km into the ride. If you can't tell, this is atop a cliff I just pedaled up! This is 24th Ave, just off of 120th. Not long, but steeeep.

Then the camera ran out of batteries.

On the way in, I felt a little weak, probably due to lack of breakfast (just coffee). That was an average of about 25.5 km/h. Then on the way back, I really pushed my limits, and rode fast as I could. From Redmond to Bellevue (~5 km) and an average of 30.0 km/h! With those hills in between I'm pretty happy with that, but that's really not very far. By the time I was back in Seattle across the I-90 bridge (~18 km), the average was still 30.0 km/h! (18.6 mph). By the time I got home, it was down to 27.7 km/h. Woot.