Same route as yesterday, but on a whim I brought my mp3 player with a selection of high-energy NIN, and really hammered out those hill repeats. I only did the loop at the end of Barton Hills one additional time, because I just sprinted as fast as I could up them, kept my heart rate much higher on average, and got closer to that "Good Lord I feel like I'm going to puke" response I'm going for with the HIIT thing. Maybe mid-week I'll try to do it that hard four times in a row. It was sticky-humid today and I'm still tired from yesterday so I'm being a wimp. :)

On the way home, crossing Lamar at Bluebonnet/Del Curto, I came upon another rider; I notice that I gauge other riders by looking at their calves, to see whether I should attempt to pass them or not. This guy's calves looked like they were made out of steel cable, but I thought he was turning right so I pulled ahead of him in the other lane. He followed behind me across Lamar, though, and try as I might to stay ahead of him, when we hit the short steep turn at the end of Del Curto I stood to start climbing it and he just whipped by me, easily doing 17mph standing up that turn. Good humility + evidence that I'll always have plenty of training left to do...