I was late getting out this AM so I got a ride from my wife (she had a meeting at my work site by luck) with my bike. I worked until about 6:30 PM, and it was just getting dark. I was using my regular SigmaSport headlight to see while I changed the headlight bulb in my car last night, and I couldn't find it this morning so I found an old white blinkie light and fastened it with a few cut-bike-tube-elastic-bands. IT was not enough to see with, but certainly enough to be seen by any of the ~4 cars I saw on the way home.
As I was arriving at the bike racks the other last cyclist - an older chap - was just pulling on his reflective vest and riding off. I try to not race people when I commute as I tend to overdo it and feel sick, but since this was the trip home I figured I could push a little. I saw his tail-light cresting the top of the first hill when I was at the bottom (about a 50 m climb over 500m). I reeled him in on the last set of flats before we got back onto public roads about 7 km later. There is a long gradual downhill terminated with about 20 meters of washboard ruts leading directly into a fence with a narrow open gate, and I like to do top speed tests on this hill, while most others take it real easy to avoid hitting the fence. I caught up to the other guy, slowed to say hello, then blew past. I maintained my pace after the fence and I could tell the guy had sped up a bit to try and hang on to me because I hadn't slowed down but I was pulling away much more slowly than I caught him.
I have had a persistent cough for the past two weeks and this was my first ride, except for runs tot he grocery store and taking the dog for walks. It felt great!