New distance record!

In my role as ride coordinator at Life Time Fitness, I have the pleasure of putting together routes of distances from 20-40 miles then leading my riders out on these routes.  Leading as in "giving them the link to the ride, and I play sweep since I am not very fast at all."  It really is great fun.

This past Sunday, we concluded the last of a three ride series - one hosted by each Life Time Club in the Columbus area.  My co-ride leader, Mike, put together the route - and a good chunk of it was taken from a local event called the Ridge Runner Ramble.  You can see our full ride profile here.

This was both the farthest I ever rode my bike, and the hilliest ride I have ever done.  It was fantastic.  65 miles of rolling hills, all in my backyard. We actually passed less than a tenth of a mile from my house, and we rode some areas that I had no idea were even there.  Looks like we may re run the route come fall when the leaves change - it should be beautiful.

Even though my tri racing season is over, I still plan on being on the bike until it is too cold for me to do so.  I have really come to love being on my bike.  It's a feeling like no other.

I'm still running, too  - I am Runner #1 in Van #1 for my team in the Kentucky Bourbon Chase.  I'm a little nervous that I am kicking off our race, as the first leg is 7 miles of pure uphill.  I know what I need to be doing between now and then :-s

Beyond running and biking, I am also reaping the rewards of our garden this year.  So far I have canned three jars of peppers and two huge jars of salsa.  That's about 15 lbs of produce canned, and we have already eaten a lot of what we grew right off the vine (or out of the ground).  We just planted fall swiss chard, collard greens, and we still have cabbage coming up.  More squash is appearing by the day, and we will have tomatoes coming out of our ears in the next couple of weeks.

The time I have at home really allows me to play with the produce a bit, and it has been tons of fun.  I think I'm ready for at least a part time gig though - starting to get a *bit* bored at home.

Later, taters - catch you soon :-)