Love me some bikin'

Got my first look at the Longhorn IM 70.3 bike course today... fun ride, but challenging. It's got a decent amount of elevation change, and a decent amount of chipseal (love those Texas roads). On race day I think it's very doable though. Glad we rode it today - now I know what I'm training for! :)

I took out a kayak during the team swim to help out in case anyone got into difficulty (which no one did thankfully). I've been swimming a ton lately, and didn't feel like getting more in that particular morning. Really glad I ended up doing that - it was very fun to see how everyone swims, and I learned quite a bit of little technique things I'm going to try out next time I'm in the water. We've got some people who really know how to move in the water on the team. It was impressive. And for those who aren't quite as smooth in the water, I was impressed by their tenacity and dedication... kinda cool to know the people in the water and what's going on in their lives, and to see it play out in how they approached their swim this morning. Maybe that's a had-to-be-there kind of deal, but it was a cool experience to have had.

Super eventful ride. Went out with a few fellas who clearly were looking to blast through it - not my preference this particular day. Rode for a bit with a few different groups (mixing in a few random hill repeats to go tell Brian I accidentally told him to go the wrong way - oops :)), ended up getting in with a few very, very fast fellas on verrrry expensive bikes to pace back up to where I wanted to be (wherever that ended up being). Ran into Erin and Dionne along the way, and finished up the ride with them. We had a lot of fun... I'm going to refer to Erin and Dionne as the 'hammer twins' from now on.

The post ride BBQ was a great time, and very relaxing. Seemed like everyone who came out to ride stuck around for a couple of hours... this is probably one of my favorite things about the people in T3. While it's the training that brings us together initially, its my impression that the people on the team genuinely enjoy each other and like spending time together. That's a special thing.

All that fun stuff, topped off with my Spartans pounding Eastern Michigan 42-10. I'll take it :)

Hope you all had a rockin Saturday.