This is why I get up so early on Saturday morning

Today's ride was great -- 60-ish kilometers, a few hills, great weather and good company (well, when I could actually see him, that is). I got home feeling like I could have done another 20 or 30 kilometers -- that's my favorite feeling after a ride.

Here's the map of today's ride -- it was an out and back and notice that the turn-around point was very close to Sderot, right in the area where Kasam rockets fall pretty much on a daily basis (I didn't hear anything while we were there, so I guess this morning was quiet).


I don't know if you can see the distance under the Google logo, but it's wrong, anyway. I forgot to start my Garmin at the beginning of the ride and then forgot to start it again after a break. that second time messed up my map for some reason, too. You can't see it here, but when I zoom in, it looks like I rode home way over on the wrong side of the road.

Here's the elevation map (the part at around 48 km where it looks like we went straight up is where I remembered to hit the button on my Garmin):


And the grade map (again, that very steep grade towards the end is a mistake):


Here's an aerial view of former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon's Sycamore Ranch, which we rode past:


The bad news is that I could feel the soreness in my left shin while I was riding. It didn't make it difficult for me to ride, but I don't think that means good things for my running. My back, on the other hand, didn't hurt at all on the bike (in fact, that was probably the longest period of time I spent all week with no back pain).