cool stuff, I used to be a triathlete back in the day....yeah laugh now, it's funny, but during my years of 17-22 I used to race quite a bit.....there has been a race at the greendale y (in some form) for close to 20 years now...its' a great sport.

..do you ride too Gigi what kind of road bike do you have?

i ride an ancient fugi royale II. 12 speeds on the downtube and 23 pounds of retro fun. i should invest in a newer bike, but i just can't bring myself to do it. i also have a specialized crossroads hybrid that i hardly ever use - i rode it from worcester to the bourne bridge this summer though but after 50 miles i wished i'd used the fugi.

jim - do what i do and just do it...i never ever run unless there;s some event i want to do. you're in decent shape, right? three miles is easily faked.....

as for the water - i don't have an answer for that - i guess i just don't think about it. but i've never gotten sick from swimming in a pond or lake, so i figure i'm ok.

I am interested to know whether there is a small lake or pond anywhere that gets the full support of it's community as far as swimming goes.

When I was a kid Jordon Pond and Lake Quinsig both had the bad rep, and then Carbuncle Pond in Oxford and Webster Lake had the bad rep, and now Indian Lake has the bad rep. These places always get the bad rep yet you never hear of anyone dying or getting sick.

Why is it that everyone always feels local fresh water beaches and swimming is disgusting?

By the way Tina I don't mean any offense, I have wondered this since I was a kid. The local swimming hole is always seen as disgusting. Weird phenomenon.

rutland state park seems clean...i go there sometimes, but I have swam in indian lake tons of times...not recently though......

When I was younger I was really obsessed with everything to do with the Transcendentalists, I would regularly make pilgrimages out to Walden Pond and go swimming and get in touch with my inner Thoreau. Years later, I ended up working out that way and would often hear stories of all the pollution that is in Walden Pond. That soured my view of that place, but it is really beautiful, especially to think about the great ideas that came out of that area.

I don't know that any of the rumors were true, but I haven't been swimming in Walden in a long long time.

It looks like bacteria levels are ok according to this.

I can remember riding bikes with my my cousin and a few of his bike messenger friends from Cambridge, after closing Inn Square Men's Bar, to Walden Pond on a hot July night for a swim. He said we were going for a ride. The swim was great and the ride back looking at the sunrise was transcendent.