TransRockies Pics AND...I FOUND THE SUN!!!

As promised, here are some pics from the finish line of Stage 6 of the TransRockies... You guys know this is the Tour De France of mountain biking? There are only three events of this kind IN THE WORLD, and this is one of them!

My Mom and I pick a sweet spot under a tree -- note the pompom, bells and tambourine...



My Dad was the smart one -- he scored the gazebo on main street!! All to himself!! Hahaha!



For Keith... :) :) :)



DONE Stage 6!! YAY Charmaine!! No sooner had she crossed the finish line, than she was eating everything in sight. :):)



Me and Charmaine and the hordes of people cheering the TransRockies finishers on...(My God, only in the Crowsnest Pass...I swear if the Tour de France rolled through main street you'd have the same 8 people cheering for them too.)



Charmaine and her hubby, Stuart -- so proud of you Charmaine! :) :)



Rinsing off her bike shorts in the tub after dinner -- UGGGH! It didn't even touch the mud that was embedded in those bike shorts. Hahahaha!



Onto news about the sun!!!!

I left really early yesterday morning to drive to Longview. Long drive through the rain. But wait --- what was that over to my left? Was that a barely discernible lifting of the clouds? Indeed! It looked like the sun was going to be where I was cycling!

I parked in Longview, and although the road was wet, it wasn't raining there. It was stinking cold though, and it had snowed all through the mountains, so I donned my special fleece-lined goretex balaclava underneath my helmet.

It's about 44 km from Longview to the beginning of the Highwood Pass -- the closer I got, the less dark and gloomy it became. Once I started to gain some elevation, the sun came out and it was really nice out -- go figure! Usually the opposite is true -- it's nice everywhere else and the weather up the Pass is terrible. Not yesterday!! YAHOO!!!

I kept my balaclava on though -- the air was still brisk -- it's a great one with perforated holes where your mouth is so you can breathe. I was the only cyclist out there yesterday morning -- and pretty much the only human out there. Hahahahaha!

At exactly 5:31 into my ride, I was getting worn out. The wind was against me, I just wanted to curl up on the side of the road and go to sleep. Picture it -- the long ribbon of asphalt seeming to go on interminably through the prairie. The long grasses are all bent with the wind, and out of nowhere, this plaintive cry escaped my lips...

"Why Sara? Why?"

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I surprise myself sometimes with what comes out -- Hahahahaha!!

Finally, the ride was done, and then I had a 20 minute run to finish things off. I was so tired by the end of all that, I was wiping sleep out of my eyes. Hahahahahaha!

I had major sleepy face by the time I got home. Big plate of spaghetti, and then it was bed time for me. :) :) :)