Race Day!

So, for those of you who knew Don had been training for a big mountain bike race, the day finally arrived. On the 4th of July. On vacation. Which is really how we chose our vacation location this year...

So, the race started the town's annual 4th of July parade. Here's a shot of a lot of the bikers before they began (although not Don specifically, because we spent the whole time beforehand trying to find each other. It was a bit of a comedy of errors, except there was no comedy or anything funny involved... I was really pretty devastated when I couldn't find him beforehand, but it turned out fine.... WHEW! I feel better getting all of that out in the open!).

The cool part of the race for the kids watching AND for the bikers is that the racers gave the kids high fives as they began the race. Really cute.

So after the start, we stayed for a while for the rest of the parade (pics maybe coming tomorrow), then went back to the condo to rest for a bit. THEN we went back to the finish line/1st lap point to watch for Don to arrive (this is at the 25-mile point... this was no sissy mountain bike race! ha). THEN WE SAW HIM!

It was pouring rain at this point (you can see Sis's wet hair to the left of the above pic), but he stayed focused on the race. But he WAS glad to see us (made up for the earlier debacle!). So, I snapped shots as he rode through the 25-mile mark all the way to the aid station (where they stop to get drinks, etc).

We then hopped in the car and followed the street portion of the race and caught up with him on the road.

We then drove on ahead to a rest area (for us, not him) to wait for him to complete a few more miles (you should have heard us yelling for him as he rounded the corner!).

I am so proud of my racer! He worked so hard training AND racing! Good show, babe!