Victory

I am safely back home from my bicycle trip. 180 km in 40 hours and I gotta be honest it wasn't always easy. The hardest part of the road was being 10 minutes from home, cold and wet, in Steamrollers on Robson, wanting to get picked up. Everyone offered, but I had to finish what I had started. It is a little over 24 hours after I got home and I hardly slept, so a 3 hour nap after work today certainly did the trick. Why did I do it? I was so excited about the challenge, so excited about seeing what was out there, and most importantly, getting out on the road.

I will never forget being about 9 or 10 years old maybe, with my sister, and our neighbours, the Huber's, who were about the same age as us. We grew up on a farm about a mile and a half out of a small town in Alberta, Canada, and their house was about 1/4 mile closer to Stettler than us. There was an amazing rainbow, and it's end seemed to be somewhere in a stand of trees, in the middle of the field across from their house. We got so excited talking about how we were going to find the gold at the end of it, and possibly a run-in with leprechauns and various magical creatures. Somehow our enthusiasm faded, and so did the rainbow. I guess the lesson I learned then was to go after that rainbow as soon as I see it, as I could never know how long it was going to be there. So, this time, I did. I can't say I got the gold, but the anticipation of going for it, and the confidence to know that I completed it, will be in my memories forever.