Our day starts with the ITU Elite Women’s Triathlon down at Hawrelak Park in Edmonton, followed by the Elite Men’s Triathlon and then the Tour of Alberta Stage 4 Time Trial.
The wind is chilly, the sky grey. Even though I am dressed for winter, my feet are cold, so I am cold. Between each race, I sit inside the park’s main pavilion to get warm.
Maybe just watching the women and men triathletes riding and running in not more than a swim suit makes me frigid. How do they not get severely hypothermic? My toes and fingers would be little icicles.
We watch the Tour’s time trial from a traffic island where we can watch riders both heading out on the course and returning. Some riders spin through the course knowing that they have to work during tomorrow’s final stage race in downtown Edmonton. Other riders are vying for first place in the General Classification or a Stage win. They all have very intense faces as they peddle by. They don’t look as cold as the triathletes did.
We leave after the last rider heads out onto the 12 km course. The walk up the hill to our vehicle warms my body up, but not my feet. I know the perfect place to warm them up……..bed, and here I am.