She had fun, didn't she!
It is easy to forget that most professional athletes love what they do, and are not just in it for fame and fortune. (Especially true of women cyclists, since most of them don't earn much.)
I went to see the women finish their stage of the Tour de Yorkshire at The Cow and Calf climb at Ilkley last year. I was standing close to the finish line and could see that those riders who weren't completely shattered were really loving the crowds. One rider took her hands off the bars and was gesticulating to the spectators to give her more applause. They gave her such a roar that the hairs on my arms stood up - she must have got a great kick from it!
It was interesting to hang about and watch the body language of the riders as they gathered beyond the finish. One woman had the '
thousand yard stare' ... she was standing a few feet from her teammates but didn't say a word. She was a completely spent force. One of her teammates was indicating with her hands what she thought of the climb. I could see from a distance that she was indicating something like "
Yeah, it was steep at the bottom. Then it got steeper. When I got to that ramp at the top, I thought, like, WTF!!!" The other riders all cracked up when she did that.
These 2 almost fell off their bikes as they crested the summit, but a few seconds later had big grins on their faces...
