RACE DAY 1

WOW!! What a day... hot, hot and really hot. 90+ degrees and competition is tough. 89k today with some really tough riding. much harder than we anticipated and boy there are a lot of pros racing here. the boys from Costa Rica (La Ruta winners), Tinker Juarez, many specialized pro teams, etc.

After a good breakfast at the start line, the raced quickly entered the challenging single track w/ many hard climbs that we were told about. We had no idea how hard it was really going to be. boy do we feel unprepared. Despite the challenge, we took 32nd today out of 300+ 2-man teams. Grant rode well but his cramps are back and they made it really hard to keep up w/ the main teams. We kind of got stock in no mans land w/ a few wrong turns here and there. The biggest factor was the heat and lack of water.

I, for once, pulled for the last 25k up a light, false flat to the finish w/ a few hard kilometers from Grant. The fast start tooks it toll but no doubt the locomotive Kiwi will be back tomorrow.

Well feed and ready for bed, tomorrow is another long one: 125k! We are up at 6am, back to the starting line for a 7am chow down. let's hope we can do as well again tomorrow. From Cowichan Lake. 'till tomorrow.