Holy Toledo. Stage 1 is in the books and as race promotor Mike McCormack stated, it was a knuckle brawl today.

The race’s”neutral start” would have made any Puerto Rican race proud as the police escort pinned it up the steep switchback climb. Once the race was actually on, I think it might have slowed down for a couple minutes.

“I thought this was neutral” screams Rad Ross.

I spent the entirety of the race in the cave. An hour went by and I was climbing. Two hours went by and I was still climbing. Three hours rolled around and….yup, still climbing. The descents were so fast today that recovering from the climbs was near impossible for me. The stage was raw and unforgiving. I am now in the condition usually referred to as shattered, and it’s only day 1.

Realizing my current state and how we are only 1 day into this journey, I opted to head to the place that I have a love hate relationship with…the creek.

Snowmelt makes for a painful ice bath but I swear by it. On my way back to the condo I almost pooped my pants as this furry thing barked right in my ear as I was riding.

Tomorrow’s stage is the Colorado Trail which will certainly keep us entertained! Hopefully something besides ice road truckers comes on Discovery.

Until tomorrow- Blake