A Post from Blaine

Well I was originally intending of posting daily of what is going on and how things are going but as it turns out, you get pretty tired at night after racing this event. It really seems that everyday you get beat down, further and further, making it harder and harder to keep going, that would explain the huge drop out rate at this point, more and more people aren't making the time restrictions and getting knocked out. Ted and I are still in and clearing the check points with ease at this point. Day 1 was an absolute nightmare, nothing even close to what I would call mountain biking. It took us 2 hours to get to the top of the ridge, where it was snowing! then basically had to walk our bikes over the next 15km as it was un-ride able. Totally crazy, I think I had 3 separate metal break downs where I picked up my bike and threw it into the woods and sat down, good thing Ted has a lot of patience! After that, we cleared the check points and finished the day off.
Day 2 was a real tuf one as well but I was much better mentally prepared then the day before so I just pounded through it. Day 3 was god, nice easy single track and a short day, only 50km or so. Day 4 had some climbs in it, 2 big ones to be exact, but what goes up must come down, nothing like burning down 20 km of down hill! My hands and shoulders have never hurt so much before. day 5, (today) well I think they tried to shake off a few more riders, the last 20 km were brutal and took alot to get through, nasty little rock garden put me over the bars as well, so I guess I match Ted with shedding some blood on the trail. Our mechanic that we hired is keeping the bikes in great condition and really putting some extra effort into them, best wrench the giant has ever seen! But really what it all comes down to is that we are having an awesome time out here, awesome views and best of all Ted and I are actually still in this thing! ha ha, thought we would have been cut out for not making a time cut off by now but here we are! We really wouldn't be able to do this without our support team either, Laura, Andrea and Mark, who for some reason seem to end up in their own little Trans Adventures daily, honestly, they have more stories than we do!