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Schneider

The ride today started with a long climb up a fire road — lots of really steep stuff. We then hit an amazingly brutal single- and doubletrack section of muddy red clay with about 15 or so river crossings. Lots of hike-a-bike, lots of crashes, lots of frustrated athletes. It was interesting to sit back and listen to people's attitudes and the negative vibes on how tough the course was. I was, of course, attitude police, letting folks know that it was what is was and it didn't help to expend a lot of negative energy.

"I loved getting the crap scared out of me on the descents and actually found myself smiling a lot..."

Anyway, after we rose from the depths of the red clay we hit another fire road with short lived excitement. Gravel. Large deep gravel, up and down and relentless for miles. Off the gravel we hit pavement, but for the 3500 foot climb I dealt with it by deciding that we would be climbing all day and that was that.

Just when we hit the summit, and were looking forward to a nice descent, it started to rain. No, it started to dump huge quantities of water — the road was a river. More rocky, muddy, clay on the descent and the rest is a bit of a blur — more climbing, more climbing, more climbing. And we've only done day one.

Have I mentioned how surreal the scenery was? Deep green, misty valleys surrounded us and views to die for.

I don't know the results, at this time, of the top finishers. As for me, I am pleasantly pleased with my day. I loved getting the crap scared out of me on the descents and actually found myself smiling a lot. I was slow and methodical. I kept thinking of the Energizer bunny, knowing that it was okay for me to go at my own pace. I fueled and hydrated quite well and felt positive in my head throughout the day. My strong suits seemed to be the climbing and the hike-a-bike. I passed a ton of people by pushing my bike! All in all there was no place I would have rather been than trudging through Costa Rica on my mountain bike today. An excellent adventure.

Some of the other things I loved today were hearing the rocks and mud hitting my front fender and knowing they weren't hitting me in the face, helping out people along the way with food, water and other little stuff and seeing the native people as we rode by.

You're not going to believe this, but we rode about 70 miles today and it took me 11.5 hours. Yep, unbelievable. And I was about mid-to-upper half of the field. I think about half the field didn't make the cutoff at the finish — huge body count. Yep, this is some tough race.

Long climb tomorrow — about 6000 feet. I better go get ready.

— Terry Schneider, MountainZone.com Correspondent