And they’re off

The Grand Depart got underway at 08:00 with perfect conditions for a fast start for the 141 South Bound (SOBO) racers in Banff and the 5 NOBO racers starting in Antelope Wells.

The group photo in front of the Y looks is filled with nervous faces:

The NOBO start is an action photo with one racer missing (the rider on with the Bob Trailer is not racing):

Keith Brodsky (TD Vet and Banff local) got a nice clip of the roll out at the trailhead in Banff which you can watch here:

https://www.facebook.com/keith.brodsky.92/videos/10161898262490187/

Bethany Reantz has the NOBO on film here:

https://www.facebook.com/bethany.rentz/videos/10157488789364783/

These pics from John Schilling show how stunning the route through Canada is:

Spray Lakes Reservoir:

Swing bridge on the short section of the High Rockies Trail that is included:

The long tough straight haul up the Powerline over Elk Pass:

The forestry road down Elk Pass towards Elkford:

One racer lost his entire race money pre-start, another has lost his Spot in the first hours - so pretty standard first day nerves and errors. A few navigation mistakes have already happened with some adding mileage by missing turns, some adding mileage by hitting the HRT too early, and a couple racers skipping the HRT entirely and getting relagated within a few hours of the start.

The early pace was set by Josh Ibbett and Nate Ginzton. Nate was a surprise entry as he was not on the pre race starter list, but he's a known rider who has won the Smoke 'n Fire 400 bikepacking race in Idaho in 2016 , 2017 (beating Jay Petervary) and 2018 - and beat Josh Kato for 3rd place in in the Smoke n' Fire 2015. How Nate goes on the much longer TD will play out over the next few weeks.

Alex Cohen has posted up this set of great rider pics as they pass Spary Lakes on some single track:

https://www.facebook.com/alexzcohen/media_set?set=a.10161893460240504&type=3

Day 1 write up to come once they stop riding plus details on the Top 10 rider whose seatpost snapped ....