This is it. Day 1. It all comes down to this: the months of training, the travel planning, the preparations, the fund-raising, the internal gut-checks at every step along the way. It all comes down to this morning at 5AM, when the athletes arrived at Park Olympique in Montreal, after waking up at in the deep dark of 3AM. After a weekend of travel, camaraderie, and goodwill, and a day of registration and orientation, 2,800 athletes (an unconfirmed estimate) and their trusty steeds assembled for the opening ceremonies, which began at 5:15AM.

The atmosphere was electric. At 5:45AM, there was rustle through the crowd when everyone knew, finally, this was it. It was time to mount up. Flashing lights slashed through the morning mist as the riders put foot to pedal and followed a police escort out of the city. It would be 54 miles to the border between Canada and the United States, and another 48 miles to Essex Junction, Vermont, for a total of 102 miles on bicycle, on this, just the first day.

As of the time this report was filed, our own Heather McDaniel and the other riders began at an elevation of 187 feet when they crossed the bridge leaving Montreal and are now on their way to the border. After crossing the border, they’ll ride down Grand Isle, located in the middle of Lake Champlain, one of America’s Great Lakes. By the time they arrive in Essex Junction this evening, they’ll have climbed to an elevation of 332 feet. Then, it’s a night of well-deserved rest and it all begins again. Tune in tomorrow for the details of Day 2 and any updates we get on today’s ride.You can follow along on Heather’s Big Adventure by checking out the route map.