Into the deep end

Arrived in Panama yesterday and somehow avoided the $100 charge for taking the bike on Continental Airlines. This time around, a better supervisor took care of me and got me in with no problems.

Today went out to check parts of stage three (Saturday) and ran into the Costa Rican contingent. Friendly bunch but everyone is keeping their cards close to their chests. And tonight was the team presentation. Never before have I gone to a race and had to shake hands with the UCI's ref!!!!. Each team went on the stage, each rider was introduced and one of the local tv stations did some interviews. I flew under the radar, picked my number, got the credentials for my dad's car so he can be my own "team car" in the caravan, way cool.

So, it looks about 60 riders in the category A race (30 to 39 years old), with some strong looking indivudals. Tomorrow morning at 8:30am we will set off on a 3.5 mile time trial, followed by a 60 mile road race and hour after the finish of the tt. Lets see how it goes, I feel good despite the crash on Sunday, so check back later on Friday night and see how the adventure is going.