Fighting 'til the end

Today was the last stage of the Vuelta, and for us, a short one, with only 4 laps of the 6 mile circuit to do. Again, the day in Boquete (our home base) started under cloudy skies, but after the 30 mile drive down to David, although cloudy, the rain was staying north of the city.

First thing was to take care of the award ceremony from yesterday's stage, since it was cancelled due to a thunderstorm. As you, dear reader, already know, FRESH went "uno, dos, tres" on the day and Glenn was wearing pink as the leader of the intermediate sprints competition and I looked superb in the white jersey of stage winner.

Dave was the first to take to the roads, and just like yesterday, he was feeling like a million bucks and although the first break in his category went off without him, he fought his way and joined the lead group to finish 6th on the day.

For the rest of us, the race took a unexpected turn when Glenn hit a pothole half way through the first lap and had dual flats. The chief referee and organizers were not allowing follow vehicles on the course, so it was going to be a war of attrition, and a matter of pure luck just to get through without a flat. Unfortunately for Glenn, his race was over and with that, his second place on GC. As we finished the first circuit, I was patrolling the back of the pack when I noticed that Glenn was MIA. When I told Kerry about Glenn, we decided that he was going to stay with the yellow jersey and I would try for the stage. But the locals and the Bosques Lodge team from Costa Rica were having none of it. The three attacks I tried were shot down. So Kerry saved himself and when came time for the sprint, he flew the colors of the team one last time, crossing the line in first place.

So we are leaving Panama with a yellow jersey, two pinks and five whites, second overall, second on intermediate sprints and third on the KOM. A total of 4 out of 6 stages and at least two of us were on the podium everyday. We had a great time racing and hanging out together and my parents were having a blast giving us a hand and taking care of bikes, food, drinks, laundry, driving the cars, etc. A true team effort.