Terca-feira (Thursday)

Well, we have a bit of a crisis in paradise. Sergio Marques' (pro triathlete from Portugal whom I've know for about 2.5 years) bike ~still~ has not arrived (he arrived Tuesday) and there aren't a lot of options (short of buying a new one, which isn't really a viable option). There may be a road bike available to loan, but he had very big goals for this race (like top 5). I feel really bad for him. They can't even tell him where the damned thing is! Never fly Iberia airlines. He checked it in in Lisbon and I have a feeling it's still sitting on the tarmac in Madrid, along with an entire trolley of bags, since I guess many people arrived in Sao Paulo missing at least one bag off that flight.

Sergio, Peter, me and my clubmate Andrea went swimming this morning. The water is 20-21C (70F) and was a little wavy, but not bad. We swam about 25 minutes. I felt OK, but my left arm/shoulder feels "weak", like I have no power. At least it didn't hurt which wasn't the case a week to ten days ago. The swim will be what it will be.

Right after the swim, Peter and I went and ran out on the run course up the first hill and down and to the base of the "wall", then back. Just over 21 minutes and I felt stiff most of the way. After that it was breakfast, a shower and lounge around a bit, then Andrea and I went and rode. And boy, did I feel FANTASTIC. We rode out on the first out/back and we ride up on these two guys riding along fairly easy and they start chatting us up--they were Brasilianos from Brasilia (the capital city in the middle of the country where there is a 70.3 race in September). The one riding next to me is doing his first IM. They turned off to go back to town and we headed out a little further. Fun to talk to them. We ended up riding just over an hour.

Then it was time for lunch, and we (me, Sergio, Peter) were walking around looking for somewhere to eat when this guy asked us if we were looking for a restaurant for lunch. Seems he's an American who lives in Floripa for 2-3 months at time, going back and forth between the US and Floripa. My dream!!! He sent us down the road to the restaurant "above the gas station". He said he knew it sounded strange, but it was a very good restaurant. And it was! It was one of the buffets where they have some salad items, meat, rice, beans, batatas (potatoes), etc. Quite the good meal.

It was then time to drop Sergio off at the pro meeting and went to the expo to try to find Adriano about a loaner bike for Sergio and then looked around. Didn't buy anything this time. We also got registered and #143 is ready to go!

The pros got out of their meeting and we talked to Hilary Biscay for awhile. She looks good. I hope she has a great race! After a cafe' and a pais de queso (mini cheese bread bite), we went to the English-speaking athletes' meeting and I walked in and Cathy and Bill said, "You are in last year's video!" Well, I am...twice!! So of course, I had to run downstairs and buy it!!! There is a shot of me getting body marked in the morning and then at the very end when they are showing a lot of people finish, they show my finish and overlay the pro men's results. Very exciting!

After the meeting we came back to the hotel to find Sergio. No good news. No bike; no loaner bike. We have Fernando iworking on it from SF via Skype phone calls to Adriano's cell phone here, speaking in Portuguese; and ShawnF is following up w/Iberia via the internet). THANK YOU AL GORE FOR THE INTERNET!

Once we figured we'd done all we could for today, we headed off to dinner. We went to this restaurant that the boys and I had gone to last year that is on the run course. We were the only ones there, so we had a FEAST! Grilled tahina (local fish) that was caught that day--the entire fish we had; salada mixte; some appetizer things (pastries filled with cheese in one and shrimp in the other); crab cakes; rice; some shrimp paste thing; one beer for me and the ENTIRE bill was 67 reis for 3 people. That is so cheap--about $45US and we had a lot of food.

Tomorrow it's maybe a short swim, then it's more digging for a bike. Anyone got a 51 or 53 bike to lend?