Here is a picture of all the athletes. The race director (Jorge) is the man in the suit at the center of the picture. He is very friendly and seems genuinely concerned that all of the participants have a safe and enjoyable experience. One of the local TV stations was on hand to cover the pre-race. Wayne is on the far right with the red shirt. The fellow in the blue shirt, kneeling in front of Wayne is Harn. He is from Singapore, he has done the double iron in Levi, the triple iron in Germany, the double iron in Hungary, the double iron in Virginia and will do the deca iron this week. All of these races have been since June of this year. (I feel pretty humble.)

Here is a picture of Wayne in front of a downtown hotel where we we going to have the pre-race. It turned out that it was the wrong hotel, so our guide had to recall the bus to pick us up and take us to the correct hotel. Our guide is named Carlos, he speaks little english, but is very friendly and is always smiling.

Hello all, here is my first report from sunny Monterrey. Wayne and I had quite a busy day on Friday. We assembled his bike (more on that later) toured the race venue, met the other athlete's from around the world, went to the pre-race meeting, enjoyed a wonderful seafood buffet at a luxury hotel, shopped in a local supermarket and ate a late dinner at a nearby restaurant that would be similar to an Eat-N-Park in Pittsburgh.

We dropped off our gear at the race village which is nicer than we envisioned. It is an entire sports complex with venues for every sport imaginable. We were expecting the loop course to be fairly spartan, like a big asphalt parking lot. Instead, it is a course that winds through the village, passing many buildings, green areas and trees. This is also the only green area that we have seen in the city, as every square inch of real estate has buildings on it. We will set up tents at the start/finish area and my crewing duties will be centered there. There is a small restaurant a few yards away that we pay in advance for and will have carte blanche once the race begins. The swim venue is very nice and is about 3 kilometers from the bike/run course. The racers will exit the pool, get on their bikes and ride with a police escort to the bike/run course where they will start their many, many laps.

I was not pleased with the way Wayne's bike is set up, but he indicated that it was just fine for him. I will try to locate the correct tools today and make sure that it is in top condition for the race. One of the other competitiors should have what I need. I also helped Michelle from the USA assemble her bike last night. I just can not keep my hands off of other folks hardware.

Michael, a civil engineer from Germany, had dinner with us and engaged us with lots of useful information, as he has done this race refore. One of the most entertaining bits of information was that if you begin to get any stomach discomfort during the race, have a cup of coffee made with local water. The after-effects will clear your system almost immediately and you can then begin to refuel adequately.

We are staying at a Hampton Inn until tomorrow, when we will leave for the race site. The hotel offers us quiet rest, unlike the dorm type rooms at the sports village. I hope to post my first report after the swim on sunday. We are hoping for Wayne to complete the swim in under 9 hours, so that should put us around six o'clock sunday afternoon. We are on central standard time here, so we are an hour behind those of you in Pittsburgh.