Road to Panay...

Smooth Sailing:
Wow what a day and a half here... People often ask me ask me "how are things going?" And I often respond with "busy, but good...". That is exactly how I would describe today. We faced a lot of adversity earlier in the week dealing with dismantling and assembling our bikes and trailers. Some how on Thursday it went very smoothly. 

We had a red eye flight Friday night/Saturday morning to Manila so we were able to go down to Yongkang Lu for dinner with some colleagues and friends before our flight. 

As you can see in the photo above, the boys are ready...

After 2 flights we arrive in Roxas City, Panay Island, Philippines around noon. Pronounced "Roha" City. A little Spanish flare. 

Mission 1: get our butts to our to hotel with our bikes and trailer... I saw a gentleman wearing a visor in the parking lot and I knew since he has such trendsetting style that he would be willing to help us out. He was a bit hesitant at first but then I ripped my visor and we shared a special moment. I think he realized we are the only people in Asia still wearing visors. 

There is a serious sense of excitement and energy in this country in anticipation for the Pacqiao vs Mayweather boxing match. There are signs and posters everywhere showing their support for their golden son.

Mission 2: Build our bikes and trailers. Big shout out to Paul Hayes for showing me how to do this on our last tour. 3 bikes and 2 trailers were put together in about an hour and a half. We got a sense for the heat out here though. It is about 38 degrees out here and working out in that was a bit challenging but we battled. 

Mission 3: Get Equipment
So the challenge here is buying enough equipment to fill our trailers + getting equipment shipped to future locations on our journey for when we run out. This is especially challenging when we one of our cyclists is a Philippino living legend...

#wheresyourmurse 

As soon as we walked inside of the mall this crowd mobbed him asking for autographs, and photos while chanting "Rusty, Rusty!" I'm pretty sure I saw a 17 year old girl faint when she grazed his hand it was nuts...

By the time it came to buying equipment not 1 store had enough pieces to sell to us and ship to us. So we bought from 2 different stores. 

Ivy my love... Thank you and your staff for your kindness and advice for the shipping. The service at Robinsons was great!

We ended the evening listening to music and eating food accompanied by our my main man San Miguel...

Today was busy but successful. Just the way we like it! I love the energy in this town. From the choir singing to everyone as we get off the plane to the pride this country has shown for their golden son Manny Pacqiao. We have met so many helpful people and it is only day 1. Big day tomorrow. Looking forward to getting up early to hand out equipment and explore this country.

Thank you all for your support.

For Isaac and Ross

Love Cyril