Philippines 70.3 - part 1

Last week I was off to the Philippines for my race.  My flight from Shanghai to Hong Kong got delayed on the ground for a couple of hours (pretty much the usual for me), making the connection super tight to Cebu.  As we were getting off the plane I had about 25 minutes to make my connection.  The flight attendant was sure they would hold it as there were a few of us going there and that was the last flight of the night.  Well as soon as I got off the jet bridge there were gate agents waiting holding signs for Cebu...and my boarding pass...for the next day's flight!  Damn this isn't starting well.

Thankfully Cathay Pacific put me up in a nearby hotel and made things as easy as possible.  The flight the next morning around 8:30 went as planned...until I got off the plane, went through customs and realized I had left my iPad on the plane!  Crap this is continuing to not go well.  After alerting the staff they checked the plane but no luck on the iPad.  I tried to file a "lost" claim but they didn't seem to have one. 

On to the hotel I go and it's about 12:30 now.  Upon getting to the hotel and checking in, I find out the last shuttle to race check leaves at 2PM.  (FYI the race is the following day).  So I quickly build my bike, grab some stuff and head over to the check in.  From here the rest of the day seemed to go relatively well.

Time for the race briefing, explaining the rules, time line for the day, laying out the course, etc...