The “official” training has begun. We got into Salta a few days ago, but today is officially day number 1.

Our activity of the day was running a half hour straight up a hill, Cerro San Bernardo – the local lookout point. It went well, besides the fact that I haven’t run in a month so I’m slow and I’ve had a respiratory infection so between death rattles I was coughing up green goo. Other than that, great.

In other news, we have a lead on bikes and might be able to buy them tomorrow. We’ve also heard rumors about an altitude training center in a town called Cachi, about 160km from Salta. While Salta is at 1214m, Cachi is at a healthy 2280m. The write-ups make it sound like only national teams can use the facilities, but the head of the Salta Cycling Federation says we might be able to use it if we go talk with the Ministry of Sport. Suppose it’s all about who you know…so we’re looking into it.