Lesson one...

...in the pros mentality.  Attitude means as much as anything.

Score after match 1:  Alan 650.  Aer Lingus Nil...
We're at Logan airport, on the way out.  Alan's flight comes in from Colorado.  We collect him at terminal C and hoof over to E.  Aer Lingus counter.  Smiling young not at all Irish girl offers us $650 to give up our seats on an overbooked flight.  

Before I could laugh out the words "You're joking, No way I'm deviating from my months planned in advance, extra rest day in Dublin," the pros' voice of conscience answered for us. Alan's.

"We should do it..it's a lot of money.  What'd ya think?"  

Sometimes the difference between pro and schmoe is revealed on a false flat at 48kph. Sometimes it's revealed in opportunistic decisions to incur discomfort and routine disruption in return for cash.

Lesson one in being a Pro.  Always, always take the cash.

Alan snagged this first prime.  $650 plus transport and lodging vouchers. Paul and I vacillated and were going to join him to keep the band together, but now that they had three volunteers grabbing at the bait, suddenly they only needed one, for the moment.  Corporate indecision.  Typical...

Leaving enough time to reconsider the trade offs.  Risk of not seeing already-checked-in bike until a day later.  Stark reality of a lost day spent in a Peabody Holiday Inn holding cell.  The opportunity cost of losing the acclimation day and our only free time in Dublin.

The girl at the Aer Lingus desk still couldn't commit.  Maybe we'll need one more.  Flight time approaching.

The cock crowed three times.  Paul and I took the flight.  The real pro took the money.  See you Saturday!

So the points classification before the Ras even started is A. McCormack 650 - Aer Lingus 0.
...and no sign of the intended stand-by substitute for Alan's seat.
Corporate waste knows no bounds.
A professional cyclist's decision calculus is much more logical than the incentive policies of multi national corporations with more money than sense.  For alas, Alan's paid-for seat remained vacant all the way to Dublin.  No sign of the stand-by passenger it was intended to be filled by.  Cue trombone music jongens!

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