This Is Not A Test

It's nothing, really. Just another post. But I do have some big news.

First: I got my chain/derailleur yesterday. Finally. After the world tried to conspire to keep me from getting these items, they arrived. Late last night, through UPS. For some reason, it took a full 6 days to get from Palm Springs to Los Angeles (80 miles). Eh. I'm really stoked on having a nice clean front derailleur for once (the old one was beat to hell). Now about getting a record to replace the veloce rear D.....eh. That'll wait. A lonnnng while. The Caad8? It looks nice, yeah stiff, all that. The Caad7 was smoother. 1000%. I'm pretty sure "smoothness" is completely overlooked on this series of frames...if they ride too well, no one would pick up the more expensive bikes. Ah well.

The second news item....I have five NRC points. FIVE. Big Money. Big Cars. Hotel suites in Vegas. Magazine Covers. All those things and more await. I'm conveniently located on the very last page, rider #375, here. I did 4 NRC races this year: Gila, Shorewood, Schlitz Park, and Manhattan Beach. 68th, 24th, 25th, and 17th. ~$500 total cash earned. Fun times. They really are the best races.

3rd, and perhaps most important: Hockey preseason has started! The OIL played sunday, monday, and tuesday. Won all three games by a combined score of 10-3. It's only preseason, but hey. The season starts in a little more than a week. I am ecstatic, immeasurably so. Bouncing off the walls levels. I don't know if i'll be able to hold back the tears during the first regular season rendition of O Canada. To pay homage to the Oilers, I got this crafty new haircut:
To some, it won't look like i've got my hair at all, but I definitely did. Note the action in the back. I've dubbed it "80s Hockey Hair In Progress". In particular, it's a tribute to my favorite Oiler, Ryan Smyth. Basically, he's got the best hockey hair (aka "mullet" but that's much too vulgar a term...it's much much classier than that) around. I won't blaspheme by saying "mine's gonna be like Ryan's", no, but I will try to emulate it to the best of my ability.

Some of the cycling kids grow the euro version of these "mullets" I'd mentioned. I must stress that mine is not cycling related. It isn't a Tom Boonen or Cunego special. This is timeless. Just check out a hockey mag from the late 80s/early 90s. What an era. For both hockey and hair. Allright allright, enough on that.

Last: Next Year. Lots of people have asked, and will continue to ask. Please keep asking me! It keeps me motivated and gets me sending out emails, resumes, etc etc etc. It's really easy to be discouraged in this game. I've sent about 10 out so far. Have at least 5 more planned. One felt particularly promising. Health-Net "politely declined"...I think it's beause of the prime money I took from Karl in Wisconsin...totally understandable. The only other "official" rejection came from a Canadian team with an "all riders must be Canadian" mandate. I told them I'm a CORE Oiler (who hail from Canada) fan, but no go. So yeah, keep asking me, and hopefully i'll eventually have something to answer with.