The UCI has recently released it’s rankings and I’m currently sitting 1124^th in the world. That might put me out of Olympic contention for 2008, but I’ll keep at it… As if the Olympics were ever on the current radar, but it’s still fun to look at all the names. In real news I’ll be starting at Arizona Cyclist on a part time basis starting on Monday. This is a very cool shop and they are 100% into the high-end mountain bike stuff. They’ve assembled a great team of employees and I am excited to be a part of it as the store continues to thrive in a big way. With a second Tucson location specializing in high-end road equipment they’ve got a grasp on a very niche market.  This job will sublement my coaching income, but really I’m most excited because it will allow me to further network myself within the Tucson cycling community.  Chances are that I’ll meet some awesome people through this place, and who knows, maybe I’ll find some potenital clients too.

In other news I’ve been doing some apartment searching too. My current place has worked wonderfully, but as of January I’ll have roommates and thus a bigger apartment becomes necessary. This is just a studio, so it would be impossible for any others to move in. A  RV 2006 reunion of sorts will be the norm for the winter months here as Jenna, Justin, and Paul will all be spending some time down here training. I’m looking forward to having some roommates, a bigger place, and of course cheaper living expenses. Craiglist.com, Apartments.us, and rentnet.com have all been searched daily, but I’m still trying to find the “bestâ€? place out there. Maybe such a place doesn’t exist, and everything really is quite mediocre, I’m not sure. I’ll just have to keep searching and come up with something by the end of the month.

Tomorrow will be the third and final race of the Dust Devil series up at Estrella park, which is the greater Phoenix area. I was beaten at the last one, so I’ll be looking for a small amount of personal redemption. With a couple weeks of training in my legs maybe pedaling hard won’t seem so foreign this time.  Tristan had some fun comments about how he’s still in season while everyone else is starting the next season already.  Of course there are many approaches to take and I think cyclocross racing is one of the best out there if you can figure out how to take a break and then regroup for the spring mountain season successfully. It’s been fun to follow his success this fall and I wish him the best of luck as he narrows in on another great ride at Nationals. Do it to it!

And if you haven’t found this blog already, you best check it out. Brian Matter will surely provide you with some quality reading. This guy has been there and done that with the mountain bike racing and he’s got the stories to prove it. Who else has met Weird Al through bike racing!? This stuff is great, and the old school pictures are second to none.

Keeping it Real, -TJ