It kind of makes me wonder how the guys in the Tour Of Cali are getting by. I guess it would help to have your legs rubbed down after each stage, recovery drink and food handed to you etc... Plus its not like they are riding in 20 degree weather. I think the biggest thing those guys have going for them is that they are not staring at the ceiling at night wondering how they are going to come up with the $ to purchase there USAC license for 08, let alone rent two months from now. I swear the stress of being unemployed and no steady income is slowing me down a lot.

I've been running into a lot of dead ends with the job hunt. It seems I am perfectly qualified for most of the jobs until you get to the part where they want 5+ years of direct experience. Even the entry level jobs want a min of 2 years experience. I have 5 years experience as a professional cyclist, but that doesn't amount to jack squat to anyone. If I tell anyone I am a professional cyclist they look at me weird and ask "If you are a professional cyclist, why do you want to work here, don't you already make a lot of money?" Then I usually get the "well what about that guy Lance?" I mean come on people! Just because you know one cyclist who happens to have maid a fair amount of money in the sport doesn't mean we all do! When I am not in a job interview and I get asked questions like these I like to give a semi smart ass answer back. I ask "have you ever seen a bike race?" they answer no, I say something along the lines of

"well see thats why most cyclist don't get paid much or anything. Cycling doesn't involve a ball or a stick and we live in America, thus people like you won't pay attention to it and if people don't watch the sport why would companies want to put lots of money into it?" 

The fact that our economy isn't doing so well isn't helping the job hunt either. Its going to be interesting in the upcoming presidential election to see how everything unfolds. Has anyone noticed that once the Democrats overtook congress things have really started to go down hill?  Its too back Romney pulled out of the race. I think he would have been the best guy to pull the economy back together. Higher taxes and going after corporations I don't think is the way to get a company to stay in America, but thats just my opinion. 

Well I am done ranting and bickering about a bad economy, not job, no money, etc... I guess no one ever said life as a pro would be easy....

I leave you with a pic I found of myself at a road race this past summer. A road race? Yeah I did a crit in June, double lapped the field, then the officials finally listened to me and upgraded me from a 5 to a cat 2. Its about time!