Look closely.  There I am in the middle of a quite impressive grouping of names.  Most of which I have not met yet, but I share a common bond and a common sponsor.  Specialized has unique bragging rights to be sponsoring 5 reigning world champions in 5 different types of cycling.  Paolo Bettini (road), Christoph Sauser (marathon cross country), me! (24 hour mountain bike), Conrad Stoltz (Off road triathlon), and Chris MacCormack (Ironman triathlon). They are the type of people who are referenced in competitive circles by just their first names.  They are legends in their fields of work.  I am incredibly honored to be among them on the same page.  I love the fact that I received middle finger billing!

All five champions are gathering this weekend near the Specialized headquarters in California for a once in a lifetime photo shoot, VIP party and poster signing.  All of this is in conjunction with the start of the Tour of California, the biggest pro road race in the US.  We will be getting the VIP treatment from Specialized and enjoying front row seats to watch the Tour of CA the pro teams make their way from San Francisco to LA over 8 days.  I will also be taking part in dealer rides and retail store appearances along the way.  I will be in CA for 10 days and am treating this as my own spring training camp.  The snow is still deep in Idaho, so this will be a great occasion for me to get some great early season road miles into my legs.

So now, it’s time to pack bikes, uniforms and my world champ winners’ jersey for the photo shoot.  I’m a bit nervous and super excited to meet all of these world champions!  I’m not really sure how to address all of these superstars.  One friend suggested I challenge Paolo Bettini to an arm wrestling match to break the ice.  We’ll see.  I wouldn’t want to hurt the guy.  Stay tuned for photos and a recap from the week in CA.