I was walking around Jimmy Mac’s back porch, barefoot, when his wife, Gail (Gale?), said something like it really feels like winter. I was in shorts and short sleeves and just picked a bunch of fresh oranges off their tree. I was wondering what Gail was noticing that gave her the inclination that winter had arrived? Yesterday was cooler, but in the mid 60’s. Today is in the lower 50’s, but damp. It is supposed to be raining all afternoon again. Maybe that is winter in Southern California? I don’t know, but it feels alright to me. I rode 3 1/2 hours yesterday through Rancho Santa Fe, but I did have arm warmers on when I started.

I went down the hill this morning to have breakfast with Don and Sue in La Jolla. There are tons of great places to eat. There is also a farmer’s market. I posted pictures a few months back, but I’ll put a couple more here. It is amazing how big and all encompassing the thing is. So many choices of fresh vegetables, bakery items, rugs, jewelry, etc. I bought a couple cinnamon rolls and called it a day.

I’m going to ride a little now and see how it feels. I have a head cold. I think it is from the dusty races last weekend, plus the Santa Anna’s blowing in from the desert, but maybe it was from flying here. I don’t know. I don’t feel that horrible, but can envision feeling a lot worse when I get back to Kansas in a couple days. I feel like I’m kind of teetering on the brink of getting well or going to the dark side. The cross race isn’t until this afternoon. I’ll know more about my body and the weather by then.

This is one of my favorite houses in La Jolla. It hangs over the cliff walk, where the pelicans roost for the night.

This statue is in Cardiff and they dress it up for different occasions. The is for breast cancer awareness.

Since we can't sell wine in the grocery stores in Kansas, it always seems foreign to me when I go into a grocery in California and there are isles upon isles of wines.

This family was ahead of me in the bakery in Rancho. They are wearing their down sweaters when I was wearning shorts and short sleeves.

This old cart is in La Jolla. The canoe/boat is hand carved.

And these photos are for Ted, who didn’t like my picture from a couple days ago of “exotic” cars. These photos were all taken in a 100 meter walk, parked on the street. You know, out for the Sunday drive, breakfast gaunt.

I understand the reason people hire agents to talk for them. Other than not having enough time or knowledge to work out the contracts and other stuff, the agent alleviates the worst part of being a professional athlete, entertainer or whatever. The worst part is trying to sell yourself. Having to explain to someone how valuable you are, how good you are, how much you could/can do for them. It isn’t within my personality to go out and “brag” about accomplishments, etc. I don’t think it’s in most people’s.

I have never had an agent. Probably for a few reasons, but the main reason is most likely that I never got paid enough to warrant one. And I’ve usually been lucky enough to work out business deals with people I already knew. People I would consider my friends. I wouldn’t normally advise someone to go out and make business deals with friends, but the cycling community is so small that it is nearly inbred.

It doesn’t seem fair, but most of the sponsorship situations I’ve been involved with is more because of how I know more than what I’ve done. Don’t get me wrong, your results and resume are important, but there are lots of people out there that are impressive in all aspects of life. From my experience, it is who you know that helps the most.

The sponsorship scene in the United States for cycling is dismal. There are less and less professional road teams. And the ones that are established are closer to big club teams in finances that anything that would qualify to be professional. The same with MTB racing. Especially endurance racing. When I first started riding for Specialized in the mid 90’s, they had 10 riders sponsored. Salary with full paid expenses. Now they sponsor Todd, plus a few regional programs with equipment. The same with Trek and all the others. Most of the sponsorship dollars seem to be directed to the Pro Tour level.

And with the UCI rule where more than 50% of the riders on the lowest level professional team have to be under 27, it makes the racing makeup of professional races stupid to say the least.

So, there are all these Pro Tour level teams disappearing/merging. So we have lots of good American riders that have been racing on an international level coming back and scrounging for support. And it is nearly non existent.

I’ll use Bjorn Selander as an example. Here’s a guy that has ridden for Livestrong and now RadioShack for the past two seasons. Through the merger, he is out of a “job”. I haven’t heard anything about him recently, but back in September he was still needing a ride. Hopefully that has changed by now, because it should. The guy wore the white jersey in the Giro this year, finished the race and was in the top 40 in the final TT, only 2 minutes behind David Millar. That is pretty great for your first Grand Tour when you’re 23 years old. Now he has to take a step back most likely. That doesn’t seem fair.

I’d like to be Bjorn’s agent. I’ve almost know him since he was in diapers and for sure, watching him pretty closely ever since he’s been riding a bike. He just keeps getting better and better. Bjorn is an easy sell. For me it would be easy, for him it would be more like pulling teeth.