New Title Sponsor!

So I have kept most of you all in the dark about the BIG NEWS that happened after the Keuka Lake Triathlon this past weekend, but the information has leaked out a bit too. Without further adieu, I will announce that since the 2006 season (after getting dropped by TriSports.com for budgetary reasons) I have been racing "sans-a-sponsor". That all changed after I crossed the line at Keuka on Sunday....I finished and the lady that was cutting off the timing chips from everyones ankle looked at me after she removed my chip and handed me a business card from Handlebars Cycle Company in Buffalo, NY. (this is the same place where I purchased THE BEAST and I have had a good relationship with the tri guru over there named Jim Costello) The lady told me that Jim wanted to speak with me when I got a minute.

So I hung out for a little, visited with some friends, went on a cool down with Carl Johnson and then en route to my car, Jim passes me and says, "so when are you going to start letting me sponsor you?" Jokingly, I answered, "How about right now?" and he said to come see him when I had a minute...

So before the awards, I went over to the Handlebars booth and started talking shop with Jim and chatting about where I can improve in the race and what my strongest/weakest legs of the tri were. He asked what my height and weight were and I thought that was weird, but answered and he went over to a rack of really nice wetsuits and I thought to myself, well maybe he's going to let me borrow one to race in the future in...

He pulls out a Profile Design Metal cell 2 by Aquaman. He tosses it to me and says, "here you go"... I was shocked. I thought to myself, "are you serious?" and was trying REALLY hard to keep my jaw from dropping to the ground. Jim then mentioned that my uniform probably wouldn't be ready for this Sunday at Muskoka in Canada, but it would be here in the next week or so along with my racing kit full of clothes, goodies and stuff... He then, just simply said, "Don't worry about it, we'll take care of you from now on..." and we then chatted about the future for me and where he thought I was going to go and how I would place at certain races, etc...

I told him about my 5 year plan to get to Hawaii and he agreed that it could be done and of course I thanked him like a million times. I was seriously stunned as I walked back to my bike and drove home. The wetsuit still had the TAGS on it and I already HAD a decent wetsuit and I was just shoked that he pulled it off the rack and just gave it to me! It's soaking right now in my tub and I'm going to go to Kershaw tomorrow and test it out before Muskoka, but it was SO COOL and weird at the same time. A handshake was all that was needed for our "contract".

I'm just still in shock. Jim said he would call this week and I gave him all of my information including name, address and phone number and the like and this is the same store that sponsors Curt Eggers (a triathlon legend in the Rochester area - everyone knows Curt. He was a national age group champion in both triathlon and duathlon in 2006!) I was just astonished that Jim took an interest in what I was doing and how he thought I would be good investment to sponsor for 2007. (apparently I am in good company :) ...)

Believe me, I will race often and I will do my absolute best to race well and show my sponsor that they are not wasting their time on me and that I am worth the $500+ wetsuit that was just handed to me. So, Handlebars, thank you SO VERY MUCH for giving me the opportunity to race for you and I hope I won't dissappoint. Just knowing that someone else is counting on me to do well in a race gives me that extra drive and motivation to not let anyone down. Thank you very much and I hope this is the start of a great mutually beneficial relationship!

Cheers everyone, thanks for reading. See you tomorrow night at Kershaw in my new blue armed wetsuit.