Gearing Up

The other day I met with my Oakley contact and picked up some of my new gear. For a half hour or so he listened to what I needed, made some suggestions, and gave me a bit of an intro to the company. I walked away with some very, very awesome Oakley product and was having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that I was really on board. Like I said earlier, it was a dream come true. I thought I'd share some of the highlights with y'all.

I hadn't had a pair of Jawbones before and so was really, really excited to not only finally have some of my own, but see first hand how incredible this piece of eyewear is. One thing I wasn't previously aware of was how customizable they are. For the last few days I've been messing around with different combinations of the frames, jaws and bolts. For today's on-bike Christmas delivery run, I cooked up these semi-Xmas edition ones.

Another highlight is this Oakley Icon Pack 3.0 Beautifully modeled here by my wonderful mother.

It's packed with features and attention to detail that make it obvious how much Oakley "just gets it." I finally got to break it in today, as I made a special trip, by bike of course, from the house into town. I paid Pa a visit at work and left him with some of Lily's tasty Christmas cookies. Then I headed towards down town to drop off some treats for the good folks at Bicycle Sport Shop. The only hitch in the matter was that it was cold and pouring rain. I did my best to wrap the goodies in a plastic bag and crossed my fingers in hopes that the deluge would only do minimal damage. At first I was amazed that, when I opened the pack, everything was bone dry. Then, on second thought, I wouldn't really expect anything less from Oakley. I don't know if they market this pack as water proof, but if not, they should. It got pounded by rain for 2 straight hours and yet not a drop of water got inside.

In case you can't tell, I'm pretty stoked on this backpack. So much so, I think I'll do a proper 'product review' of it at some point in the near future. Until then, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Joining Forces with Oakley

I am very proud and excited to announce that I will be working with Oakley in 2011!

Even before entering the cycling world, I had an admiration for Oakley. I think what first attracted me to them was their mastery of joining matchless form with impeccable function. To me, they make the best looking products in the market by far, but also the highest quality. After getting to know the bike racing scene over the last few years, my respect for Oakley has only grown. I realized that many of the athletes that I have looked up to as role models and heroes, such as Lance Armstrong, Todd Wells and Geoff Kabush, among many others, also work closely with Oakley. Just like I decided I wanted to become a professional bike racer and make my passion my job, I dreamed of one day being sponsored by Oakley, and becoming part of that family. Boy does it feel good to be able to say I've accomplished that goal!

Stay tuned, as I'll be posting some words and pictures of the new stuff. To paraphrase Taylor Phinney: "Thank you Oakley for adding freshness to my face..."

I started using Oakley sunglasses mid way through last season. Never looking back! (Pun sorta intended)