Damn you cyclingnews for trying to buzzkill my dream.

Some of you may already know that I aspire to become an NRC professional clincher. So far I’ve spent the past year training with an Elite Cat 1-5 team and it’s been good, but I yearn for faster speeds, tighter corners and more victories. My handler at the moment is a decent racer, but he doesn’t put in the 20 hours a week I require to reach my potential. Hell, he can barely sustain 25mph without hiding behind some other wheelset, and he corners like he’s riding a beach cruiser.

Honestly, the past year I’ve spent most of my time stuck on the back porch, listening to Open Pro and Zipp argue who has the most palmarés instead of training. Listening to those two argue is the worst. Open Pro blathers on so much about how his great grandfather won Le Tour and Roubaix in the same year that even I usually end up siding with Zipp just to shut that Frenchy’s spoke hole.

But I digress. So yeah, I could totally go pro. I’ve been true all year, my braking surface is top shelf, and thanks to some rigorous training in the gym last winter, my spin-up profile in clincherpeaks WKO+ has me at or above domestic Pro across the board. I’m ready for the move to the big time!

I've got my resumes out and I'm feeling good about the 09 season, but then cyclingnews.com started publishing all these doomsday articles about the state of professional racing in the USA!

First I learn that two teams are SOL, then I learn that other teams aren’t really planning on bringing on new talent. And there is still one more article left! What’s next? Are they going to switch to unicycles and leave chain driven rear wheels out in the cold?!

It could happen. Damn you cyclingnews. I might just be stuck with my “elite amateur” handler for yet another season.