I think this is where I say, "Wecome to my blog"...

So there. I said it. I said the words "my" and "blog" together in a sentence. Not so long ago, if someone was to tell me I'd be sitting here starting my own blog, I probably would have rolled my eyes and said, "I don't think so".

Well, here I am. I decided to start this blog for a few different reasons. I've been working in the bike industry for the past 7 years or thereabouts. I'm not exactly an industry "veteran" quite yet, but I've been in the biz long enough to have gathered some great stories and a few (hopefully) interesting insights. When I describe my job as Mountain Bike Brand Manager for Haro Bikes, people are usually pretty fascinated and say something like, "Wow, your job sounds so COOL!". My job IS really cool and it occured to me that maybe a few people would like to hear more about it. If not, well that's what the "back" button is for on the top left-hand corner of your computer screen.

I also realized that my job becomes even more interesting to folks because of the fact that I'm a woman. There's not many of us in this business, let me tell you. We're outnumbered probably 7 to 1. There are even fewer women in the capacity of Brand or Product Managers. Last month when I was in Taiwan visiting some of our vendors, I met with Stella Yu, owner of the one of the largest saddle manufacturers in the world, and arguably one of the most powerful business people in the Taiwan cycling industy. She said, "Jill, other than Sky Yaeger when she used to work for Bianchi, you are the only other woman to come visit my factory as a manager". To be compared second in line to the infamous Sky Yaeger (who is now working for Swobo developing their new line of bikes), is one of the best compliments I'd received in a long time. So given the fact that we ladies of the bike industry are somewhat of a rarity, we've all got some funny stories from a different perspective.

And last but not least, I have to credit my friend and co-worker Tim Jackson aka "Masi Guy" for encouraging me to start a blog. Sure, I'll admit it. I've teased him and poked fun at him and his little blog-o-rama he's got going. So much so that I think at times he's been tempted to slip arsenic into my coffee at work. He has a great following of Masi fans on his blog and has been bugging me to start a Haro blog. OK, this isn't really a Haro blog, but it's going to be good practice for one. That's my next project.

There you have it. I hope my entries are at least somewhat entertaining and maybe even educational. If you don't like my rants and raves, there are plenty of other eccentric blogs and crap out there you can go amuse yourself with.

Ciao for now.