I’m really excited

Here we go again. Training camp for US Postal cycling team for the 2003 season. For me technically it is the second camp of the 03 season. We were in Austin for a week in December. Now we are in Solvang, California for two weeks.
But this is the read deal. All 20 riders minus Floyd Landis who will be recovering from a broken Femur (I think it is his Femur). Get well Floyd! Almost all the staff is here. Two of Three Directors, 5 of 6 Mechanics, all 4 Soigneurs, 2 of 3 Doctors, 1 Media personnel, 1 Logistics personnel, 1 Events personnel and the 2 Bosses of Tailwind Sports which owns the team. Oh, and Janet our office personnel will also be here. That’s 38 people. Wow!
The Day before I left Sacramento I was talking with my friend Paul. We call him English Paul due to his country origin. We were talking about me resigning for 2003 and getting to go to camp to start the season. We also were talking about how special my job is. Not special in the way I work but special due to the cool factor some view my job. Some think it is cool because of the team I work for. For others it is cool because of some of the riders on my team. But mainly it is cool because it is a job that not many get to do because there are few Team Mechanics. Period!!! The Saturn team has 4 mechanics, Navigators has 2, Prime Alliance has 1, 7-UP has 1, Sierra Nevada has 1. There are more but these are the only (I think) full time pro team mechanics. We at US Postal have 4 full timers in Europe, 1 part timer in Europe and myself as the sole full time mechanic in the US for our team. Even though we have 6 mechanics and are a US team, I consider my position as the only US Position. So counting myself there are only (again I think) 10 full time pro mechanics in the US.
That’s a small fraternity. Sorry Eva, I still think it is a Fraternity. Mostly males. Eva is the only full time female pro mechanic in the US and probably the world.
English Paul was very happy I had a position again for this season. He says he lives to hear my stories from the road/races. During my conversation with Paul I talked/answered in a sort of mellow tone. To Paul I did not sound excited. He was VERY excited about my job and said he thought he was more excited about my job than I was. To me it is sort of just a job. A job I love but still just a job. I do feel special because I have a job few will ever do. But my talk/answers were still mellow. To set the record straight, I’m very excited to be where I am. To be with the team I’m with. But most of all, I’m VERY excited to be a Professional Team Mechanic. Yes, I’m excited.