On April 20th while looking through my email I came across one that drew my attention. The subject of the email was “Cycle World and Kawasaki have selected YOU!”. I immediately had visions of opening the email and seeing an Uncle Sam type ad with a man in big red, white and blue hat pointing a finger at me and declaring (in large font) what a great deal I could get on XXX bike from Kawasaki because I’d been a long time subscriber of Cycle World. I was perplexed to see a logo with the words Cycle World Ninja 1000 Experience and the words “Congratulations”. As I read further it wasn’t a sales ad, it was an opportunity to become a gust contributor for Cycle World and a test rider for the new 2011 Kawasaki Ninja 1000. The idea is to test ride the Ninja 1000 for 90 days and write about my experiences. I’ve always thought riding bikes and writing about them would be the dream job. I downloaded the entry form, I’ll admit with a little skepticism, and with a small prayer I sent off my entry form. Fast forward to May 12 when I opened my email and saw the subject “CONGRATULATIONS!! You have been selected as a Cycle World Contributor for the Ninja 1000 Experience.” I read the letter several times to make sure that this wasn’t the next stage in a twelve step process, it turned out it wasn’t it was the real deal.

So at this point I’m waiting with seven of the ten other guest contributors for our bikes to arrive and to start enjoying the “experience” for ourselves. Two of the ten have already received their Ninja 1000’s and are making me really anxious to get mine. I’m crossing my fingers and hoping for good news next week.