Mountain Biking - A Merry X-mas from Cannondale

Ok, I know that my kid's application for Cannondale's Bare Naked team was a REALLY REALLY long shot, but did they have to notify him the day after x-mas???

when did you want them to notify you. For a lot of companies today is the return to business as normal and that, for them, is business as normal. Yeah it's a real bummer. BUT, would you rather have waited longer lettign the anticipation kill you and then be crushed. Roll with the punches and try again.

Hate to hear it AP, maybe next year.

Have to agree with blazin, for me, when xmas is done I have to haul ass to make up the time lost. It sucks but its business. And they likely had a timeline of pre-end of the year depending on how their calendar works. (I know mine is jan1 to jan1)

Best of luck next year :)

if you thought it was a "REALLY REALLY long shot", why do you even care?

One more reason not to get a Cannondale - their employees are compassionless and cruel.

Oh, it was just that thier letter came with late cards & late gifts (the KCNC seat post finally came! 165 grams).... and I care because, well, it's a mom thing.

Sorry to hear it, Mom. Yeah, you do end up caring . . . even when you tell yourself not to. Chin up - - each turn-down gets him that much closer to a real cool acceptance. Trust me, it'll come.

Well, if your son didn't see the card, you could just hold off on telling him if you really wanted to. Personally, I don't see the issue.

A few years back, my dad got a certified letter on Labor Day telling him that his trucking company had gone out of business and that he was without a job and his stock was worthless. That was a bit ironic. The bastards even paid a premium to have the letters delivered on Labor Day too.

Life is tough. Babying him won't help.

Go for a small company, and try for just a sepreate sponsership for each team member.

Life is tough. Babying him won't help.

It's not babying..........you're sooo harsh.

As a fellow junior racer, I'd say your son's best bet for sponsorships would either be to hop on board a local team or create your own team(!). It's very hard for a junior racer to individually get sponsorships, but if you're on a unique team it's a different story.

A couple of friends and I make up our local junior team, "Team Atrocity." 2007 will be our first year racing under the name Team Atrocity, before we had each been racing unattached or with a low-level club. So far, Team Atrocity is coming together very nicely with the help of American Classic (http://www.amclassic.com), Kenda (http://www.kendausa.com), Marzocchi (http://www.marzocchiusa.com), GU (http://www.gusports.com), and ODI (http://www.odigrips.com).

Here's our team resume. It's a draft (excludes some pics) - for some reason I can't locate the final PDF we sent off.

http://www.goatrocity.com/docs/Resume.pdf

GW - Very nice resume! You boys ought to add the Greenbrier Fitness Challenge to your list - Greenbrier State Park near Hagerstown MD, on April 29th. Its about the only East Coast qualifier for the NORBA Nationals in VT this year (plus, there's a UCI race that should be fun to watch!).

transition bikes is looking for riders check them out...imho Id ride for transition before i ever throw a leg over a cannondale...

transition dont really make any XC specific rigs do they?

Well, the kid is waiting patiently for his 2007 Salsa Moto Rapido frame to arrive - hopefully in Jan or Feb - fresh off the boat, I suppose. He was planning to sell his Moto & get a C'dale, but then he crashed & some of the carbon fiber on the seat stay started to peel, so selling was not an option - crash replacement became the most cost effective way to build a super-light bike on the cheap. So far, his build will be: carbon DLR2 lefty shock, KCNC SC pro Lite seat post, Control tech bars & stem, sram XO/X9 shifters/deraillures - on the Moto. He's still campaigning for new brakes, but every wallet has it's limits!

transition dont really make any XC specific rigs do they?

It doesn't look like they do, and the kid is pure XC racing...

If your son even considered the Connandal team, he is far better on a bike then most, so congratulate him for me.

I hop I never see him on the trail, or mabe I would, depends on how you look at it. He should be congratulated anyway!

ap - Is he going with the X0 grip shifts or triggers? Personally I much prefer my grip shifts, not only are they easier to use and lighter, they are cheaper to boot. :D

ap - Is he going with the X0 grip shifts or triggers? Personally I much prefer my grip shifts, not only are they easier to use and lighter, they are cheaper to boot. :D
we need wheelhot for this topic.

we need wheelhot for this topic.

Ughhh....don't even joke about such things. Should I go ahead and lock it just in case??? ;)

No need to lock a perfectly good thread when a simple ban would suffice.

No need to lock a perfectly good thread when a simple ban would suffice.

I'm always impressed by your infinite wisdom.

I'm always impressed by your infinite wisdom.

As am I with your equivalent sarcasm.

lowcel - yeah, he's decided that sram is the way to go this year, since he has to replace his set-up anyhow, and they're cheaper than XTR. So, let him know if you need spare parts!

Will do, keep in mind that I have a spare bike built up with SRAM as well. If he manages to break anything the day before a race give me a call and I'll steal it off of the other bike.