Let me be the first, well technically second, to welcome you to the new home of the team blog. It’s been a goal of mine, Ryan and Jen’s to feature a blog within the www(dot)com walls, and here it is. So for those of you that are new, welcome. Enjoy your stay and don’t be a stranger. For repeat readers, teammates, sponsors, family members (Hi mom, hi dad!) …you might be wondering what’s up? Well, what’s up is a loaded proposition. A lot has changed. You might most easily recognize the yellow and red hues that appear on the screen in front of you. You might also notice the absence of a certain Argentinian flag logo with a dude’s name on it, actually, let’s start there…
Officially, as of thirty-one days ago, we have officially parted ways with the TOMS Shoes Company. This decision did not come easy and was met with much hesitation. It is also met with a fair dollop of bitter sweetness, as the theoretical swelling lump in my throat appears each and every time I attempt to explain this situation without it sounding like a high school sweetheart story gone wrong. Truthfully, this is more of a break-up then a business decision. A lot of care and love and attention went into our almost 5-year partnership with TOMS Shoes in support of their One for One mission. The hipster in me want’s to point out that this team was incepted before TOMS Shoes officially ever went mainstream. We rode hard in support of this fledgling young company and for what it’s worth I honestly feel that we helped to grow their message and we did so with all of the pride and effort any sponsor would boon.
I suppose that is where this love story should be intercepted. The key word in my last sentence was sponsor. Our relationship with TOMS was less a sponsor/team partnership and more of an employment of pro bono grassroots marketing. We never asked for much from TOMS Shoes and what little we did ask for fell unto deaf ears. In their eyes, we were the privileged ones to wear jerseys with the TOMS logo on the front. In my eyes, they were the privileged ones to have such an amazing and enthusiastic group of people from all different backgrounds, locales, upbringings and life experiences united to support a common cause. It’s too bad the efforts went unappreciated.
Just because they went unappreciated, doesn’t mean it did not go unrecognized. You have all made me so incredibly proud and this year I am committed to doing the best that I can, so you can do the best that you can! 2012 marks a year of change and progress. This year marks a shift in focus and priority.
Last season, the team coined its war cry: #GETRAD! I am not sure where it started. Most likely, it was a joke that someone mentioned in one of our email chains that went a little overboard. If you’re not familiar, this happens quite often. #GETRAD really took off within the team and in a sense reinvigorated our purpose. This team was always, from the beginning, about promoting fun and being the good guys at whatever venue we happen to me at. With all of the egos and attitudes in the sport, cycling needs more positive influences like you all have been weekend-in, weekend-out. It’s always been my belief that the future of this sport does not lie in bureaucracy and sanctioned polemics between former racers of days gone by. The future of this sport lies within the youth of this sport. Within this team, each and every one of us has the power to positively encourage the youth of the sport because of the examples we set. We always promise to:
- To push ourselves as far as our bodies can go.
- To win at all costs, so long as it isn’t at the expense of another riders safety or well-being.
- To support everyone on course, teammate or not.
- To never take ourselves too seriously and always have fun.
- To make someone remember your actions, be it by physical exertion on course or good sportsmanship off the course.
- And to, win-or-lose, always #GETRAD!
Sure, this is an end of an era, but the beginning of something great. I hope you all agree. So please, join me in welcoming the new era, the era of KindHuman Sports presented by Jon Wye in 2012!
TEAM UPDATE: Y’all, jerseys, frames and wheels will be at HQ by the end of February/beginning of March. We planned to get orders in before our holidays and the Chinese New Year hoping, in an off chance everything would be complete before but we took a chance and it looks like frames have been produced and are ready for paint after the factory returns from holiday. Stay tuned for more updates.
