Before I put up my official sponsor announcement post, I would like to discuss my past weekend in Minneapolis. This is kind of a prelude to my sponsor announcements but I think it is really important to talk about WHY there have been some changes this year.
First off, I was in Minneapolis, Minnesota for the past three days. It was like, minus a million, I did all of my training indoors and…. I have never had as much FUN doing so. I am now riding for BMC and let me tell you, the bikes and the company are KICK ASS!
BMC is the newest brand for Quality Bicycle Products (http://www.qbp.com). You may or may not know this company but for sure, they are supplying you with something to support your bicycling habits. Quality is a huge bicycling stuff distributor based in Minneapolis and this last weekend they had Frostbike, which is essentially Interbike for vendors distributed by Quality. With a lot less porn given it isn’t in Vegas.
So anyways, this whole BMC thing started in Temecula. Just a casual conversation with Scott Thomson, who rocks the house, which turned into “wait a minute… what I wanna do this year (win stuff) is what you wanna get done (win stuff on a BMC bicycle)…. Maybe we should be having a less casual conversation?” A week later I am now BMC’s dirt diva. My first official appearance was incredibly promising as I was having so much fun with these Minnesotans…
Quick background on QBC – Steve Flagg started the company in 1981 as a one man operation supplying bike stores with specialty bike parts and products. Since then he and his wife Mary have grown the company to more than 300 employees distributing to more than 5,000 dealers. The company is still growing. Steve is this smiling, happy, relaxed guy. In fact, my first lunch over the weekend I sat with Steve, his wife Mary and Todd Cravens who are basically brass for the company and was greeted with an astounding level of enthusiasm. These people love racing which is quickly becoming the trademark of a top notch sponsor. Todd, in fact, is an accomplished track racer which I think is kick ass. Anyways, given the leadership at QBP is so great, of course everyone I met over the weekend was awesome. Did I mention how much I love all you guys, especially my PB Matt?
I was able to meet Marcus and Andy from BMC Switzerland, Jim McCarvill (senior QBP honcho), I said hello to most of my other sponsors (distributed by QBP), watch races on these cool Surly bikes called Puggsleys, see lots of drunk bike store dealers, did a spin class with Saris, did a photo shoot, hauled a new road bike outta there… it was ALL GOOD. In fact, Jamie was there too representing Tyr so I had a chance to check out some of the competition as well – she looks fit!
In fact, life is good. I have never been so motivated to race. I really think I am capable of an entirely new level this year. With my new support team supplying me with the best equipment, nutrition and race support possible it is certain that I will be faster. If Lance can win seven Tour de Frances, I can win at least five Xterra World Championships. Number four starts now!