and this is how you earn the title Lord BummerI can see the Atherton being taken as dicks. The shop I worked at had a plaque for being a GT dealer for 25 years back in 2010. That's pretty impressive considering GT started in the late 70's. When Dave, the shop owner, retired, I asked him for posters and neon signs he didn't want. One was a GT poster from the late 90's. Black with yellow letters. I thought it would be cool to have the Athertons sign it and give it back to him. I was at Windham this year and took it to the GT trailer. I just had a conversation with Hill and had him sign 2 frames(Sunday and Demo). I took the Demo over to Gwinn and he signed it too. He also signed a Decline cover. When I went to the GT trailer though, complete rejection! I asked if they could sign the poster for the shop owner who sold GT for 25+ years. The girl turns around and asks if they started their training yet and Gee said yes... As he's mixing his drink and Rachel is throwing on a shirt. Really? She told me to come back in 2 hours after qualifying. But that would be during qualifying. I showed up again after both had qualified and the same girl said they're now cooling down,come back in 1/2 hour. I did, now they're out somewhere, come back tomorrow... I got there early on race day and some guy said that they're getting ready for the race. Really bud? It's not for 2.5 hours? I asked if I could leave the poster and have them sign it for the shop owner who sold GT for 25+ years at their convince. "Nah, things can dissappear around here. Someone might give out the poster to someone else. Come back after the race.". Fuck this. I'm done.
After 3 Windham World Cup races, I've figured out who the cool ones are. My first time I talked to Mick Hannah for 20 minutes or so. Amazingly down to earth guy! Hill is the same way. This year I talked w/Sam Dale for over half an hour about riding in NY and PA! Ratboy! I was walking along one day (4 years ago) and out of the Syndicate tent rolls some guy. He looks at me with this huge smile and asks me how I'm doing. I don't have a clue who this guy is, but he's wearing a Syndicate jersey! I already had Peaty and Minnar sign it. After about 5 minutes of talking about the course, I asked if he'd sign the jersey. This guy was full of life man! He was so thrilled that he signed it! Off we went after wishing each other well. I turned to get his name and his goggles were covering it. Ra--oy? Is that a BO in the middle? Ratboy? I don't know? Then I found out it was Bryceland when I looked it up on my phone! Some racers really represent their company in such good ways it would make you WANT to buy their bike. Others turned me off for good. GT and Devinci were horrible at representing at the WC. Giant, Nukeproof, Trek, Specialized, Saracen, all were welcoming to their tents and their racers were easy to strike up a conversation with.