More Bling

On Thursday I drove the hour up to Boulder and met with Marco, the Sponsorship director at Descente. He handles all the CSC Cycling stuff as well as other athletes like Cam Widoff. People think he has a great job since he gets to travel to the team camps and Tour of California, but it's pretty much all work. At the ToC Marco was pulling 12-15 hour days, so it's not pedaling around with the guys asking if they like the clothing.
Anyways, we chatted about the coming season, and went over some of the changes to the summer and fall gear. I can't say anything specific, but watch out for some of the aparel coming down the pipeline at Descente. It's cool stuff designed by guys that acutally ride and race. Marco has an IM P.R. of around 9 15, so he knows what it feels like to be at hour 4 on the bike or the back haf of the marathon. I signed a contract and then it was like a shopping spree! I felt like a bank robber at the end since we had to use a duffle bag to put all the gear in. Jerseys, bibs, vests, socks, jackets, warmers, and casual stuff was all thrown in. I can't thank those guys enough. I am the type of guy that gets really motivated when a company is willing to put it's faith in me to promote their gear. I guess I feel a responsibility to repay them, and to prove that their faith in me was a good choice. Even if my results aren't great, I can still do a lot to effect their financial bottom line. That is the real point of sponsorship from a company's point of view. If you have great results, but no one likes you and you don't promote the product well, what good are you. If you are a decent athlete but can really get the name out there and get people to actually purchase the product, than you are valuable. Results help, but they alone won't get you sponsored for long.
Today I woke up early, 5 AM and I couldn't get back to sleep. So I did some coaching work, cleaned the kitchen a bit and then headed off to the pool for a 5k swim. The main set was 5 rounds of 4x100 done with some change of pace stuff.
The rest of the day was spent building up the new bike. It took me quite some time as I am not the most qualified mechanic in the world. I will post some pics of the build process and final bike in the next few days.