[tim]

there is an article on velonews about dan schmatz' new team. give a shout out to the local guy who never forgot where he came from!

VELO NEWS



....velonews site is a little off as of 5pm, not sure if it's working yet. link is good, site is taking a nap.

[fstrdr7]

it names a couple of the guys on the team, the more well known ones, who else is involved?

[tim]

i'll have the full roster in a couple of days. i'll post it here when i get it. there will be a couple of names you guys know really well.

[Bill S.]

Anybody with a first name of tim on the roster? Best wishes to Dan & the rest of the THF squad.

[point to point]

Perhaps THF will now install bike racks in some of their oversized seas of asphalt that they've aquired through eminent domain...

THF being the sponsor of a cycling team is like Beretta sponsoring a peace march.

[point to point]

To be more specific: THF Realty largely builds the least bike and pedestrian friendly developments possible. Their developments mandate driving, increase traffic, and the tenents that occupy these buildings often push locally owned stores out of business. The traffic generated by these developments increases pollution and green-house gas. In addition, this company has no problem ousting residents (usually poor) from their homes with the threat of or actual use of eminent domain, something that I think many people find repugnant.

As cyclists, who I assume would like safer and better environments to ride in, why do we accept money from a company like this that operates in a clearly anti-cycling way. I'm not talking about, say, Coca-Cola rotting kids teeth with sugar, I'm talking about something that directly affects cyclists in a negative way, not to mention the broader community.

Yep, THF has also been a sponsor of the team that I ride for. Something that I have just gritted my teeth and put up with, until now. While I've expressed my views privately in the past, I've never made a big deal out of it. Perhaps I should have.

So here's the question: Why do we accept this? Why let a company with an obvious bias towards cars, pollution, and environmental and social degredation benefit from sponsoring a healthy sport with a fairly good reputation, at least at the amatuer level? Sure, 10 guys who race bikes on that team will see the benefit, but what about the broader cycling community that is harmed by this company?

Scott

[tim]

bill, no, i'm not good enough.

scott, you're points are taken. perhaps you could start your own thread, though.

[Bill S.]

Yeah scott, roll up your pant leg and move it to another thread, maybe someone will get both barrels out for ya.

[point to point]

i don't think my pant legs roll much higher. I can't comment on your barrel remark because I don't know what it means.

[Incstlouis]

I have a feeling this thread might get really entertaining

[shawn m]

No. Tim is being a fun-killa as the saying goes over here. FUN-KILLA!!!!!

[dickracer]

STAY OUT of ILLINOIS THF!!! .....unless you give us a bunch of $$$$

[MikeR]

Quote

So here's the question: Why do we accept this? Why let a company with an obvious bias towards cars, pollution, and environmental and social degredation benefit from sponsoring a healthy sport with a fairly good reputation, at least at the amatuer level? Sure, 10 guys who race bikes on that team will see the benefit, but what about the broader cycling community that is harmed by this company?

Scott,

Here is the short answer to why we accept the money. Although, I'm pretty sure you know the answer. We don't have sponsors lining up to give us money to chose from. The alternative is unsponsored clubs.

Mike

[mec]

Tim, congrats on the mention in the article and on the hopeful great success for the new team.
Dan, congrats on the team and the baby. Biking is realy fun but kids are even cooler.

Where will the team be based, here or CO.? And will the team be doing the bigger STL races like the Gateway Cup etc.?

Pretty cool!

[king furby]

dickracer, on Dec 12 2007, 09:14 PM, said:

STAY OUT of ILLINOIS THF!!! .....unless you give us a bunch of $$$$

The next time you pave a Wal-Mart parking lot for THF, have Bobby put in a freaking bike rack near the front door. Would that be so hard? Maybe some day I'll be able to ride my bike to work if we all just create positive mental synergies. I know we can make this work!