I didn't realize you had sponsorship and that's why your wearing pink when you posted that picture. That's great man and congrats! I was just poking fun at ya for the pink color. It takes a real man to wear pink and I know you can take a little prodding about it.
I get the whole sponsorship thing and it's cool to get breaks on prices and the whole scope of "I'll help you if you help us while doing something you love to do" gig. Having said that, I am at probably less than 2% of the population that when it comes to "my time", that is the recreational time I need to unwind, relax and blow off steam away from the pressure cooker atmosphere I work in that includes quality, professionalism and timeliness, I chose to race you hooligans thru the trees sometimes at 60 miles an hour. While doing this adrenaline addictive sport no one tells me what to ride, what to buy, what to drink or eat, what to wear, where to go, where to be, how to do it or when to do it. All the stickers on my rig are from parts and/or services from sources I have paid for and they have earned a spot on the back of my trailer because of quality, professionalism or timeliness of some sort. I show up to play in the mud, dust and rocks with you mutts because your here for similar reasons as well.
For me the second I start getting paid $5.00, $50.00, $500.00 or even $50,000.00, it becomes a job and I start looking for another way to blow off steam. When I stand and take signatures from 7:00am all the way up to 12:30pm I'm there because I'm supporting my adrenaline junkie family. The same family that will kick my butt if I so even falter out on that track for an instant, take a wrong line someplace and you bet cha pass me if I tire, but on the same day willingly give me parts or any kind of help I need to get out there to do battle again. The same place and people I spend my R & R time with has a website with a thread like "Integrity" or raising funds to help a place like Drumm Farm. I'm out there taking signatures to help keep this warm fuzzy ball rolling.
I battled Tom Brunholtz all year and would have taken his head on a platter in a millisecond out on the track and he knows it and yet this same dude is trying to hook up with me and help me dial in my suspension so I have even more control to go even faster and better than before. This is the purity I guess of why I'm here at Forward Motion. Regardless of what I portray I'm not a talented rider - I just make up for it with determination, persistence and grit.
Karl your a good man too and Kudos to you and your sponsorship! Some folks can go - Pro (get it? Go-Pro?) and some of us couldn't even if we wanted too. You can and you did and YOU ROCK DUDE!
I'm not saying anyone is right or wrong here, I'm all up on my soap box here because, by the way, as a matter of fact, no I wouldn't wear any color of jersey because I'm paid too. I just roll a different path!
Dennis