We are very pleased to be the (back bone) support of such powerful top ranked teams. Both teams race internationally and domestically in both hard hitting, action packed mtb & cyclocross. If you check our record you'll find we've had the top mtb racers in the world for many years! Only after we provide the grass roots support do the majors who's focus is on marketing themselves, buy them if they use their fit or not! We all have to pay our bills!
The world is a big place and to hold top honors is very special. We are not a major company, we can't market, hype the pages and websites, or hold a marketing gun to the head of the retail world. But we can point out that Luna was the 2008 "World's Top MTB Team".
How could you ask for more distinction? They could have any fitting they wanted but they know a road bike fit doesn't cut it in their game! If you do what the rest of the world does, it's only luck. Kind of like using a iron on the tee, why? You will hear that you are close enough and you will never know the difference, besides you are still playing the game?
Close but no Cigar!
In our history, we have had people loose some of the biggest races in the US and World just because someone took liberty to change their setup. Then after discovery of the actions, getting refitted and then go on to win a world titles. Our fit makes a difference and it has been tested! Careful of such influences! A little of this and a little of that and your fit is screwed up regardless of what others believe! Many people don't understand what we do, our processes, and we don't care to teach them, only to have them retro engineer our hard earned work, imitate our original ideas and style for their profit! Another example of not earning your keep, rather profit for less! It has to be human nature!
We are pleased with the effort that have come from Matt Ohran. We supported Monavie-Cannondale MTB Team team before it was even a team, and in 2009 their GM Matt Ohran, an intermountain Cannondale rep, just let the news out about 2009. We knew the news months ago and couldn't wait for the release. This is one of the strongest mtb teams anywhere!
So why Wobble-naught & Myo-facts sEMG/Dartfish? First is it works! Perhaps it's the name of the bike maker? I don't think the Specialized or Trek camps are going to support their rivals! Kind of like Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Toyota camps all racing each other in NASCAR. There is a lot on the line!
When it comes to fit systems, our system is more high-tech and you have to pay for the software each time it is used on-line, on the same many it's not economically appreciated by the mass marketing retailer wanting to get in the fit game. The trend is to go with a lower ranked service to make more profit and not provide the precision needed for your body.
After all, the majors have most of their money in their brand of packaged bikes, they don't want to have to change anything out. They don't want to focus on aftermarket! The majors who make their own, don't want their dealers going to another product e.g. FSA, Thomson, Ritchey, etc...
Really and truly it means the customer is getting a mass market approach, or a system that doesn't look at the things that are so important for your body (more money in the store) and it's not the same quality of service! But they have a fit system and, as so many proclaim, the customer will not know the difference? Retail stores don't want to hear that a bike is between sizes and if they have a system like ours that can happen!
We have seen this retail behavior for 50 plus years, not just in cycling but in other industry. Provide just enough service to reel them in, it's not about providing the very best or more service for the customer, rather how much can we make off them, yet look like you are the real deal for less. After all that is what the rest of the mass marketing professionals are doing! Profiting for less. Times are hard to day and the majors are once again profiting!
My father was correct in many ways! He was alive when things got bad back in the depression after WWII and understood greed and how it works! He always said, a man is not going to tell you to your face that he has greed and how much profit intends to make, he is going to have his poker player face. He also said for the last 30 years the country can't keep going the way it is! A problem today, is many of the owners of the newer companies where not around in the depression, so they did not learn.
Too much profit for the major marketing company, (Dad went through this w/ both Goodyear & Firestone as a retailer) too little gains for local retailer (who buys & resales), not always the best product nor the best service for the consumer! It drove him to become a member of Tire Brand Inc.
Mass marketing has really hurt this country and it needs to be pointed out and better understood who influences us! It's very hard to be an independent dealer, to compete against the major brands, but it can be done! Better products and better service however requires more effort. You don't have be ruled by mass authority!
Independence is what our country is based on!
Liberty means freedom (philosophy) of oppressive restrictions imposed by mass authority, rather being in able to pursue their own interest and preferences!
That has not been the case in retail!
It is hard to think that mass authority comes from industry, but it does and it is imposed on us all. Good or bad its just like looking at the heads of AIG who took the $280ma in bonus after we bail them out! Many times, the powers set the model of behavior for their gain only! As they see it, the rest of the world is bottom feeders! After all if the local mass market retailer can't make it, they will just find another that will do it their way. They even black ball other brands!
No wonder this country is in trouble!
More Profit! for those who influence the behavior or course of events!
My father is turning over in his grave!
My father started with nothing! Earning his grass roots and was one of the founding members of Tire Brand Inc. He and his business members based their ideas on "you provide only the very best service you can", nothing cheaper, not to provide less for more profit! You bet they had rivals and they where the major powers of the industry (Goodyear and Firestone) and their mass marketing ways! Check history and note the wows the two giants both practiced and their partnership with providing a cheaper tire on the newer cars from GM. Cheaper for more!
In fact, Sonic tires was the first US tire company to make a radial tire! Why? To make a better product, to make a wider tire, something that works better. Why not Goodyear or Firestone or any other major tire brand? Because they where in bed with GM and the gas companies! They all profited more from not making a better tire! Blemish tires for all, they will never know the difference! Firestone got into big trouble on this one!
GM didn't want to change their practice - that would cost too much to adapt to radial tires. And as the the CEO in that day put it, who cares about better handling, better gas mileage and besides we rule what people get! As part of their marketing Goodyear and Firestone didn't want the tires too last longer, they just wanted more profit. In fact, Tire Brands Inc. was at one point the only tire company in the US to back their tire down to the last 2/32nd of tread wear (what was legal) for road use and safety!
Tire Brands Inc. made S0nic Tires and yes it's the same sign you now see on the drive-in across the USA. The owner of the now Sonic drive-in, saw semi-trucks on the roads in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with Sonic on them picking up rubber at US Rubber company. There where a lot of trucks running none stop day & night! Tire Brands Inc. was growing fast. In fact the Big O Tire retail was placing a new store every month! The Sonic tire was for the the
And he wanted to buy the logo, and did! Other brands included Saxon Tires, Big O Tires for the Big O Tire retail stores and importers of many other brands! They stood up against mass marketing for profit vs. mass marketing. Even winning a major law suite against the mass marketing powers Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company for stealing their name and misleading people. The group won a $60million law suite in the highest court of law in Denver, CO.
As a Cannondale rep Matt knows our history, knew that we took guys like Sobe- Cannondale pro Eric Jones to another level. Matt himself got hooked on our fit in hopes to simply ride his bike again! He had to have back surgery and didn't know if he would ever ride again!
Matt not only rides his bike, but races at the top level. Everyone needs a little support, provided backbone of Sue Butler to the worlds and she got branded on her leg after winning the World Single Speed Championship! In single speed you have to learn how to pedal! That lets you know that our process stacks the bones the way they should be, for their best interactions the way they are shaped (For Real) not the way someones thinks they should be.
That is where Kurt, who makes the "Rock & Roll" comes into the game. We have teamed up with the $120 million company per year to take things to another level! We know a few things about trainers! This is not hype like the major marketing outfits, but allowing us to see and design what the eye or video can't!
There was a day when the industry naysayers said, snow boards would not make it, that shocks, disc brakes and yes, even bike fits. Two steps forward, one back is the norm! It takes a long time to earn your grades!
Back to the press release, keep a watch and note what a force Matt's team will be! New to the team long time WN & Myo-facts sEMG/Dartfish user Jeremiah Bishop who raced for Trek-Volkswagen and 2008 National & Short track Champ. Newcomer Ben Sonntag, Alex Grant, Mitchell Peterson, Brian Alders. Upper classmates Tinker Juarez, Sue Bulter, Bart Gillespie and Matt Ohran.
Can you say "Epic Racing around the World." Sonntag is a real "Hot Rod", he is 2 time world champion in winter triathlon and owns 2 collegiate mtb championships for Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. Another hot name is pro Burke Swindlehurst (Bissell).
Back to Epic racing around the world, Tinker Juarez and Ben Sonntag are teamed in South Africa ready to race this coming week.
Mountain biking & cyclocross are very demanding and they are a very real test to the spinal elements. The bony vertebral bodies are the primary load-bearing structures of the spine. Bone is a 2-phase composite material comprising mineral salts (making the bone hard) and a matrix of collagen and ground substance (giving the bone flexibility and resilience).
Bone is an anisotropic material, exhibiting different mechanical properties when loaded in different directions. Bone fractures usually occur due to complex loading conditions, involving combinations of tension/compression, bending, shear or torsion. Like ligaments, bone exhibits some viscoelastic behavior. It can only sustain higher loads before failing and stores energy. Bone remodels in response to the mechanical demands placed on it, which are affected by the external loads as well as the muscle loading.
Good Stuff!
