De-nied!

During my adventures at the National Championships back east i happened to stumble upon a pair of these at the Mt. Snow bike shop.


Hot damn! I gotta get some of those!

After all - pink is the new white...or is it the new black?
Screw it. Either way, i was jonesing for some hot pink shades.

Then came the bright idea of asking my friend and cycling mentor Dorothy Wong about how she landed an Oakley sponsorship (which she's had as long as i've known her). She provided me with the inside scoop on who to contact at Oakley, and i took the liberty of polishing up the ol' racing resume - complete with up-to-date photos and results from my 2007 endeavors.

7:51am
Email goes out to Steve at Oakley

7:52am
Walk to kitchen to refill coffee mug

7:54am
Reply email from Steve at Oakley:

Dear Alex,

Thank you for your interest in our company, our products, and as a
potential sponsor for your personal endeavors.

Each year we consider many athletes to represent our brand. We review
our current athletes performances and those of thousands of new
requests. We wish we could support all those that show loyalty to our brand,
but unfortunately we cannot. So it is with our regret to inform you that
we must decline your request.

Please know that we wish you all the best. Our sports marketing team
attends almost every major sporting event in the world. We will be
keeping an eye on you.

Respectfully,
Steve Blick
Oakley Sports Marketing

Ouch! Speedy customer service is one thing, but couldn't they have at least given me a courtesy 24 hour delay? At least lull me into thinking that the president of Oakley is standing in a board room somewhere saying "Well, gentlemen... i really think we should pick up this Boone kid, even if it means we have to drop Lance altogether"

Instead i had some guy fire back a form denial letter in between swigs of coffee and turning the page on his morning paper. Apparently he thought i would be better off paying full-pop for a pair of hot pink shades that would inevitably garner some attention to his product.

*sigh*

Well... at least i tried.