Sam hill riding for specialized

Cranx

Cranx

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cjaty said:
I dont think people expect him to travel to every round but the aussie titles are a whole new story.
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Not if you've been contacted by an race committee some weeks in advance, get invited to their venue and they go about organising a whole schedule of events around your arrival. The novelity race was postponed and moved from the weekend to mid-week to fit into Sam's time-table. The committee did all the leg work to set up signings.

When Sam finds he can only attend one race, he's not going to bail on the people who have invested a lot of time into making sure he gets to meet as many people as possible. He doesn't race for the prestige, but for the love of it.
 
McPete

McPete

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Pardon a slight suggestion of sanity here, but does it really spell the end of the world if one guy decided not to turn up to local events?
Is it unreasonable to suggest that the man might have a life away from the bike?

I believe he's recently become engaged, so preparations for a wedding might be a little more important than some generic national/state round.

Please, 14 year olds of Farkin, find something more constructive to do than berate the bloke for not turning up to your local race, depriving you of a chance to bug him for an autograph.
 
Pebble

Pebble

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I think people are just making too many assumptions.
You don't know how much Sam gets paid (neither do I).
You don't know if he actually gets paid in money or just products (tld clothes, IH bikes, cans of Monster drink etc etc) so perhaps he doesn't get as much $$ as everyone assumes. Remember he's not really that old, he's probably had contracts for a while which would have been signed when he was even younger, which I reckon are probably signed for less than he would now be worth.
And you don't know what expenses he has (mortgage, wedding to plan, travel expenses, rent while he is away?).

Maybe if he got paid as much as Beckham he could go to every event to show off his style:D

Yes maybe people shouldn't have to be paid shit loads just to show up more often, but likewise people shouldn't have to make big sacrifices to do so either.

Sam may be famous in the MTB circuit but I don't think he's that famous to command a fortune that a lot of kids assume he gets.

If he hasn't been turning up to local events then it's probably for good reason, as we all know he loves the sport.
 
Sam.

Sam.

Eats Squid
Ive been biting my e-tounge here but....

Another factor for people to remember is that MTB is a very niche market and we dont have the support OR following of something big like soccer. As a sport, we are growing and changing quite rapidly but we still arent to the stage where people think we are. Im not entirely sure on exact figures but I'm sure we aren't nearly close to a stage where the worlds fastest 10 riders can afford to race every event that they are invited to or even in some cases want to. People assume that because they are the worlds fastest, they make huge money but evidently thats not the case. Does anyone have exact figures of how much it would cost to race the entire World Cup Series?
 
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bikesarefun

bikesarefun

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I wouldn't worry about the international field at Stromlo. I've overheard a bunch of Canucks talking about getting out of here straight after Crankworx to go to Australia. Poor guys, IMO. It's going off over here.
 
S.

S.

ex offender
Who really cares, seriously? Leave the fella alone... he doesn't owe it to anyone to turn up, and especially not if he's having to front costs out of his own pocket. Being the best rider in the world doesn't mean that he somehow owes everyone in Australia something when it comes to race attendance. It's pretty well impossible for athletes to maintain their motivation/performance if they never get a rest anyway. Support the sport that supports him? To all the whingers out there - if you haven't had a major influence on the design of one of the most popular DH bikes around, or helped inspire dozens/hundreds/thousands of riders to take their riding to the next level, then shut the hell up. Sam has single handedly raised the bar of DH racing as well as product design; to claim that he owes you/us anything by turning up to races is simply selfish and honestly flat out retarded. He's contributed more to the sport than nearly anyone else anyway, why should he turn up to a particular race (at considerable expense to himself) just so you can see how fast he is? Anyone who's met him will tell you what a humble, genuine guy he is, seriously WHY would you act like he's some kind of selfish bastard for actually taking some time off? Put yourself in his shoes for a few minutes.
 
N

NH_

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okay im sick of the dissing on the wa race series here, want to know how much it will cost to race the entire national series for a west aussie? $7000+, the only people who race the entire series are the one who can get sponsorship or just have chances of making the worlds team

the clubs over here have been pushing for a wa national round for a few years now but its not their fault mtba wont select us

now back to sam hill, just leave the man alone, saying he needs to give back to race series that got him where he is, he does that, almost 80% of tracks in wa are sam hill made and designed, he then attends state rounds where possible but no one in wa gives a rats ass if he shows up or not, its only the little 15yo sam hill fanboys who have a whine

rant over
 
andy73

andy73

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Man i thought this issue was dead and buried. it was covered way back when Sam missed stromlo Nationals. Fact is, he's sure as hell not going to miss it if it's a World Cup round. Let's move one guys.
 
Traumaboy

Traumaboy

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Cloaked STP said:
Sweet cheap Iron Ponies for all!
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You mean Plastic Ponies!

Personaly i recon sam will go good with specialized. Like they do make good bikes just they don't have anyone to realy prove it, and when Sam gets there and they design a new bike they will make even better bikes.

If you give same almost any down hill bike he would be great on it, more the rider than the bike.
 
Jammo

Jammo

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trail-blaze said:
Yer but the douche bag crashed :rolleyes:
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not just crashed like broke very bone in his body and like decided to hit it another two more times on a bike that looks like a frikken low rider gone wrong any ways back on to sam i reckon hell be sweet with specialized its just couldnt really see hime on a bighit lol
 
O

Ozza

Eats Squid
Any true downhiller can huck, but no hucker can truelly downhill!

May i end this thread with the statement...

The only thing Sam Hill owes the whinging kids of the Australian DH community is a kick in the ovaries.
 
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frdlvr

frdlvr

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I think everybody should get off his back, just a return air ticket Perth to Canberra is $600 to $700 (and thats the cheapest), put shipping cost of his bike, accommodation, car hire, you can double the cost.

Sam is a 2 time world champion so I think Aust Mountain Biking should pay for him if they want to see him ride, or to ride the series.
 
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