"Danny Kent!" shouted the tree surgeon's mate.
I continued weeding the rhubarb bed, having no idea that this comment was directed at me.
"Danny Kent!" the voice cried insistently "are you a fan?"
"Who?" I replied, looking round incredulously.
"Danny Kent!" he repeated, insistently "Leopard Racing! Your shirt! You have the logo on your shirt!"
"Oh!" I replied, realising what he meant, "no, no, that's the Leopard Trek logo."
"Yes!" he cried excitedly "Leopard racing!"
"No," I replied, calmly, "It's the Leopard Trek pro cycling racing team, disbanded now. Well, I suppose technically it's the logo of Leopard True Racing."
"Yesss!" he yelped, "Danny Kent rides for them! He's doing really well, he's just won his last three races! You must be a fan!"
"Oh, is he in the Junior team?" I said, patronisingly, remembering how all the old blue-white-and-black kit was donated to the Luxembourg Development team. "No, I support the old Leopard Trek team - you know, Andy Schleck? Fabs? Jensie, Stuey?"
"No!" he howled, "Moto 3!"
Yes folks, apparently Leopard True Racing have morphed into Leopard Natural, the only natural power drink (water?) and they are sponsoring motorcycle racing. Danny Kent is their top rider - they only have three - and apparently he's doing really well. Here's what they look like:
That's Danny on the left.
Seems a shame that Leopard now see fit to throw millions of units of their currency into a minor motorsport, as opposed to a minor sport, but I guess that's the way of the world.
In the meantime, I will continue to do my shopping with a Leopard Trek musette (slightly adapted):
..in the slightly sad knowledge that it's never going to be recognised by a fellow cycling fan, but might attract some boisterous attention from moto3 followers.
*sigh*
Come over here, to the continent.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sure people will know.....
Barbara(q)
hahaha, good point, Barbara, the UK is a bit backward in terms of cycling! Most people over here can recognise Wiggo, but that's about it.
ReplyDeleteMind you, we were thrilled to see tv coverage of the new Tour of Yorkshire - sorry, can't quite bring myself to call it the Tour "de" Yorkshire - which had nearly as many spectators at the roadside as there were for le Tour. It was heart-warming to watch, so it will be interesting to see if the popularity continues over the next couple of years.
And in the meantime, next time I come to Europe I will definitely be wearing one of my work t-shirts, and carrying my musette!
Coug
I still have my Leopard Trek bottle, nobody recognizes that but we do a have a conversation like this:
ReplyDeleteThem "Where did you get that bottle, it's quite nice"
Me " it's a leopard trek bottle!"
Them:blank stares
Me: " Fabian threw it at me!"
Them: blank stare followed by "he threw a bottle at you?"
Me: "it was awesome"
Them: shakes head and looks pitifully at me
I love cycling.....
A-ha-ha-neighing! Excellent story - honestly, it's so hard to convey to outsiders just how interesting, sporting, fascinating, engaging, and compelling pro-cycing is!
ReplyDeleteCoug