- published: 04 Oct 2015
- views: 43943
The Cannondale Bicycle Corporation, is an American bicycle manufacturer, headquartered in Bethel, Connecticut with manufacturing and assembly facilities in China and Taichung, Taiwan. Cannondale is a division of Canadian parent company, Dorel Industries.
The company was founded in 1971 by Joe Montgomery, Jim Catrambone and Ron Davis to manufacture backpacks and bags for camping and later bicycle trailers for bicycle touring. One of the most successful products was the Bugger, a child trailer, although Cannondale's marketing department seemed unaware of the connotations of the name in British English (some were, nevertheless, exported to the UK). Today, Cannondale produces many different types of high-end bicycles, few of which are hand made in USA, specializing in aluminum (rather than steel or titanium) and carbon fiber frames, a technology in which they were pioneers. The name of the company was taken from the Cannondale Metro North train station in Wilton, Connecticut.
In the late 1990s Cannondale attempted to move into the motorsports business, producing a line of off-road motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles. According to an interview with Cannondale Communications Director, Tom Armstrong, the company was unable to drive down the cost of their motor vehicles fast enough. Sales took off when the company was still losing money on each motorbike they shipped. This gap drove the company to seek bankruptcy protection in 2003, and to sell off the motorsport division. Cannondale's bicycle division was purchased in 2003 by Pegasus Capital Advisors, which supported the company's renewed focus on bicycle production. In February 2008, Cannondale was purchased from Pegasus Capital Advisors by Dorel Industries. In April 2009 it was announced that all production would be transferred to Taiwan.
Peter Sagan (born January 26, 1990 in Žilina) is a Slovak professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTour team Liquigas-Cannondale. Sagan had a successful junior mountain bike racing career, winning the Junior World Championship in 2008, before moving to road racing.
At the age of 22 Sagan is considered to be one of cycling's most promising talents, having won two stages at Paris–Nice, one at the Tour de Romandie, two and the overall classification at the Tour de Pologne, a record eight at the Tour of California, two at the Tour de Suisse, three at the Vuelta a España as well as the overall classification and three stages of the Giro di Sardegna.
Sagan is the youngest child among three brothers and a sister. He was brought up by his sister as his parents spent most of the day taking care of a small grocery shop they own in his hometown. His brother Juraj Sagan is a cyclist with Liquigas-Cannondale.
Sagan started to ride bikes at the age of nine when he joined Cyklistický spolok Žilina, a small local club in his home town. Throughout his junior age Sagan rode both mountain bikes and road bikes, and was well known for his unconventional style to ride in tennis shoes and t-shirts, drinking just pure water. Sagan drew a significant attention when he appeared at the Slovak Cup with a bicycle borrowed off his sister after he had mistakenly sold his own and the one from Velosprint sponsor was delayed. Riding the supermarket bike with poor brakes and limited gear, he won the race.
Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair,
Like all things that lurk within me
Condemn themselves for ever being there -
Wanna see, Wanna see me bleed?
And then. You come.
With your All-Revealing News!
I... feel... I'm going, I'm going
Oh, I feel... I'm going, I'm going to Hell!
Now, in blood I am stepp'd in so far -
Wanna see, wanna see me burn?
And when my battle here is lost and/or won,
light the way to dusty death...
But no. You come to me.
With your Ever-Healing Truths!
I... feel... I'm going, I'm going
Oh, I feel... I'm going and going...
When all the principles have been broken,
And all the goals you've set yourself have been forgotten
You search for greater men - Find but the Apes of Their Ideals
And you remain: All lost and blind and hollow...
Who's got to go... Now he has to go
Who's got to go, he has to go and I feel I am going - but not alone
Will all great Neptune's Ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?
I... feel... I'm going, I'm going
Oh, I feel... I'm going, I'll go - but not alone!
[GOIN' TO HELL INSPIRED BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S
THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH]