Name: TheManxMissile
Age: 20
Nationality: British
Past Experience: O16 Schools Championships
Qualifications: Experienced PCM Player

547984 wrote:
Manager

Name: Pete Carroll
Age: 62
Nationality: Murican
Past Experience: Going for it on 4th and 23

Cycling teams seem to exist constantly on the verge of collapse. Bar the few exceptions of teams bankrolled by single investors they are at the whim of sponsors, who are looking to get the best for their bucks. If results slip or if the team or sport gets bad press they will look to jump ship, leaving staff and riders stranded.

It's been a problem at the heart of cycling for decades, but things might be about to change. This new phase isn't entirely new either. Back in the 90's Euskaltel-Euskadi began it's existence partly crowd funded. In addition to the regional sponsorship it was possible to buy into the team support. The money would help the team and investors would receive a number of bonuses and merchandise.

Since then Crowd Funding has really taken off, especially in the Creative Industries. Now there are rumors surfacing of a new step in Crowd Funding and Sponsorship. Cryptic projects have been spotted on Kickstarter and CrowdCube that indicated a new Cycle team is sourcing through these Crowd Funding Platforms.

Details are hard to find and confirm but the Kickstarter is looking to source between £150,00 and £300,000 while the CrowdCube is aiming higher at between £500,000 and £1,000,000. It's certainly a concept to watch develop over the coming months and see if such a project can materialize in time for the 2013 season.

The new, as yet unnamed, crowd funding cycling project made a couple of new official announcements today. Assigned General Manager TheManxMissile delivered the statements in an online press conference hosted on live streaming site Twitch.tv.

TheManxMissile confirmed that this was indeed a project to start a new cycling team. The project has now be designated Project KickStand. From there he went on to specify both Kickstarter and CrowdCube's involvement. Besides hosting two funding projects on the sites both companies will receive sponsorship space on the team jersey, and both will provide more traditional sponsorship provided the minimum funding targets are met.

TheManxMissile also talked about possible other sponsors and riders who have expressed interest in Project KickStand. Of course he could not give away specifics because of the early stage in the creation process but rumors are growing with more announcements expected to come as the funding level rises.

The creation of a new team is a slow process and requires a lot of pieces to be put into place. TheManxMissile made some new announcements today regarding some of the fundamental basics needed by a team.

First up was the confirmation of HQ location. The final level of the team is still unknown but it does now have a home base. Location was cheaply snapped up in Andalucia, Spain. Following the financial crash on 2007/2008 property markets collapsed across Spain leaving large areas of cheap property readily available. TheManxMissile has taken advantage of this to set up team base in a cheap location surrounded by all-yea good cycling conditions.

Second was the announcement of bike sponsor. New Zealand based Avanti have taken up the challenge and will be supplying the team with Custom Corsa DR 3.0 bikes. These are top of the range models with all the latest updates in cycling tech including Shimano Ultegra Di2 Electonic shifters.

Finally was the announcement of a jersey and clothing supplier in the shape of Nike. Nike have a long association with cycling and sport in general and can provide top quality jerseys and related clothing. The support of such a large name company will add significant gravitas to the project and is hoped it will attract a new wave of funding.

Today the CrowdCube appeal from Project KickStand rocketed upwards! There has been solid increases in both appeals since the sponsor announcements but today it took another huge movement forwards, boosted by a new sponsor announcement.

The day began with TheManxMissile confirming that Livestrong would become a backer for the new team. The Cancer Research Charity founded by Lance Armstrong has been involved with cycling before and is doing so again. The Charity took a PR knock following the USADA investigation and has stated that this project will be it's way back to the sport of cycling.

In the wake of the announcement almost £200,000 in new investment flooded in, primarily through CrowdCube. This has taken the CrowdCube appeal to almost it's minimum target! The half million target is set to be broken very soon. On the back of this TheManxMissile has promised more sponsor announcements for the coming days as several companies are keen to get on-board, and even his first couple of Rider announcements are expect very soon.

Project KickStand keeps on building! Today the broke their target for CrowdCube and are just below their Kickstarter target, which is expected to fall very soon. Partly this is due to the new sponsor that TheManxMissile announced today, and the interest following the first two rider announcements.

The new sponsor is Huon Aquaculture. Huon has been associated with a team in the Australian NRS for a few years and will take a bit of a step up the ladder by becoming involved at this new higher level project. They are the 5th confirmed sponsor for the team, taking TheManxMissile to halfway towards his sponsorship goal.

Now for the riders. The first man signed comes with Huon, Nathan Earle! The 24yo Aussie has had some successes in the NRS and will hopefully look to take that onto the next level of competition. The second rider also comes from Australia, Mitchell Lovelock-Fay! The 20yo is one of the most promising young Aussies and is predicted to do good things in Stage Races.