The phone call came last Friday from Tan at Specialized. Sounds like I made the top 8, but they only chose 6. Pretty sad to be that close and miss a huge sponsorship like that. I discussed possible job opportunities with Tan, and he gave me a person to contact in HR. Could this be the beginning of a career? I've thought that before. I consider myself pretty upbeat after the rejection. Long live mountain biking. Specialized is going to send me something anyway, I believe.