WHAT'S NEW
Comments - The Unrelenting Appeal of Neon Accessories
July 02, 2009
I'm with you all the way on avoiding headcases who shop to fill a certain void in their lives-5 years working in a Porsche dealership really bring that one home.
- Mike, Philadelphia
June 24, 2009
Rapha=Poser
- Vladimir, Moscow
June 08, 2009
keep it up. Yours and michael barry are the best reads in '09. VS made me an internet-only follower - i'd rather use my imagination between updates on cyclingnews live narrative. That said, the Universal/Giro coverage was godsend. and di2 - i still cringe at the battery change ops for the HAC4 - in some ways, crappy mechanical shifting sounds like a better deal than being flat-out F'd by some cpu.
- mrg, SF
June 05, 2009
I dunno...Cervelo seems to be winning stages/races at a fairly regular clip. As to what they're testing...the same sort of stuff as every other high level ProTour team.
- Phil, San Francisco
June 05, 2009
It seems Cervelo is testing (and proving) the theory that new gear, slight technological advances, marketing buzz and marginally lighter components mean jack when it comes to actually winning on the bike...
- Pierre , Ottawa
June 04, 2009
DVR > Versus commercial breaks.
Keep the blog at once per week. I don't like having to check a website multiple times a day to see if I've missed something. Makes me feel like I need to get a life. I still think Di2 is overpriced and it's silly to spend so much for it. But then again, almost everything in the bike industry is grossly overpriced. Anybody read the review about the Biomac bio-mxc2 shoes on cyclingnews? They might beat Di2 for the most overpriced item in the bike market (at least in my mind).
- Jared, Los Angeles
June 03, 2009
Cervélo is testing the limits of their marketing budget. Primary sponsor of a semi-Pro Tour Team with some a-list riders on the earnings of a mid-sized bicycle company? They can't have pockets that deep. The bicycles I kept—Fat Chance and an "all Mavic RMO '90 753 Team bicycle must be the only one in the US. The Versus Fail for the TDF is deeper than just the incessant ads etc. I find the Phil-Paul-Bob show annoying. Phil makes mistake after mistake in race calls while over dramatizing the narrative. I just watched the Giro in the UK. One name—Sean Kelly. What a wealth of information and subdued commentary. I think we need to start a letter writing campaign to ASO to complain about Versus. Int'l Herald Tribune? L'equipe is the only rag to read during the tour (French required). Best news this week—French Cycling Feds are banning race radios at their national championships later this month and the TDF is discussing the same prospect.
- REG, San Francisco
June 02, 2009
How to Stomach Vs. for Le Tour. 1 word; TIVO. Watch the stage after it has been on for 90 minutes of so, Fastword thru the commercials. I wonder if they put on so many commercials because it cost a nut or three to buy the rights to show it.
- Stephen, Albany, GA
June 02, 2009
I was at a cafe in Grenoble sitting with a cup o' French Joe, a pain au chocolat, and the day's Int'l Herald Tribune.
- Timbo, LR
June 02, 2009
+ 1 for the weekly update schedule, the format seems to suit you given how consistent and interesting your writing is. Ditto the group consensus on Facebook.
- Greg, NYC
June 02, 2009
I cringed just reading all those words together – Beloki, crash, "03. Having high-sided on the twisty foothills above Golden, Colorado, I shiver to imagine doing it at 50 or 60 mph.
- Walt, Estes Park, Colo.
June 02, 2009
Please keep your blog at once a week. I, too, look forward to Tues mornings in anticipation of what you might have conjured up over the past week.
No facebook page, yes facebook hyper-link link.
Beloki: Sofa at home in Calabasas, off Mulholland on the edge of the Santa Monica Mountains.
I would happily pay Universal Sports a fair sum for T de F coverage like that which it provided for the Giro. How do we make that happen in 2010?
- Leonard, Santa Barbara
June 02, 2009
Versus - what a load of cr*p! As A Brit living in the US for the last three years, tuning into Versus to watch the TdF each year was a godawful experience...apart from Phil and Paul (and Bob of course!). But the adverts were such a pain in the arse that I can't face watching another year of it on Versus, so have downgraded the Comcast subscription to basic, which also says a lot about US TV/amount of adverts compared to European channels! Who on earth runs Versus? Do they think that we really want to watch repeated ads rather than the racing (and as said in B's post - ads such as for Tapout that are for demented, infantile, moronic sub-humans...on an aside, I saw a large SUV on I-95 a few weeks ago with a Tapout bumper sticker and got really worried about the occupant).
Do us all a favour - please keep the blogs to once a week. Twit, Face and all the others stuff is best suited for 15-25 year olds don't you think?
- A, Alexandria, VA
June 02, 2009
Oh and 2 things:
1 - Beloki - I was on my then girlfriend's, now-wife's couch while watching her first Tour and explaining things. Beloki's screams afterwards in Saiz's arms, similar to the screams by the Chocolade Jacques guy's heard in Arenberg after Stuey's crash in 2007 remind me of The Silence of the Lambs (tell me Clarice, are the lambs still crying).
2 - Universal online could become what cycling.tv should've been. Do the adverts cycling.tv style (i.e. poster flash style) and have the sponsors pay, likely far less than what the TV spots cost, and keep it free or extremely cheap. Cycling.tv really screwed the pooch by not being able to provide the bandwidth during CX world's and sometimes Flanders and Roubaix and then charged you for the next year prior to the current year expiring. Universal has a big opportunity and Vs can become a bull-riding channel and you can probably still watch grown men fish too if that gets your motor running. Eurosport rocks, plain and simple. The English and German language commentary are exceptional.
- Ted, Mamaroneck
June 02, 2009
I like the Twiiter feeds offering special deals - but I do not need ruminations more than once a week - more means saturation. There is something comforting waking up early on Tuesday mornings (it's 4:05 a.m.) before I get on my trainer - and reading your weekly column. There is constancy in this world - like "This American Life." Even if it comes just once a week.
- Bruce, Acton, MA
June 02, 2009
"its incessant plugs for that juvenile & vulgar stewpot of repressed homoeroticism known as TapouT?"
Shit man, that's funny. RBR has a thread going about whether cyclists really are Saab and Lincoln's target demographic.
- Ted, Mamaroneck
June 01, 2009
Twitter, MySpace, Facebook........all but flashes in the pan. Avoid the cheesy fads and stick to what you are already doing exceptionally well. Insightful, direct and fact-reinforced literature that is timeless barometer of our current state of communal being. Also, please stick to the solitary weekly offering........unless you are feeling ecspecially inspired. I will admit to checking back on more than one occasion per week (just in case). And, lets be realistic.....we will all tune into the TDF coverage whatever form it may be.
- Pete, Cannon Falls
June 01, 2009
Please keep doing "What's New" the old way. Your posts are currently perfect in terms duration, frequency, and content. Leave Twitter, Facebook, etc. to the hordes of unwashed masses. Contrary to popular belief, there are still a lot of people that value depth and originality in writing. I mean, where in twitter-land are you going to find someone turning phrases like "juvenile & vulgar stewpot of repressed homoeroticism"?
- PawleeWalnutz, NYC
June 01, 2009
Anything worth doing is worth overdoing, except when it comes to the frequency of your excellent posts. Keep it weekly and keep us eager. I wish I'd never sold my 80's era Rossin, complete with pantographed Super Record.
- Marc, Providence RI
June 01, 2009
Re: Joseba Beloki
In the living room of my aunt's house in Gaithersburg, MD. I remember jumping out of the recliner and screaming at the TV. No idea what it was I screamed though.
- Chris, Brooklyn
June 01, 2009
While I'd love to read more of your thoughts more frequently, I can only surmise that any increase in frequency would only be detrimental. Keep it at once per week. Re: Beloki - The memory of that crash still makes me cringe.
- John, Encinitas, CA
June 01, 2009
keep the one post a week....They are excellent, particularly when you add in some obscure daily motion race clips of people racing up hill really fast in 2nd tier Pro-Tour races. I enjoy taking the time to read the full post, a few lines a week just wouldn't do it for me.
- Doug, Atl
June 01, 2009
Keep it to one post a week. I like reading a page of your insights, a sentence or two isn't worth the time to load up your site.
You don't need Facebook. Facebook is for figuring out if your high school girlfriend is still hot, it's irrelevant to what you do. You have a great site. Don't muck it up.
- Matt, Palatine IL
June 01, 2009
re: blog frequency, the format that a lot of people were talking about at Wordcamp (conference run by Wordpress, the world's #1 blog platform) is mixing lengthy posts and short posts but displaying them in different places within your site. I think it's a good look. // re: Facebook, yes it's worth trying! RSS can push your blog to your Facebook page; it's worth experimenting from there. Facebook changed some things recently that make pages a lot more visible and effective for marketers. If you have interesting things to say (which you do), this can actualy be good for consumers. Basically, it lets you put yourself in front of people where they are instead of trying to lure them to where you are. Email me, let's discuss.
- Kadisco, Oakland, ca
June 01, 2009
Great shot of Lance's man boobs :)
- Chuck, Memphis
May 31, 2009
Great post as always. But, what the hell do you do with those returned bikes?? Offer 'em up, we'll bite.
- steve, Austin, TX
May 31, 2009
Funny, insightful and interesting once again. What does it say about the state of writing in cycling when the best content available about the sport (and the industry) does NOT come from a publication, but an internet retailer? VeloNews etc. take note. This is how its done. Sheesh.
- sleeper, Pittsburgh, PA
May 31, 2009
While it's nice that UniversalSports.com paid up for the Giro (for four years), in the long run the US rights have to make economic sense. Charging $35 per subscriber makes no sense because so many just won't pay that would have watched if it was free, and blanket Versus-style ad breaks don't work because people will suffer foreign language commentary rather than sit through the blabbing (though TIVOing the Tour while taking a ride of my own works best, IMO - what SAAB commercials?). The key with cycling is that you can count on long stretches when nothing earth shattering is happening, which makes cycling ideal for ads in a bar at the bottom of the screen, much as we have become used to info on sports scores on ESPN or news crawls on CNN. If 10,000 people would pay $35 to watch the GIRO, is it credible that sponsors would not pay $350k within the context of 21 4-7-hour stages? The crawl can always be eliminated in the last 10 minutes of a race or at director discretion if something major is happening, but 2-hour breakaways beg for advertising time. Cycling is uniquely ad supportable, just not the way Versus does it.
- John, Boxford
May 31, 2009
Yeah! Dude!
- Jim, Troy,ny
May 31, 2009
In 2006 I bought a BMC SLC01 from you guys. I've ridden the piss out of it in snow,sleet, rain heat and cold. A little paint bubled off from the miles and it made my legs hurt.
How do I return it????????
I wish I never sold my Legnano Criterium.
- RDD, Charlotte,NC
May 31, 2009
I'd stick to one longer post a week. I prefer that to getting smaller ones throughout. And while I'm spouting off, I don't see what's gained by a FaceBook page. You have a RSS feed - that ought to cover it.
I really look forward to your posts.
- Carson, Jackson Hole, Wyo
May 31, 2009
Might I say that most of us seem to like the longer posts (and you probably do as well) don't give in to the internet-wide truncation of thought.
As regards race coverage, Versus is now completely dead to me. When I first heard Lance was going to ride the Giro I was excited because I thought that meant that Versus would pick up a broadcast. Thanks to cyclingfans.com I am so glad that that didn't happen. I watched the NBC Universal and Eurosport feeds most days and couldn't have been happier with the signal quality and coverage. New plasma TV be damned, I'm watching le Tour online.
- Kyle, Tulsa, OK
May 31, 2009
Thanx Don. I'm on it asap. Just need to calm down a bit after that amazing giro finish. I was off my seat, standing up screaming, when Menchov hit the deck. My heart is still pumping some of the remaining adrenaline through my veins. I was on RAI Sport live, so the commentary was in Italian. I didn't have time updates, so didn't know how close it was. Menchov must've gone insanely fast in the end. Went from 14 seconds ahead, to 41 INCLUDING the crash. BIG BIG kudos to the team mechanic. He had a new bike ready before Menchov even tried to mount the old one. What a crazy great Giro it's been. Bring on the Tour.
- Andy, stockholm, Sweden
May 31, 2009
@Andy, Stockholm: You can subscribe to CC's RSS feed and get an alert for each new post. If you use an email client like Thunderbird for your RSS feeds your alerts will look just like another email.
http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za/CCY?PAGE=INFORMATION_RSS
- Don, Berkeley
May 31, 2009
btw- I had Eurosport coverage for the Giro for the first time, and it's enough to make me never want to move back.
- Bruce, L.A./Midi Pyrenees
May 31, 2009
Seems like the world has shown a fair amount collective revulsion not jus for Di2 but 7900 as well. Sastre wins a stage in the Giro on...old DA. sigh. I know aftermarket buyers mean zero to Shimano/Sram/Campagnolo, but Shimano's stock is slipping- at least in my mind. ..oh yeah, hard to believe it's been that long since Beloki went down (and LA took it to the dirt).
- Bruce, L.A./Midi Pyrenees
May 31, 2009
The beauty of a post like this is that it can tie ideas together, like nostalgia (neon, dearly departed bikes, Tesh), that Tweets and short blog posts can't. I think the answer is in your question: "My goal with this column is for one *meaningful* missive per week." Any shorter, and the signal starts to get lost in the noise, the meaning lost in the message. ¶ As far as Facebook goes, my guess is if you're not already there, then you've missed the boat. Adding "Share" links can't hurt, but do people actually use those? Besides, I can't remember the last time I updated my Facebook page. ¶ I may not quite remember where I was when Beloki crashed, which I remember more as Lance goes 'crossing anyway, but I do recall precisely where I was when Casartelli died descending the Portet d'Aspet.
- Nicolas, Ottawa, ON
May 31, 2009
do you remember 1989 ABC tour de France coverage. final day. 2 hour coverage. greg lemond's miracle tt win.
first and last time a time trial was shown in FULL.... best moment in cycling ever....
- j, montreal
May 31, 2009
The Rapha ride is supposed to be self-deprecating satire, right?
- Mark, Atlanta
May 31, 2009
Blog: one/week is your niche. There's something visceral about consuming all this information and opinion all at once. // Versus: That a**hole network is guilty of blatant viewer abuse. They milked their captive - and largely appreciative (you were spot on) - audience for every last drop.. Some of that content/commercial/teaser juxtaposition was right out of CWO. @universalsports put V on notice with their Giro coverage. Just a heads up to US. $35/GT for enhanced coverage seems steep to me, but I'd be willing to pay something to keep the now free (Thank you!) coverage. And, BTW, Stick it, V. // Mid-ride smoke break: WTF, Rapha. You're down with that edgy, if unintentional, branding? Something tells me it's all good at corporate (read: the joke is on any non-Rapha who has a problem with it). I will say this, the next time I see someone rolling in a R kit I'll ask myself, "Like that style, but wonder if s/he's a smoker?" // Facebook: you're knee-deep in social media now, don't think FB could hurt (but a lot of us have no use for it). // Head cases: Sometimes it's turning that nightmare into a dream that makes for the best-ever customers. Easy to say, hard to do in retail. // What, did someone at Garm*n put down the hush at CC? What a dismal season opener. Maybe there's no point in kicking JV while he's staggering around Rome in a tattered Pink smoking jacket and a bottle of Italy's finest in the wee hours after the Big Show has packed up and rolled out. The Horror. I can only think of one way to make things worse for that group.
- Matthew, loving UniversalSports.com
May 31, 2009
There's is an unrelentless stream of comments on substandard media coverage of cycling in the states. One viable solution is a media product called Slingbox. Hook it up to a cable-box anywhere in the world, and control the programming stream from any computer connected to the internet. You can also get a sling catcher, and watch it on full size TV. It works great. Several friends in the Middle East watch European TV with a slingbox. Put one in a European friend's house, and connect it to a Eurosport enabled cable, and watch ALL the big Euro races through the season LIVE. Their website is at slingmedia.com.
Maybe this is a business idea for a starving Euro-pro-wannabe trying to survive on Belgian Kermesse wins. Set up a stack of sling boxes, and charge a small fee for each.
Oh, and Tai, the jeans-print has already been done. Remember the Carrera Jeans outfit in the mid 80's to mid 90's?! They rode with full jeans print shorts, and partial jeans print jersey's. Absolutely awful, and totally retro-must-have... :)
- Andy, Stockholm, Sweden
May 31, 2009
Oh, I forgot to mention - re. neon accessories. From all those of us who remember the mid-80's - Frankie Say Don't Do It! What's next - bike shorts printed to look like acid-wash jeans?
- Tai, Yea, Australia
May 31, 2009
I'll put in another vote for once a week posts. There are blogs I like that post several times a week, but I've noticed I only sit down to read them about once a week - all their other posts (if they look interesting) go into the "I'll read that sometime" pile, which currently has about 500 items in it.
- Tai, Yea, Australia
May 30, 2009
Keep it real, and keep it weekly. You applaud Michael Barry's penchant for "authorism"; but consider switching to a more Twitter-like forum. That's schizophrenic, and would definitely be a lame move. Listen to Doggy Dogg: Keep it long and strong, just like the Euro-Races you adore so much; not small bursts like your typical 1hr crit race. If it's shorter than a large mug of sinister-strong Euro coffee, it's too short. But please, include a post-posting e-blast reminding me to visit CC's website for my favorite opinionated bike-biz insights.
- Andy, Stockholm, Sweden
May 30, 2009
Thanks for finally calling out Portland, being from there (haven't lived there full time in years), it always amazes me the amount of hipsters and posers get into every cool thing there is to do, just to fit into Portland's scene. What makes Portland a great place is that everybody does their own thing, and doesn't mess with each other, but it seems as though "the times they are a changing..."
- Herb, Portland, OR
May 30, 2009
Once-a-week epic posts are the best. Your posts are the single best bike thing on the internet right now. bsnyc and bkw be damned.
Sorry to hear about PITA customers-- it always broke my heart when we had to take a bike return and still does. It literally breaks my heart-- a waste for everyone involved.
- Swami, Boston, Ma
May 30, 2009
I agree with the comment on Michael Barrie's article. Excellent writer. He needs to write more...another book please michael!
- mitch, newcastle aus
May 30, 2009
versus? what versus ? Ive been watching universal sports for my giro coverage, its nice to get home and have some euro pro road racing to watch
- adrian, chicago
May 30, 2009
"Should I consider changing the format to 2 or 3 short posts per day, instead of 1 lengthy post per week? "...just a few weeks ago, you were damning the trend of short blog posts and the Twitter trend of short, meaningless quips. Keep it to once a week...this section is more like a weekly article than it is a blog post
- Kevin, NYC
May 30, 2009
The bike i wish i never sold: Motorola MX-Leader. I bought it from Gord Fraser. It was Alvaro Meija's spare for the '94 tour, then it was given to Gord when he got a stagiare contract with Motorola in August of 94. DA with a Cinelli TI stem. I rode the hell out of that thing, thinking i might follow in their footsteps. Why I ever sold it to get a neon yellow Pinnarello Prince i'll never know.
- David , Madison/Ottawa
May 30, 2009
Don't change a thing. I don't always agree with you, but I love reading every word of your posts. Great job.
- Phil, Little Rock, AR
May 30, 2009
Forget Facebook
1 post a week is perfect.
I was watching at home on versus when Beloki went down. Portland is what it is. Pumped for NHMBS on the East Coast.
Neon for life.
- Mike, PA
May 30, 2009
Brendan - please don't let the twitter craze convince you to do small posts a few times a day - I would much rather read a thought provoking post once a week. Call me a Luddite, but besides bastardizing the english language with phrases like "OMG" and "LOL", twitter-like posts have done little more than shorten our collective attention span. As you said in an earlier post, do we really care about someone's pre-race dump? Keep it long and strong baby.
- Cru Doggy Dogg, Jonesboro
May 30, 2009
I love the once a week posting. When I see a new one up I clear all other plans for the next 15 minutes, get a cup of coffee or a beer and set out to read it uninterrupted in a way that I just don't with hourly posts. This blog and the Sunday edition of the New York Times are the only reads that get that attention. I still have my Steel Merckx, but from the Telekom era. Were you on the Rapha ride? Is there going to be a write up on it?
- adam , hamilton
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