The ninth episode of The Spokesmen Cycling Podcast included David Bernstein from The FredCast Cycling Podcast, Carlton Reid from Bike Biz Magazine and Cycling News and Views Podcast, Tim Jackson from Masi Bicycles and The Masi Guy blog, and Donna Tocci from the Tidbits and More Blog and Kryptonite. This was our Year in Review episode and each of us chose a topic to discuss. Here is what we chose:
- Carlton Reid: The Floyd Landis Affar
- Floyd’s Web Site
- Trust But Verify Blog
- WADA Site
- L.A. Times Articles on Doping
- Tim Jackson: The Eurobike Invasion
- Donna Tocci: The Use of New Media in the Bike Industry
- Specialized Holiday Card
- Crooked Cog Network
- Clif Bar Blah Blah Blog
- The Boulder Report
- Panther City Blog
- The Sock Guy Blog
- David Bernstein: The Use of Technology Among Everyday Cyclists
- GPS Devices
- Power Meters
- iPod
- DVDs
- Blogs
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Dang, even with bad audio glitches, we still sound good. The echo stuff kinda gives us an otherworldly quality.
Sure is good to have Donna join us.
And I feel like such a jerk for forgetting to mention Karl Wiedeman as one of the contributors to the Kool-Aid marketing site. Sorry Karl!
I’m flattered to be part of this group. Thanks for the great conversation. However, I think that my voice and articulation teacher from college would be horrified at how many times I said “um”. Yikes!! I’ll work on that and be rarin’ to go in January.
Happy Holidays to one and all.
Great show as always – a few comments:
Interbike: nobody brings up the fact that Interbike does *NOT* represent all manufacturers. I’m not sure of the history between Interbike and Trek – but it’s a major pain to have a trade show that doesn’t include the biggest manufacturer. If Eurobike included everyone, it would be an improvement over Interbike right there.
Also, everyone focuses on hotel rooms, and not flights. Just try and book air travel from the east – NYC, boston, etc – to Portland. There’s only a handful of flights each day; in comparison you can fly to Vegas amost every hour on a wide variety of airlines. No use having a room if you can’t get there in the first place!
Technology: I think you should distinguish between gadgets for the people, versus training tools for the athlete. If some Fred (sorry) was complaining about not having his power meter for a few days, I’d laugh. But a pro athlete is seriously training – that’s his job – and not having feedback for a few days will impede his training. A power meter for a pro is now just as essential as clipless pedals.
Now, your average rider is just buying gadgets, not tools. There’s no use in having a GPS on your mountain bike when the park is so small you can see the road from the trail, or having a $4000 SRM power meter on your $2000 Trek.
Donna’s voice sounds great–ums and all!
The feedback really freaked me out though. My computer audio system has a midrange with a strong bass response. All of a sudden it sounded like a space ship landed on the roof. Everything started to vibrate.
It gave a whole different feel to the show. Always great thought.
I really enjoy the both the Spokes(men/people) and the Fredcast podcasts. As a follow up to your latest program, I had a comment on how and why the media treats cycling different than football, soccer and baseball.
I think one thing to keep in mind is the way that these event are promoted. The stick and ball sports have permanent and/or semi-permanent venues and full time organizations. Much of cycling requires someone with the drive and resources to put on these events. The Super Bowl and World Cup will happen regardless of personnel, the machinery is in place. The Grand Tours (Spain included!) and Classics are established and like this as well. Events from the Tour of Georgia and California down to the local criterium are much more dependant on finding promoters and sponsors that are willing to take a chance on cycling. If cycling is having a rough time in the news, the money is not there. This applies to running, triathlons and other events that use public spaces.
Because doping news is more of a threat to cycling than soccer, the media are more motivated to report. Impartiality is a joke, they like to see that their work has an effect, like anyone else.
I think we should complain less about the media, it encourages them and makes our sports look whiney and insignificant. What we need is a credible anti-doping program that is workable and doesn’t penalize an athlete just on suspicion.
Here’s an idea for an amended Pro Tour ethics rule. The teams vote (in secret) on whether to suspend a suspected rider rather than an automatic suspension. The team could suspend the rider if they are not confident enough to stand up for him. Automatic suspensions just suspend the use of judgment. It’s not like the current testing is without legitimate criticism. Prior to a hearing we should know about any suspicions.
Fred out,
-Bill
Atlanta, GA