Bike Racing

Another year, another Otter

Posted on 16. Apr, 2009 by in Bike Racing, Bike industry | 3 Comments

Another year, another Otter

The “Celebration of Sport” soldiers on, even claiming increases for both exhibitor and athlete attendance from 2008. Despite the pros’ gripes about low prize money and everybody’s gripes about high entry fees, Sea Otter has a great business model – at least by cycling standards – with three stable revenue streams: athlete entry fees, exhibitor fees, and sponsorship. What continues to drive the first two is that Sea Otter remains a good, old-fashioned mountain bike festival with a fantastic cross-country course. And of the sponsor 12 logos on my media credential, SRAM, Thule, Sierra Nevada, Fox Shox, Clif Bar, and Specialized have been sponsors here for as long as I can remember.

Back in the day

Posted on 03. Apr, 2009 by in Bike Racing, Client News, Personal | No Comments

Back in the day

Packing up my office at the Allied Box Factory last week unearthed a trove of marketing collaterals from the 2005 and 2006 Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada teams: six-pack carriers, media kits, team cards, and more. Despite our meager budget, this stuff came out nicely and I think it compares favorably to most of what’s been generated by much bigger teams since then. The six-pack carriers never made it onto shelves, unfortunately.

ROAD columns, recent and upcoming

Posted on 10. Mar, 2009 by in Bike Racing, ROAD Magazine | No Comments

ROAD columns, recent and upcoming

I’ve posted my most recent column for ROAD Magazine, discussing how a labor union would function in pro cycling and what it would take to create one. To summarize, the CPA can only make suggestions and is too closely tied to the UCI (i.e. management). But a union wouldn’t benefit the most influential riders financially or have any leverage in negotiations with ASO. So it’s unlikely to happen, even though it would help most of the riders. Here’s an excerpt from the column I just sent in…

Twitter and pro cycling’s human element

Posted on 27. Feb, 2009 by in Bike Racing, Bike industry, New Media, Sponsors, Sports Business | 3 Comments

Twitter and pro cycling’s human element

More than any other pro sport, cycling has taken to Twitter like a fish to water. I believe it’s because the approachability of the tweet fits with the already approachable nature of the sport. As Twitter and other social tools permeate our everyday lives, myths will become human and a pre-humanized sport like cycling will adapt more quickly and naturally than its larger counterparts. In other words, we’ll benefit from the convergence of what Mike refers to as the road version and the raw version.

ATOC wrap-up, part 1

Posted on 25. Feb, 2009 by in Bike Racing, Client News, Personal | 1 Comment

ATOC wrap-up, part 1

Physically and mentally, last week was probably the most challenging of my career, and I’m still processing all my impressions from the race. In the meantime, here are a few more images and an excerpt of my final report for the MASH x Incase blog. To see more of what I saw, you can check out my Flickr album and my photos and videos for Zipp (2/16-22), featuring interviews with Carlos Sastre and Thor Hushovd.

Solvang ‘n’ stuff

Posted on 21. Feb, 2009 by in Bike Racing, Client News, Personal | No Comments

Solvang ‘n’ stuff

Yesterday was amazing, with great access to three of the best teams in the world: Cervelo TestTeam, Astana, and Garmin-Slipstream. I got to interview Carlos Sastre inside the Cervelo bus, shoot close-ups of Jani Brajkovic warming up on Zipp’s aero crankset, and just wander through the Garmin-Slipstream area in the morning before bringing the MASH [...]

Some photos from the road

Posted on 19. Feb, 2009 by in Bike Racing, Client News, Personal | No Comments

Some photos from the road

Too tired to say much of anything, but here are some photos from the last few days with Zipp and MASH. All my photos from this trip are here on Flickr.

Kadisco at the Tour of California

Posted on 15. Feb, 2009 by in Bike Racing, Client News, Personal, Sponsors, Trends | 1 Comment

Kadisco at the Tour of California

This is going to be a busy week for me with a several hats to juggle and lots of text, photo and video content to create. First, I’m on the road with MASH all week. We’re riding all the Tour of California courses from start to finish on track bikes. I’ll also be producing some web content for Zipp around their pro teams, Cervelo Test Team and Garmin-Slipstream. I’ll be talking to riders, directors, and mechanics about what wheels they’ll be riding on different stages, and what factors go into those choices.

Where Slipstream riders came from

Posted on 12. Feb, 2009 by in Bike Racing | 1 Comment

Where Slipstream riders came from

… the NorCal High School Mountain Bike League will always stick to mountain biking because it’s safer, more inclusive, and more fun. I was thinking thinking about that at last night’s event at Clif Bar HQ with MASH and Garmin-Slipstream. Of the 8 riders on the team, all but Christian Vandevelde and Svein Tuft (also the two oldest riders on the team) said that they got into road cycling through mountain biking as kids.

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