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Bike Racing
Cracks in the hegemony of high performance?
The bike industry knows that the overwhelming majority of serious cyclists don’t race, at least not formally. Nonetheless, the common assumption has been that these consumers desire the same qualities in their bikes, components, and accessories as professional racers do. But this assumption is eroding.
And the winner of the photo contest is…
With 38% of the votes, Kristof Ramon’s portrait of Jackson Stewart and John Lelangue was the winner of my informal Flickr Cycling Photos of the Year poll. Granted, Kristof’s photo was the one that I used in my blog post and he mentioned the poll on Twitter and Facebook. So that gave him a leg up, for sure. Regardless, here’s what he had to say for himself.
Taking pictures of bike races
There are lots of ways to take a picture of a bike race and waiting at the finish line for a guy to put his hands in the air is among the less interesting of those ways. Fortunately, people like Kristof Ramon are bringing fresh, creative perspectives to cycling photography.
No ProTour, no problem (updated)
After the UCI announced that Bbox-Bouygues Telecom and Cofidis would not be asked back to the ProTour - although both are assured of a spot in the Tour de France - Bbox manager Jean-René Bernaudeau wasn’t worried. Other than the embarrassment of getting kicked out of the ProTour club, there’s little downside for these teams. So what’s the point of the ProTour?
Diggin’ in the crates: War of the Trackers?
For a few reasons, my blog posts have been getting longer and less frequent. I’m happy with that, but the downside is that I don’t have time to complete every post I start while it’s still relevant. With that in mind, I’ll be adding a few previously unfinished posts now that I have some time.
Here’s [...]
Tour de France team & sponsor video battle!
Especially during the Tour, teams and sponsors are generating some interesting documentary-style video coverage of pro cycling. But who’s got the best content? Let’s figure it out! I’ve posted sample videos below from five well known teams and brands. Watch them - or better yet, use the links to check out the full series - and complete the poll to give each a rating. Then vote for your favorite. Voting will be open until the end of the Tour and I’ll post the results next week.
Katusha revisits Crime and Punishment
Would-be Russian superteam Katusha has is making its riders sign a contract addendum requiring them to pay the team back five times their annual salary in the event of a positive doping test. The new “agreement” came up after one rider got popped before the Giro and several riders initially refused to sign it. Gert Steegmans is final remaining holdout and has sacrificed his Tour de France start. What are his reasons? What are the team’s? What’s the point?
Universal Sports charging for Giro Race Tracker
In a recent column for ROAD, I argued that teams and events should more directly serve and monetize the sport’s existing core fan base. One of my suggestions was that AEG charge for the Tour of California’s Tour Tracker website that features multiple live video streams, real-time GPS tracking per rider, photos, chat, etc. And guess what? Universal Sports has done exactly that with its Race Tracker for the Giro coverage that it scooped up from RCS just before the race started. At $3.95 for a stage and $34.95 for the whole race, the Giro Race Tracker is pricier than the $25 I suggested in my column for the Tour de France. But I gave it a shot today, watching side-by-side with Universal Sports’ free live online video. Here’s my analysis…
Team might be better off financially without Astana
The Kazakhstan cycling federation pays Bruyneel’s program with money it receives from a consortium of Kazakh companies. Those companies are unwilling or unable to pay the federation, which has in turn put the team in financial straits. Luckily, if the Kazakhs pull out entirely, all the pieces will be in place for a new title sponsor to “save” Lance Armstrong’s team just in time for the Tour de France. Even in this economy, that’s a very saleable sponsorship. It might even be better in the long run than if Astana had stayed on. Why? Sponsorship activation and metrics.
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
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
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…
