PINKBIKE ACADEMY
10 Riders. 1 Pro Contract.
Episode 6: A Slalom DuelThe contestant pool is thinning. Tensions run high. With a head-to-head dual slalom for the ages on Big White's own slalom course, we will see who has the speed and the cornering ability to stay in the house, and who is sent packing. Hold on tight and don't touch those brakes.
Huge thanks to the brands who made this show possible!
Orbea, Shimano, Fox Racing, Maxxis, Outside, Garmin, Big White, Stans, Insta360, MRP, Funn, Ride Concepts, SDG, North Shore Racks, ODI, Rimpact, and Squirt.
Mandatory "Outside® sucks!" comment. Let's enjoy PB while we have it good, and before it gets the CyclingTips/BETA treatment. I already pay for Trailforks, and had PB not been sold to Outside®, I would have paid a subscription to them too.
PB is still a good time though, the other content that (I'm assuming) is being supported by Outside (PB Racing Academy, the new Back to Basics episode, field reviews) are all great. I'd just love to see that being translated to this series too, PB academy is really a cool idea.
Drive to Survive comes to mind. As a long-time F1 fan, I actually enjoyed the first two seasons, but after the series and F1 blew up during COVID, NF did the same thing - you could see the slide start in season 3 and season 4 was just unwatchable trash. Luckily I think a lot of drivers are opting out of it, so hopefully Latifi is the only driver who participated in season 5 and DTS goes the way of his career.
What???!!?
He's FINNISH !!!
For goodness' sake he's incredibly outgoing by Finnish standards. Finnish joke by Finns on Finns:
Two men meet by accident in Helsinki.
'I haven't seen you for 20 years!'
'that's right...let's go and have a drink!'
They sit in silence over their beers, for 45 mins...
Suddenly one says:
'Well, how has it been....'
The other says:
'Are we here to drink...or talk....'
Case in point, look at any Red Bull sponsored bike rider, arguably the best paid, supported and promoted athletes in our sport. They all embody speed, skill and media presence (both traditional media and social).
Listen, PB Editors, i get you guys worked hard on this, i really do. but no piece of content is going to engage with 100% of an audience, and all autoplaying it does for those people is alienate them (and likely even for a good chunk of people that are actually interested.)
Kicking someone for being "consistently middle of the pack" is kind of ridiculous.
- They proceed to eliminate a rider after one challenge. Ha!
Elimination: blah, blah , blah
This season has an alpha but is lacking a villain, an underdog …..
PB Academy season 1&2 were good.
I tried to give season 3 a chance. Such a lame show.
Not worth my time.
PB needs to start listing to their viewers.
And if you go old school by just putting poles/flags on a nice grassy slope, it's fantastic - the berms build themselves. You can cut the grass off with a shovel if you have to.
Goddamit, I now need to find a place for my club to have one.
Adding a kid to make this good?? Why stop there? If we're going to jump the shark, why not also give them a chimpanzee on a unicycle to race, make them get married at the end, have a karaoke competition, make them live in the wild, and add a bake-off?
Your comment lists off several of the big things that pinkers are complaining about - want longer episodes, want to see more riding, want to see more of the personalities/lifestyle off the bike too.
This bullshit show (or rather, what it has steadily become) is exactly why I don't watch TV.