PINKBIKE ACADEMY
10 Riders. 1 Pro Contract.
Episode 5: Get Up or Get OutBack as a fan favorite, the contestants are hit with a low-speed challenge that tests all of their skill: The Impossible Climb. With ultra-tech twists and turns, the athletes' balance will be tested alongside their nerves. Who will reach the top? And who will go home?
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.
PB: creates drama by randomly saying that Tarmo isn't the full package
Obviously I won't be surprised if Tarmo wins as he dominates everyone in riding ability. But I wouldn't take it for granted.
Outside + Executive: "I know, we'll get an annoying host who doesn't ride bikes, shorten the episodes by 50% and then eliminate talented riders because they care more about being good at MTB than being a self-promoting social media douche."
PB: "Nailed it!"
Outside + Executive: "Oh, and be sure autoplay is added to the video so we get our view count up."
Um... not really? Since day one Orbea was putting down cash for the show and wanted ROI. For two seasons now they made the mistake of selecting great riders who don't sell bikes and they have clearly learned from it.
@patiohaggerty I'll fix that for you:
O+ Exec: "I know, we'll get two hosts who can actually speak clearly and have experience in front of the camera, not just behind it. One of them is also an mtb legend as opposed to a youtube parody creator. Adjust the length and format to be sellable. Choose the winner based on their ability to sell bikes because Orbea doesn't want to pointlessly hemorrhage money for a year paying for someone's pastime with no measurable return."
PB: "Nailed it"
All that said, your question was completely irrelevant to what I said and just shows your lack of reading comprehension. I never said Orbea will or should select a weak rider this season. Or quote where I did? I just said the previous two winners were good racers but invisible to the wider public. Since they already have a top level racer (Maes), if I was holding the money I would invest in a skilled freerider able to churn out quality content in great terrain and in the company of other, already popular riders who would help get the clicks. We'll see what Orbea decides of course. They might as well be 100% race focused and just go with the obvious choice of Tarmo.
You don't seem like you'd be very fun to ride a bike with.
Tarmo might not be the man who gives you solid 15 photos of espresso cups next to a stopped mountain bike per day.. But he is for sure the guy who gives you the results you want, when it comes to promoting Orbeas bikes to possible new customers.
You tell me, which makes you wanna follow a rider and a bike brand. Super fast rider with a wide range of riding skills or mid-pack racer with good photo positioning?
Geez judges.
They are just looking for Katie Burrell with a bit more bike skill. That's the sort of marketing that would put me off a brand.
Having said that, Tarmo's Insta is pretty decent, a mix of shredding, podiums, and general mtb shenanigans. Not so much with the coffee.
Hope there's another Pinkbike Racing out soon.
Says very little and what he does say is derisive and he is loved for it!
@st-alfie Finnish drivers work as marketing material because motorsport marketing is waaaay more performance and result oriented than mtb marketing. Latest EWS video - 2.2k views in 5 days. Latest Remy video: 99k views in 5 days.
@PawnSacrifice None of those riders are "young Sam Hill", including Tarmo. That's exactly why they applied for PBA.
This checks out: twitter.com/thisisfinland/status/651673341665890305
They included the impossible climb for a bit of entertainemnt and time-filling but thinking that it mattered even one bit for who wins PBA is naive. They also made it quite clear that they already have one Martin Maes and don't necessarily need two of him. Let's hope Tarmo is as good at selling as he is at riding or PB commenters' tears will raise worldwide water levels faster than the ice cap melting haha.
No one sells bikes by being an average bike rider with a great personality and image.
Blatantly not true and numerous people do exactly that, but no need to repeat myself from the other post
Ratboy is marketable because of his personality and style on the bike, not his speed. He was popular before he ever won a world cup race. Otherwise every world cup winner would sell as well as he did. There's also a difference in viewership numbers between DH WC and EWS.
That's not the point though. You're clinging to a strawman about "unskilled riders selling bikes" for god knows what reason, when the actual point people are making is that very skilled riders have better ways of selling bikes than racing. Especially racing EWS that almost no one watches, in part due to horrible coverage.
I will watch about 6 seconds of "deliberation".
Are they trying to run an academy or a TV show? I've seen better production from a single person youtube channel...
Secondly, you definitely misuderstood me. Where in my original reply did I say anything about "average riders". Quite the opposite, I think the winner will be one of the skilled ones. I just said your focus on racing and specifically on EWS might not be what Orbea's marketing dept. has in mind for their next ambassador.
If I was a betting man, right now I'd bet on Max having the most potential to actually sell bikes successfully for Orbea after seeing him in Tour de Gnar. Why would they need Tarmo when they have Maes who does the same thing but better? Gonna be hilarious watching pinkbikers lose their minds when he gets eliminated
No, I don't think you did understand me. I never said anything about "most contestants" or "average riders". I specifically referred to your claim that "every bike brand wants to achieve the best results as possible in races". That generalisation is indisputably and objectively false given the existence of brands who don't sponsor racers at all. I just shared my thoughts on why it's false and why I don't think Tarmo is guaranteed the win. I even shared who my choice of ambassador would be - Max. Are you saying Max is an "average rider"? It would be cool and interesting to learn which parts of my comment about Propain's and Orbea's marketing you disagree with instead of being called a troll
So far, judging by a lot of these posts, seems to be a good strategy.
What if the first few people eliminated would have done better in the second half of the competitions? Such a bad set up. No need to eliminate anyone during a 2 week completion. Just let everyone do the full 2 weeks and pick a winner.
The point of an academy is to stay & learn, grow, have peers, get pushed to the limit, challenged and tested at the end so why all these obviously good riders don't get the chance to stay (6? 8? whatever) weeks, learn from the best, have a chance to evolve & then have a race or races at the end blows my mind. The current setup is outdated Survivor style and an amputation fest that it's not watchable to me.
Not saying everyone should get participation trophies here - the opposite. Why not take it all down to a badass race at the end? The point of an academy isn't to give students a week or two then eject them for their previous condition & understanding, but to educate, push to limits, teach & grow the student then test them at the end so they advance. The "academy" doesn't do this at all, and PB's reversal of the model while calling an academy is laughable at best... and I say that as supreme PB genuflector. This cut-throat setup just doesn't make the slightest bit of sense to me...sure one rider gets to stay & play, but 95% of the potential is landfilled before it can even emerge.
The fam enjoyed the two previous seasons, but this one just...it's just another cliche "reality show".
The comment from Gully " the race roster is pretty full right now" tells me they want a brand ambassador this year not a racer. As other have said previous winners (near winners) have gone on to do really well at EWS but I think it loses Orbea money. They want a stay at home ambassador that pays for themself.
I wanted this to be a platform for struggling racers to get their big break (like PBR), yes it's about money blah blah blah but I don't want to see people complete to be an influencer they can do that without the support.
Why not make them do a "social media bootcamp" or something day 1, and keep track of their metrics during the season. Give them similar photo and video assets from the events to do as they want with it. Have an interview challenge which could take place shortly after a race (don't need another make-an-edit challenge again). There is a ton of potential for this to be a really cool series but this season seems to fall short of the previous one. Like others said I think an "adacemy" style with an elimination every few episodes (bottom performers at the end of each "semester"?) would be cool, but it seems like this entire season is filmed in a week.
Preview of next episode: "Watch as the contestants go head to head in slalom racing to decide who gets to stay"...................