Puddings

The Outside overlords demand higher clicks because Pinkbike editorial is now completely beholder to advertisers and needs to prove that people are looking at the swooning advertorials that now plague the site - how can we drive the views? the editors cry - brainstorming session comes up with the tired trope of a 'quiz' where to see the answer you are dumped in a fawning insipid - AI could do it better - pigswill of a word dump

@VtVolk: to be honest as I lay in the mud in a lot of pain, whether the dog survived to learn some trail etiquette was not particularly high up my list of concerns

@mikekazimer: a broken collar bone because someones 'well trained' trail dog bolted through the undergrowth after a rabbit on a parallel trail and brought me down means I have no time for anyone who brings their mutt out mountain biking

@CM999: correct that a number of the drivers have to deliver sponsorship money as part of their contract, but the old days of a true pay driver have gone as the minimum super licence points came in. Every driver in F1 earned a salary in 2022, even if for some that was a mere $1m (poverty spec drivers). The lowest was Tsunoda on $750k Even Lance Stroll earned $10m - although technically that should be considered as his allowance from daddy, who, rather than let him be accused of being a talentless pay driver, bought him his very own team to play with

Rising popularity that now appears to have stalled as countries exit the worst of the lockdowns and into higher cost of living meaning that the bike industry is shrinking its expenditure. For many years, mountain biking has been incredibly incestuous in its advertising sales - most team sponsorship is from within the industry (compared to road riding where a lot of the team funding comes from a mix of sugar daddies but more importantly, external to cycling sources). Hide the racing behind a paywall and suddenly you lose access to a significant chunk of diehard fans who do buy product they see on riders jerseys. If that was my marketing spend, I would be looking seriously at those riders who were not behind the paywall - Sam Pilgrim's new contract is a great example. Discovery will be hoping it can develop a 'Drive to Survive' type product to do for MTB what DtS did for F1 because that is what will push the product in front of new fans and drive up the marketing value which in turn will also provide more income opportunities for the riders. It is a big gamble on their part but expect to see socials start to be filled with mindless gossip bigging up non-existent beef between riders as they pave the way to attract non-MTB fans

still not confirmed what they will actually be allowed to show as they are not employees of Warner Bros who have the exclusive broadcast rights. BK pointed out at the time of the deal that it appeared his image rights were being sold without consultation (his point being that the Redbull deal allowed riders to generate content but this did not appear to be the case any longer under WB) As far as I am aware, this has not be definitively resolved, just lots of vague statements from the sell out Chris Ball and his minions

slow hand clap, well played

Given The Syndicate was always his baby, will be interesting to see if it survives in its current incarnation beyond the current contracts or once Greg retires will it morph into something more staid and purely results driven (if they even see any value in in keeping it going)

Given the latest round of cuts in progress at Outside, surely all Pinkbike rides in the near future will be solo rides

@pk71: I gave up on the slab because the video shooting was so bad - I am guessing from your comment, I saved myself from a shit storyline/concept as well!