rubberbutter

If you want it in white, you obviously aren’t the target consumer for this saddle. It’s all about pushing… the bike uphill… white would get dirty from your hands and what not, so no, no white available.

Interesting perspectives and important information. Long live the privateer! And privateer media houses! But where the hell are the PB editors? Grammar, syntax, punctuation, spelling… this was a nightmare to read… I’d say fine if this was published in the forums, but PB editors dropped the ball by publishing such unpolished garble on the front page. Clean it up and make it readable, help out the privateers! Or do they need to do their own copywriting and editing between tire changes and brake bleeds?

Twin-loc for folks who like to carry shop tools and spare shocks! Brilliant!

The biggest news from the day is that most (grossly mathematically underrepresented in the results) of the riders ranked 30-40 in WC points didn’t qualify. This is “mathematically impossible” if not for an act of god, which is to say, the weather for about thirty riders was much worse. I love bad weather, it’s a dice toss and makes for an interesting race. But we’re talking “qualies”, man, and a lot of those precious “any given sunday” riders are going to miss a chance at precious points. I’m still not crushin’ on the new format…

50,000 viewers is ridiculously low… the Giro d’Italia was getting over two million daily viewers in Italy alone, even in the afternoons during the work week. I’d love to see some Redbull numbers from last season to compare, but I’m guessing they’re laughing their asses off. No company is going to pay TV advertising prices for 50,000 viewers (also because highlights and replays don’t show the live-air adverts). So some napkin math… let’s say 50,0000 people pay10$ a month for the subscription. That’s about 30 cents per day of programming. The race is on one day, so the broadcaster can only honestly say that they made $15,000 on race day spectators. That doesn’t even pay for the buildout, cameramen and support staff… For the record, I didn’t watch for the first time in about 8 years. I love bike racing, but this new format sucks. I already “pay” for GCN through the Sky cable package (EU), but I’m done jumping through hoops to connect accounts to use apps which belong to companies who could care less about the sport. Redbull was at least passionately invested in the events, and I never once got spammed or bullied onto a mailing list. I guess it was enough for them that I saw their brand and product, even if I don’t drink it. How many people did I tell to download the Redbull app? Hundreds at least. That’s the benefit of “free programming”, done right. Sucks for the riders, sucks for the teams, sucks for the fans. Good luck to them all, but the writing is on the wall… as they say, if you want to earn money, learn to code. Final thought: I was pleased to read VitalMTBs race report. That almost felt like real journalism! If anything, maybe this new format will motivate a new generation of “mtb journalists” to actually write about the race using full sentences, facts, opinions, and colorful language so that people can appreciate what happened and relive the drama.

Can’t remember the last time I saw Vital linked up on PB… signs of the times .

Don’t know if cool is the right word…

Someone should tell Q that he’ll save a lot of time and resolve all his mobility issues with a bicycle…

@eckljkr: that video is insane. That the judges would allow even one of those moves proves they are bought. What a disgrace for cycling, period. Nobody, not the sponsors nor the teams nor the media would accept this in a UCI men’s world tour race. There is too much money on the line and the judges cannot compromise the entire sport with such a flagrant denial of the rules. This “insignificant” race is a big fucking deal. Cheating must be subtle, or else no one will play the game. I’ll say it. Two categories: open and female (vagina at time of birth). Otherwise there will be no women’s sport. Nobody will participate nobody will watch nobody will bet nobody will care. And we can all just stop bitching about the “rights” of trannies to participate in sports. They already participate, and nobody can stop them from entering an open category race.