I think it’s none of the above; he’s positioning himself as a race organizer for a race that has broadcast rights he can sell. He’s priming the pump all right, just not for racing at large.

Jules said:

I think it’s none of the above; he’s positioning himself as a race organizer for a race that has broadcast rights he can sell. He’s priming the pump all right, just not for racing at large.

Interesting possibility.  

But considering how popular USA Crits races have been, I think broadcasters offering to show it without charging the promoter would be a win.  

mugwump said:

Jules said:

I think it’s none of the above; he’s positioning himself as a race organizer for a race that has broadcast rights he can sell. He’s priming the pump all right, just not for racing at large.

Interesting possibility.  

But considering how popular USA Crits races have been, I think broadcasters offering to show it without charging the promoter would be a win.  

I think he's counting on being able to monetize coverage, Redbull style. I don't want to imply he doesn't care about the progress of cycling but I think this "priming the pump" idea is pretty far fetched.

Meanwhile the end of an era. https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tony-martin-announces-retirement-from-professional-cycling/

Chris Blevins 
what a race!!!

Jules said:

mugwump said:

Jules said:

I think it’s none of the above; he’s positioning himself as a race organizer for a race that has broadcast rights he can sell. He’s priming the pump all right, just not for racing at large.

Interesting possibility.  

But considering how popular USA Crits races have been, I think broadcasters offering to show it without charging the promoter would be a win.  

I think he's counting on being able to monetize coverage, Redbull style. I don't want to imply he doesn't care about the progress of cycling but I think this "priming the pump" idea is pretty far fetched.

If JW can get RedBull TV style coverage of these races, it would probably be amazing. The free XC mountain bike coverage is top notch, waaay better than paid services like FloBikes. It looks like SRAM is the main sponsor for this even though. I feel like crit racing needs to head in the RedBull direction as opposed to NBC style coverage. 

to mirror Mark:
OMFG CHRISTOPHER BLEVINS.
dude was smart too, awesome to see!

The Snowshoe MTB World Cup races are free to watch in Redbull TV, the Men's race is extraordinary, Blevins winning to chants of "USA USA USA USA!!" is amazing, it is really awesome.

Here's the men's race in full:
https://www.redbull.com/us-en/live/men-xco-snowshoe-2021-uci-mountain-bike-world-cup

Have I mentioned he is expected at Charm City CX? You should go there too.

eloy said:

to mirror Mark:
OMFG CHRISTOPHER BLEVINS.
dude was smart too, awesome to see!

On the penultimate lap ,Nino attacked and Blevins responded , but just sat on his wheel , I thought , he's got this ,Interestingly ,Rob Warner was constantly calling Blevins out, his composure was super impressive  
Oh, Evie won again also , and is staying stateside to do the US cross races 

I'm sure this just made @mugwump & @Jules week 
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ineos-grenadiers-finally-switches-to-disc-brakes/

Mark Taylor said:

I'm sure this just made @mugwump & @Jules week 
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ineos-grenadiers-finally-switches-to-disc-brakes/

UAE has a habit of switching back to their rim-brake bikes for the steep climbing races.  I think that will still be.  I wonder if we'll see the same from Ineos.  My guess is yes.

https://cyclingtips.com/2021/09/the-uci-will-run-a-gravel-world-series-and-gravel-world-championships-in-2022/

We knew this was coming sooner or later

Gravel sold out! It's so over!

(also I would like to buy your now very, very uncool gravel bike at a steep discount plz)

"This spring, the findings of the trial were published in The Lancet. Reversal of paralysis is, in itself, an astonishing feat. But embedded in the article was something even more radical. It wasn’t what the patients learned, but how they learned it: By stimulating the vagus nerve, they had compressed years of physical therapy into months. The trial was meant as a way of repairing damage and restoring motor control. But what if there had been no damage to begin with? In the hands of the healthy and fit, such technology could significantly enhance physical performance—the question is whether humans are ready to contend with it."

https://www.wired.com/story/vagus-nerve-stroke-study-human-augmentation/

The reporting is a bit too breathless for me to feel it trustworthy.  Still,  a striking development.

definitely something to keep an eye on... but without digging too deep, the article simply suggests that learning a new skill or impaired motor skills are vastly improved, but makes no real mention of how much it could improve the level of an already highly skilled elite athlete.

mugwump said:

Mark Taylor said:

I'm sure this just made @mugwump & @Jules week 
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ineos-grenadiers-finally-switches-to-disc-brakes/

UAE has a habit of switching back to their rim-brake bikes for the steep climbing races.  I think that will still be.  I wonder if we'll see the same from Ineos.  My guess is yes.

I see the Ineos riders used the disc bike at worlds , also looks like they were running clinchers also

I believe Ineos is going full disc for next season. Id still bet they swap out for rim brakes like UAE and ISA some days, for marginal gains. 

mugwump said:

"This spring, the findings of the trial were published in The Lancet. Reversal of paralysis is, in itself, an astonishing feat. But embedded in the article was something even more radical. It wasn’t what the patients learned, but how they learned it: By stimulating the vagus nerve, they had compressed years of physical therapy into months. The trial was meant as a way of repairing damage and restoring motor control. But what if there had been no damage to begin with? In the hands of the healthy and fit, such technology could significantly enhance physical performance—the question is whether humans are ready to contend with it."

https://www.wired.com/story/vagus-nerve-stroke-study-human-augmentation/

The reporting is a bit too breathless for me to feel it trustworthy.  Still,  a striking development.

This is pretty incredible!  I have the (unfortunate) pleasure of seeing first-hand the current process of reversing paralysis and anything that can make the process faster is very much welcomed.

Some good news
https://cyclingtips.com/2021/10/united-airlines-abandons-fees-for-flying-with-your-bicycle/

About time! That said, I think I'll still get a lot of use out of my Ritchey Ti Cross Breakaway. Anyway, at $400 saved per roundtrip flight, I think that over the years it's more than paid for itself! That said, when I decide to finally bring my old steel Serotta over here, that will help make it an easier decision.

The bike industry is getting smaller.  

Pon agrees to buy Dorel Sports for $810 million

https://www.bicycleretailer.com/industry-news/2021/10/11/pon-agrees-buy-dorel-sports-810-million

The parent of Cannondale, Schwinn and GT will join up with the parent of Cervelo, Santa Cruz, and Gazelle.

Wow that's a huge consolidation in the industry. I guess Dorel figured it's probably going to get max value selling off their bike brands right now when the market is "hot" while also leaving behind the manufacturing and distribution issues.

David Yang said:

Wow that's a huge consolidation in the industry. I guess Dorel figured it's probably going to get max value selling off their bike brands right now when the market is "hot" while also leaving behind the manufacturing and distribution issues.

It's definitely mega.  

There's a bike industry guy who calls Specialized, Trek, Giant, Cannondale the "quadumvirate" as together they are something like 55% of all bike sales.  Cannondale was fourth.  Now they seem to leapfrog at least Giant.  I'd love to know what the share of the industry the new Quad has--Specialized, Trek, Pon, Giant.  

I'm assuming since the Dorel brands make up a huge chunk of the "Dept store" bikes that number is going to be pretty pretty big. Pacific also acts as CM? So besides the ubiquitous Schwinn's and GTs and Mongooses at Walmart all the rest of the random store-only brands are made by the likes of Pacific?

David Yang said:

I'm assuming since the Dorel brands make up a huge chunk of the "Dept store" bikes that number is going to be pretty pretty big. Pacific also acts as CM? So besides the ubiquitous Schwinn's and GTs and Mongooses at Walmart all the rest of the random store-only brands are made by the likes of Pacific?

Pacific is Schwinn, Mongoose, KidTrax, InStep.  But they also supply tires, tools, helmets, accessories.  A local hardware/houseware by me store even stocks Schwinn pumps and accessories.

But Pacific doesn't control all of the Big Box Store world.  Huffy (ohio-based) still has a sizable presence.  So, too, does Kent (NJ-based).   And Huffy is doing Vaast bikes and magnesium bike tubing.  Kent also does Van Dessel.

And one of the few "smaller" players seen in big box land is Bell helmets and gear and accessories.  But they're probably only there because Bell is part of Vista Sports, which also owns Giro, Blackburn, CamelBak, KrashCo, Raskulls, as well as a number of other brands including binoculars and gun-related stuff.   (there had been talk of spinning off the bike brands in 2018, but that seems to have died off).

It seems to me the equitable thing to do would be have her performa long series of PSA's that cover the damage she did.

<Crash> record scratch, freeze frame. Yep, that's me...

Here is Marc Soler - I broke both his arms.
... et cetera.

https://www.velonews.com/news/road/allez-opi-omi-fan-who-caused-massive-crash-at-tour-de-france-facing-court/

BTW, with the acquisition of Dorel, Pon is now the biggest bike company in the world.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/cervelo-owner-becomes-worlds-largest-bike-company-after-buying-cannondale-parent-firm-for-dollar810m