Job Cuts at GCN + The Bike Industry’s Sneaky Marketing Tactics – The Wild Ones Podcast Ep54

Check out the audio versions of the podcast here: https://podfollow.com/the-wild-ones/view

Here’s the episode breakdown:
00:00 Our top secret trip for the launch of new bike
15:49 This cycling brand’s new streetwear range is… unexpected
19:27 Wild Ones merch is back!
20:28 He just got a knighthood…
21:15 MyWhoosh is coming for Zwift, are they in trouble?
24:08 Zwift now does a smart bike
31:29 Celebrity’s massive bike crash
32:38 Big drama at the Tour of Britain
33:39 Pro cyclist demands apology after Tour of Slovenia disqualification
35:38 Job cuts and closures at GCN
39:14 UCI ‘copying football’ with latest rule change
44:07 Overrated/Underrated: The UCI
45:53 Overrated/Underrated: Wearing matching brand cycling kit
46:30 Overrated/Underrated: Coaching for everyday riding
49:16 Overrated/Underrated: Centre Parcs
52:12 Jimmi’s wine got confiscated by security (FUOTW)
56:17 A BIG sportive error

If you’d like us to send in a question, story, some good news, things you’d like us to discuss or anything else, email us at wildonespodcast@cademedia.co.uk
Thanks and see you next time.

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hello and welcome back to another episode of The Wild Ones podcast the show where we chat about bike stuff I’m here with Francis and producer Emily how is everyone doing moist what moist why are you moist I left the house and it said 15° and dry so I wore summer kit and then it rained a lot it is quite warm though weirdly it was horrible very humid yeah it was my feet ear now sorry my shoes I did I’ve done that thing where you stuff them with paper so hopefully they’ll be 10% dry by the end of the day you need one of those shoe dryers it’s in my garage so I’m a little bit tired but I’m I’m I’m all right but I’m a bit I I feel fatigued after an event that we had to attend that uh I wouldn’t say we were miserable about we shouldn’t be miserable about it because it was like honestly the most luxurious place I’ve ever stayed in my life so basically we are going to drop a video later today for an embargoed bike for an Italian bike manufacturer that sponsors a team that sounds something like minus can I say I’m going say I’ve said it it’s said um so we wanted the bike in this country we actually asked for it at the studio so we can make a video on it in the usual way that we make videos put it through like terrible conditions rain potholes all of that usual stuff um but the the only way we could get it is if we went to the official press event uh which what we have learned from that is how much press gets uh I want to I don’t do we bleep words out or should I just not say the word I want to say I mean whatever just say it if you want how much press geted off oh Jimmy by Brands so that they do really nice reviews of their products yes that is the world of PR isn’t it you you spend a lot of money on your event to to make it look as nice as possible so I mean they’re not trying to buy you off they’re not giving you free bikes or anything like that but they’re creating in the best possible environment for you to be in a good mood but what they don’t know about Jimmy is he’s always in a bad mood made him in an extremely bad mood I was particularly yeah was particularly perplexed um and like like we were constantly asking them to do stuff that they didn’t want to do like we didn’t want to go for the first place then when we were like can we take our own set of wheels so we can put that on they also said no to that then at the event they had like four hours worth worth of presentations on the bike with engineers and all of this and we just wanted the b-roll so we could make a video here b-roll in a PDF please yeah and I was like is all right if we don’t go to the event and we just get the bikes now cuz the sun’s out cuz we were in the mountain so it was just basically raining every 10 minutes I was like now was perfect for us and they were like I’ll go and ask they’re like no you can’t do that you have to go to the event the event was um it was great and it was quite interesting especially the bit with one of the professional Riders from that team oh yeah yeah we give it away don’t we which was great from squinny us yeah Mike doe Mike doe wait who’s that I don’t know or is that a cord name is it yes M friends R it was a PowerPoint presentation which is 45 minutes long yeah telling you all about the bike really interesting stuff if you’re into that nice pictures see the colorways and things and then a 45 minute presentation from a person saying exactly the same thing so at this point you sat there for 3 hours and then it was the bit with the pro Rider which was the most interesting bit by far but it was inefficient like just go let us ride the bike yeah well I guess we have very different requirements to typical journalists we just wanted we just want good b-roll of the bike know what it’s like like you said PDF of all the details and then we construct a video here in the studio which is what we have INE inevitably ended up doing anyway the I I spent the whole thing really trying not to be swayed by what they were saying and basically the mission was as we discussed on the flight when we were going out out there find the things that are wrong like that’s it just find the things that are wrong with the bike mhm and that’s not so that you can only give a bad review because what I guess what you’re saying is the good things are going to be obvious and pushed in your face they talk about exactly they talk about the good things so work it’s trying to be as objective as possible which I think is difficult in that environment and what you also would never be able to do is do a long-term review of that bike because you basically get a de with it and it’s not like I mean I don’t think with these sort of things you’re going to find big errors it’s not like a untested company you know they do a lot of R&D you’re not going to find big things wrong with it however you’re only able only ever going to be able to do a first look on that bike First Impressions yeah yeah and it this bike may or may not cost upwards of 10 grand oh easy yeah so it’s I think the shame if it is that you don’t get this much love put into more affordable bik cuz you know there’s there this is such a big event around you mean from the brands though don’t you as in like the actual brands that have the bikes they’re spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on the pr for this bike yeah but you’re you’re ultimately saying why aren’t people also spending this kind of money on the 15500 bikes that are actually really good yeah I think so yeah and or even below I guess you know more entry level bikes it just doesn’t happen does it and and that’s a shame because I think what it ends up being is the press all launch this big ra around a £10,000 plus bike bit like the the Shram red versus Shram Force launches and how different they were um the thing we didn’t go to it but there was a red carpet event in London foram red and not for Force yeah we rented out a cinema and a pub across the road and all this stuff was happening and they they very kindly invited us to it we didn’t go but the force event was or the force launch which is the lower end group set still still high end was here’s the force yeah it popped up online a bit in a few places they they put it they gave it to some places for example Nick at backyard for for me and him to do a bike build video and some other places but yeah definitely not to the scale of of the red I guess when it’s a flagship thing interestingly the brand that we went to visit recently their most sold bike is the top end one m is the one we were looking at and when the video drops it will be obvious why that is correct I what we haven’t said which I think is actually quite interesting is to the extent with which they have actually put money towards this and I I’m Amazed by it I I wasn’t expecting it so there was probably about 30 journalists from literally all over the world there was two or three that flown in from Australia there was some that flown in from Japan Canada America all over Europe multiple from the UK um all of them had been flown to travisa were Marco Polo in Italy then there was a 3-hour transfer into the dolomites to this incredible ski resort which is obviously summer now so it’s not a ski resort which was honestly the most beautiful place I’ve ever stayed in my life and then you’ve got a team of mechanics putting a bike together for you to ride on this perfect tarmac in the mountains and then sent away later and there was a eight course tasting menu on day one which was wasted on me because all I wanted was a pizza and a beer yeah it’s pretty fancy isn’t it this is the thing it’s no Hate to this brand for doing that but I think the important thing for us as people who are now getting into a space where we want to show off Tech you know we want to show off Tech from all ranges because although we know 99% of our audience are never probably buying a 10 grand bike it’s interesting to it’s window shopping isn’t it it’s interesting to look at fun stuff but that is the stuff that is thrust in our face as journalist and therefore we have to kind of go out of our way to balance that by showing off the entry level stuff so you know you actually going and buying Tri bands when you were doing that and looking at Carreras and and trying to find the stuff in between those two different price points you just we have to work a little bit harder to make sure we’re representing the Hall of market and representing our audience in in a way that serves them rather than just kind of doing um the PR’s work for them I guess yeah it’s it’s like you know know I’m I’m going to watch many more videos on fancy Porsches and Ferraris going doing amazing power slides around race tracks than I am a mini I do quite likei we should have some sort of rule where if we review a bike which is £10,000 we then have to review up to that value of entry level bikes oh what as in s 101,000 yeah 20 dry bands the problem is very quickly run out of entry level B yeah yeah but we we know though like we’ve had loads of these conversations we don’t just want to cover expensive stuff we don’t just want to cover entry level stuff or the other end of the spectrum like Emily said we want to cover everything and I actually think our best First Look videos and review videos are going to be the middle of the market because that’s actually like the top end is always going to be incredible it just is like it’s the best they are the best bikes in the world they’re not just the most expensive they are also the best bikes in the world they’re going to be incredible it’s just the way it is whereas that kind of ,500 to 4,000 Mark will have bikes that are probably nearly as good as those ones and that’s why I I find that space really exciting to spend more time in there’s a lot more bikes in that space and there’s a lot more opportunity for our viewers and us as cyclists to go like actually this two and a half thousand pound bike kind of is pretty similar to that 15 grand bike that we rode the other well that’s say isn’t that there’s more difference yeah in the in the models there might be ,000 specialized Alle and ,000 whatever the cathlon sell for exactly ,000 and you’re like oh that is a big difference of bike yeah I think it’s good for you to to try a super bike though because then it gives you a point of reference I I shouldn’t have been surprised but I was surprised good bike as it should be I would say that wheel thing really annoyed me I wanted to change the wheels and we we now have a house set of wheels we’ll talk about it in a a video not just podcast but when we do first looks on bikes we’re just going to be switching the wheels out straight away because if you got four grand wheel set on a bike it’s going to ride good even if it’s something much lower end I guess something that’s worth noting specifically on this scenario for the video which is also dropping today is going forward we probably aren’t going going to be saying yes to these and we will actually be going if you can’t get us the bike we’re not going to be part of it yeah if any bike brands are listening P PDF and the bike please just for a week um and and the main reason that we did say yes in this scenario is this is a new style of content and we need to get we need we need enough of it so it exists and unfortunately this is a significant enough event or significant enough of a bike that we were like we have to cover this bike give us a chance to try this style of content see how it works for us so begrudgingly from my side as it’s very well documented I hate traveling um we did end up going to this vent and apart from something like 24 hours of traveling over 3 days it was all right it was nice hanging out with you a bit it was it was good fun I was I was intrigued it was a bit of Recon wasn’t it like what actually happens at a press event um there’s a this is not just a thing that happens in the cycling industry this is all industry camera YouTube’s a guy called Gerald D who camera reviews you know the that we this on that we use in the studio that kind of camera review video is what he posts and he did a great one about press events and how they’re invited to places like the dolomites or the mountains in California somewhere and then you’re you know all the YouTubers go and there’s a hype building and they all take great photos because they’re in the dolomites and it’s it’s the same thing isn’t it you’re riding on Hollywood tarmac and round switchbacks and perfect weather except we didn’t actually have very good weather that was the only thing that was realistic it’s set up to make the best environment possible you time that’s not like obviously you would if you were a bike company yeah I remember we having a conversation I think on the way back towards the airport and you were just like ah they’re all so lovely I’m like yes yes they are so no it’s not hit but it’s something that we really have to be aware of yeah and and and and on the subject of that journalism thing is that well actually one of the things that we did which we know they will hate and they were going to hate which is why we kind of hid it from them a little bit is we dismantled the bike he’s like what are you doing no theyve never seen anyone dismantle a bike start taking it apart at like an event like this why what why why haven’t they seen that why is no one what like what’s the thing you do the most on your bike if you an English person at least put it in a bike box constantly or like how what’s the saddle like to take on and off it’s pretty basic cyclists are notorious tinkerers exactly that’s what I mean constantly I change like five saddles in a few months of using a bike and if it’s annoying it’s going to make me angry and I don’t want that if I’ve just spent £1 13,000 on a bike maybe if you’re buying a 13 Grand bike you’re not doing your own mechanics that is probably true well the guy when when he saw us taking it apart he’s like an Italian wouldn’t do this they just once the seat post is in and set to height that is it they don’t even adjust nothing nothing they just and they don’t fly anywhere they just go to drive three hours to the dollar bites I don’t want to see him ungrateful but if I want to go on holiday I’ll just pay for a holiday I think this is the misconception you know it seems like a really and it is it is a great position to be in to be flown to these nice places but work is work you never you’re never having the same time I don’t know I think people working for the the journalist working for the company surely they just go yes press event like I get to eat and drink for three nights all expenses covered and ride my bike in a in a sick Place whereas we’re like you are the least amount of riding we can do but to test this bike properly and get all the b-roll that we want instead of like we didn’t even do the loop that they suggested we’re like let’s be efficient about it we missed lunch I think the difference is is because we are the whole organization so while you’re away doing that other stuff isn’t getting done when you’re a small Cog in a big chain big machine then you just have to focus on your bit whereas if when you are one of the three cogs that runs the whole thing you just have different priorities don’t you I guess and while you know you need to invest time in making seeing what that bike is like it would be a lot more efficient to do that here we’ get to ride it for longer as well yeah exactly yeah so much better so Lessons Learned it wasn’t a bad experience but that was valuable so shall we move on to some news yes we should so because you guys were away last week we did a listeners takeover Edition and we’ve been away for a couple of weeks now and there actually so much news to catch up on so I thought we could stuff it all together into a little news quiz yay news quiz news quiz right now on Wild Ones news quiz so I will read the questions you can give an answer and then we’ll talk through each one a bit I’m invoking a new rule though you have to write it down on your tablets yep um so that you can’t copy off each other cuz I feel like there’s a bit of copying that usually goes on this is like an actual TV game show isn’t it yeah M and also you writing gives the listeners a chance to answer as well so everyone listening SL watching get yourself a no they don’t have to get a pen no they could just answer what if they’re driving Jimmy yeah exactly that’ be dangerous are we all ready finger pens at the ready I’m not touch question one which cycling brand just dropped a brand new Street Wear collection and announced its Vision to become the ultimate Street Wear brand for young Riders and Beyond wow the ultimate Street Wear brand Young Riders and Beyond wow I actually don’t know cuz that term that language is disgusting what was it cycling brand which cycling brand just dropped a brand new Street Wear collection that needs to be a brand that is incredibly uncool and they think that doing something cool is is using language like that um tell me your answer La call okay map map because not because they’re uncool because I actually think they are quite cool but they they do a lot of weird grally more like normal clo stuff already so maybe so my thoughts are Rafa Pas normal panoral and probably map already do have these kind of products yeah yeah but I I nearly did go with map so the answer is Canyon oh my goodness yeah curveball is not a did you start it off with a clothing brand no I said which cycling brand oh primed hard yeah okay so the German the German bike brand has launched a ridable streetwear clothing range it isn’t Canyon branded they’ve instead branded it under the name Collective at least I think that’s what it’s called it’s actually spelled c LL C TV so they’re doing that cool thing of dropping all the vowels in the name this is also the name of the br’s downhill mountain bike racing team the the the range of very much giving 90s skater culture Vibes with oversized hoodies and t-shirts I saw this they got the wheelie kids doing it the wheelie kids exactly yeah they do mention skate culture in their product descriptions the product imagery is very Urban they have I feel like they’re trying to Target the sort of people who watch Jake 100 yeah uh but if you want to be this cool you’ll have to spend some cash because a simple black hoodie with with a large Collective logo across a chest will set you back £120 w p pound AKA $50 a t-shirt is £47 which is around $60 yeah it’s I feel like it’s giving very much panoral Vibes with the big CLC TV I thought it was like a TV channel I’ll be honest yeah TV is a really bad bit at the end because it just it looks like a junk like cable TV channel I agree no one watches I agree and all these these really cool ads have somehow ended up getting like interns there or something or rather however ever this is a seamless transition if you want some not overpriced merch oh Wild Ones now has merch yeah for much cheaper than Canyon stuff and probably as good quality underneath all of our videos there should be a little tray it’s not called a tray is it Carousel I don’t know what’s the proper terms all the little products will be underneath and you can click through to the website and there is t-shirts there is uh hoodies there is outside jackets and there is what would you call it a travel mug we use it so we don’t have to create loads of rubbish from the coffee shop downstairs there’s a link to this actual like shop as well isn’t there we can presumably put the link on the on the PO the audio podcast yes so I think we should we need to do some marketing on this we should send some to wheelie kids or something to make it cool just any yeah any wheelie kids out there get in touch okay so uh let’s move on to question two which legendary cyclist received a Knighthood this week write down your answers oh I forgot where we playing the game okay I’m going to go over Francis please reveal who you think it is Cav that is a terrible picture Jimmy cavlar cavlar yes correct sorry what cavlar why La lad is it what it’s the thing they say at the end in Malaysia they finish sentences with LA it’s very gavant Stacy I think yeah Essex so that was correct Mark Cavendish or should I say Sir Mark Cavendish he was awarded a Knighthood in the King’s Birthday honors list for his unprecedented achievements as a road cycl cycling’s greatest ever Sprinter yay question three oh I’m getting cold okay question three virtual training platform myw made a bold move to try and entice zift users over to its platform by announcing what new feature oh God I am ready me too okay let’s go to Jimmy first you can transfer your levels and points things across okay transfer levels boom yes it’s not just levels is it it’s other stuff as well like if unlockables maybe yes they going to have the same unlockables probably not exact all the same stuff what it says is you can it’s going to let users transfer levels and ratings over from zift profile so maybe they’ve been listening to this podcast because I remember Francis you pointing out I have no excuse but to start using my whoosh now yeah exactly losing with levels or progress is potentially one of the things that stops people from jumping ship yes so to transfer over users need to submit relevant data with proof uh which will undergo verification once verified the rider’s level distance and level rewards and elevation gain will be reflected in my wish so it’s probably not exactly the same unlockables but this is a fantastic move from them what big ball move I’m guessing all the data is publicly available and it it can just be extracted from the zift website but but it’s it’s not even extracted is it they’re just basically you’re just going like like you can see all of that information and they’re just going right so now you’re equivalent this it doesn’t mean anything yeah but you’d have to like get it verified I’m sure they would have to extract it from the zift database to be able to make it legit do they have to do it verified does it really matter no oh it matters to some people matters but what I’m what I’m saying is it doesn’t actually M like it’s not the same thing it’s just way for you to not feel like you’re starting again missing out falling behind it’s such a good marketing move from them it is and the timing of this move is interesting because as you’ll remember zift recently raised its prices which left a lot of people a bit sour that is a power play that so my wosh on the other hand my who on the other hand is free for now at least and it’s actually started getting some good reviews in the Press I I don’t know if they’re still doing it but there was a point where they were doing big prize money for like races as well yeah well they’re the official part of World Tour team UAE team Emirates and as we’ve previously discussed they set to host the UCI cycling Esports world championships for the next three years where they’re giving away a lot of prize money yeah interesting it is interesting they are clearly putting a lot of money behind this it’ll be interesting to see Ed lerick in a Rolex what what it’ll be interesting to see Ed lerick in a Rolex oh because you think he’s going to win well yeah he’s well good at er racing now there big prize pots this is the time it might finally be the end of the zift Monopoly whether you like that or not whether you support my wish being that or not just State and facts I think it could be question four speaking of zwift they just released a smart bike specifically designed for Turbo training it’s essentially a single speed frame that sits top of a kick a Core Trainer and it uses a zift cog system which allows you do virtual gearing but can you tell me how much it costs for what the bike trainer combo package as standard so what I’m going to say is closest wins these guys are going to tell me in GBP but if you want to play along at home I also know the US in EU pricing I’m done I’m ready I’m ready okay I can’t remember who I asked last let’s go Francis first £1,200 okay £1,100 oh the answer is £ 1,199 99 PE so Francis was a penny away he gets that point uh in dollars and Euros it’s 1,299 99 I’m impressed that was that was lucky guess I’ve seen the Articles and I haven’t I knew it was cheap yeah well it’s not cheap it’s not cheap I I knew it was significantly cheaper than the existing options smart bikes I think that this is trying to Target the pelaton market um it’s so a pelon’s apparently start from 1,345 so 1,200 it’s firmly in that price bracket is a pelaton a smart bike or is it a spinning bike well I guess it’s smart because you link to I feel do you still self-control it though like a spinning bike or does it is it controlled by the worker I don’t actually know good question I I don’t know what I do know about them is the company’s going down the pan and then you’re not going to get any of the videos and updates are you I always thought it was basically a spinning bike which means that you control the resistance with a wheel but you do it along to a video of someone telling you when to do that like those sessions that you do at the gym which are probably good sessions but in terms of it being compared to what we are used to in the cycling world as a smart bike it’s like old old old old old Tech I think you’re correct yes whereas this Swift bike is a smart bike and comparable to the uh tax Neo to what what I can’t remember no neo bike isn’t it it’s bike and also what’s the other ones out there what bike what bike as well it’s it’s it’s in that space but for some reason because it’s so basic it basically is just like a really cheap alloy or probably steel bike frame with their little controllers on it it it look it it has a chain and everything doesn’t it looking at it in comparison to the very expensive bikes that are out there it looks basic as but it does bring the price down a lot people were complaining in the comment section on one of the release articles about the fact it has a chain on it and they’re like it’s going to corrode cuz people sweat loads on a indoor bike don’t they but you’re sweating at the front of the bike some people’s asses sweat as well I don’t ride it long enough to sweat I make your sessions easier I it’s not something I’ve ever had an issue with on a turbo that I’ve over the years have done a lot of turboing on I’ve never I’ve never ended up with a rusty chain they make that thing to stop you from sweating on it’s headset is an issue people’s turbo bikes do get like nasty and crusty and then their bars corrode and the bars off yes like they snap um but the yeah headset is a big issue but they tax make that thing don’t they it looks like a thong and it tapes on the it Velcro on the front and then hooks over your saddle and it creates a platform you can even get one with a phone slot in the middle I I sort of look at this and I go why would you essentially I mean I have a turbo trainer already so I say why would you essentially buy a frame because apparently they’re going to release currently you can only buy it with a kick a call but they’re going to release a version of this bike which is just the bike and it will be compatible with other brands of Turbo trainer so you could you know if you have a tax you could link it into your tax but it kind of it goes why would you do that over just buying a bike having a a very cheap you could you could buy a 700 six5 six 700 pound van rle yeah get it like dialed in position wise it lives on a turbo but every now and again you can go actually I can still ride that as an actual bike and it will probably be a couple hundred quid cheaper than that on its own so apparently this bike came out of research that zift did that they found that there are people who would love to zift but they find putting a bike on and off a turbo trainer intimidating so the way they’ve combed this is basically it has three um changeable points basically two P pivot Points on the handlebars one on the seat post and they provide you with a chart based on your height so I’d look at it and say okay I’m 510 for example and it’ll tell you to put the stem bars and seat post all to position hitch so you’re not having to remember lots of me measurements which is more in line with gym bikes I guess if I’m not mistaken I did have a look at this the other day and I think it comes by default with maybe a 40 or 42 CM bar so for nearly everyone or for a large proportion of people and definitely every small male and woman they’re going to have to fully change the handlebars anyway it also comes with a 170 non-adjustable crank arm length yeah whereas like you’re better off buying a bike that’s the right size for you and that like on it lives on the bike with the expensive um Neo bike and all that it’s all the crank length is adjustable and the uh bars aren’t though you still have to change your bars want yeah yeah I don’t I think it’s a good product for the industry because of the price point I think it as you’ve said it probably is targeted at pelaton people not exclusively it’s just it’s it’ll be people that go like well I definitely I’m happy just that just living on a turbo I don’t have to mess around keeps my walls nice and clean when I I don’t have to Lug B bikes in and out um but I think for probably a lot of people listening to this or a good proportion of our audience uh and myself as one of those it just it’s just not it doesn’t work for me no I I have to agree with you there um it also comes with those integrated zift play controllers rather than shifters and stuff but in order to virtually shift you have to be on the Swift game so basically you couldn’t just use it you can’t just use it as a normal turbo I think if you if you’re on something like trainer road and it has urg mode it would work with that but other than that you basically can’t shift so it what it actually does is force you into the subscription of the zift software so that’s another reason that I think that it’s not a great product it’s a bit like the pelaton thing again do you then get sucked into needing to be with that workout and yeah yeah I just I I understand the idea of the intimidation of setting up the turbo thing however it almost feels like the barrier of getting over using clipless and again not everyone wants to do that but if you get over that you have a lot more advantages what if you’re lazy I mean I can put a bike on and off a turbo pretty quick but I’m still too lazy to do it I’m like I’ll just go outside and walk go up instead of doing a training session well then do that and you’ll save yourself 1,200 worth it next question question which celebrity revealed they are lucky to be alive after having a massive crash on their bike this week I need to work on my handwriting man I’m ready go then Jimmy Gord or Ramsey gordor Ramsey Gordon Ramsey Gordon Ramsey you are both correct hi guys it’s Gordon um I’d like to share a very important message with you all um you know how much I love cycling and triathlons and Iron Man Etc um this week unfortunately I had a really bad accident um and really shook me and honestly um I’m lucky to be here now from those incredible trauma surgeons doctors nurses in the hospital L after me this week they were amazing I’m lucky to be standing here I’m in pain it’s been a brutal week and I’m sort of getting through it but um I cannot tell you the importance of wearing a helmet I think the interesting thing about it is how clearly shaken up he is in the video you can see his like literally jittering as he’s saying it so it’s clearly been some major sort of nasty incident so we hope he gets well soon uh question six as you know the women’s tour of Britain was on earlier this month but Pro Continental team life plus waho were almost forced to pull out after stage one can you tell me why I’m ready you right so fast yep Stolen Bikes Stolen Bikes correct we are we are hot on the news at the minute AR we pretty good it’s almost like it’s our job the whole team had their bikes stolen all 14 of their Ribble endurance SLR bikes which worth around £55,000 in total were taken from their mechanics van as they slept in the team Hotel on night one thankfully British team the British team managed to start the second stage of the tour having been lawned bikes from other teams in fact the team manager said that within 5 or 10 minutes of reaching out to other teams they had offers of six of six or seven bikes and they managed to pull enough together to complete the final three stages what a lovely ending to a terrible story question seven a 20-year-old Norwegian pro cyclist tried to reinvent what band position at the tour of Slovenia this week oh reinvent Jimmy uh praying mantis okay super tuck super tuck the answer is the super tuck so this is Johan kulet of Team unox Mobility he was disqualified from the tour of Slovenia after the UCI said he’d done a super tuck on a descent so the super tuck is a banned position it was banned in 2021 on safety grounds the rules around it State sitting on the bicycle’s top tube is prohibited furthermore using forearms as a point of support on the handlebars is prohibited except in time trials how however Yohan has basically said his body wasn’t making contact with the top tube and therefore he shouldn’t be disqualified so there was footage of on Twitter of him in this took and to be honest it’s quite hard to see whether he’s making contact or not um he thinks he’s worked out a clever way around it he said he’s now demanding an apology from the UCI saying I know the rules uh but I don’t think it’s worked he almost looks like he’s doing grae or Bree’s famous tuck position where it’s kind of hand hands on the bars at the top and then sort of hovering above the top tube so technically not a super tuck in the rules he’s hovering above bike isn’t he’s an idiot because even even if like he goes oh but technically I’m not touching the top tube they’re going to go all right okay well it’s now banned that you can’t touch the top tube as well it’s a dangerous position the whole point of it is that it’s a dangerous position therefore they don’t want people doing it like what does he think’s going to happen well technically he was within the rules you the UCI should shouldn’t disqualify him but they should immediately change the wording of the rules how does he prove that he isn’t on the top tube though there footage isn’t it it’s quite hard to see from the footage but it potentially yeah it’s it’s debated but I think he the reason he did it is he thought he’ worked out a work around yeah yeah a work around yeah yeah yeah I don’t know I think he did it cuz he wanted to get some attention for his team do you think in that respect fantastic move oh Uno X great team yep no they actually good question eight which cycling News website is closing down after the brand was sold back to its original owners if you hadn’t used the second part of that sentence you might have got got away with us not knowing Francis I’ve written gcn but I’ll be honest gcn I didn’t know they had a a website as well as a YouTube yes so the answer is gcn Warner Brothers Discovery has confirmed it’s selling back a majority stake in play sports network to its or founder Simon weer and CEO Mia Walter the sale comes 6 months after race streaming service gcn plus was closed down and apparently that’s not coming back anytime soon Road CC has reported that the gcn website will stop operate operating with a media effect leading to several job losses uh I had a look this morning and I can see the website is currently live but there hasn’t been any new posts on there for over a week uh but the good news is that gcn the brand will continue to operate on YouTube and other social platforms so what is going on well it was first reported back in September that Warner Brothers Discovery was looking for a buyer for play sports network it also shut down GCM plus due to what they called changing media industry landscape basically the parent company wanted to consolidate live cycling coverage as part of its Discovery plus service which basically leaves no place for a dedicated streaming service for cycling I think ultimately it’s a product of the fact that streaming services are just becoming much more competitive they’re all fighting for the same monthly subscription so it makes sense for Discovery plus to want to bring cycling into a larger part of an offering rather than having gcn plus as a side P because you know when you’re paying sort of for example1 for Netflix every month and you’re getting loads of different stuff or I don’t know what the price of Discovery plus is do you know Jimmy six or seven quid a month now I think yeah so whereas were paying that same sort of price just to get cycling on GCM plus it it almost doesn’t work and that’s that’s it’s a recent thing isn’t it that uh streaming services have become much more competitive and therefore had to beef up what they offer for the money a side note to this after we finished recording this episode gcn dropped a video announcing they’re going to be putting the documentaries that once lived on the gcn Plus app behind what is essentially a YouTube pay wall so viewers who want to watch these specific types of video will have to go onto YouTube and pay a fee the gcn YouTube channel is obviously still valuable uh it sounds like their wage bill was quite High which is why they’ve kind of cut off the website I don’t know how much the website serves really it it pushes to their YouTube videos and they would usually do articles and writeups which are potentially getting seen on Google but I just think that’s way less valuable isn’t it than YouTube do you think they would have had dedicated members of Staff just for the website and that’s where the job losses are from I think think so yes yeah so so Warner Brothers still have a minority stake so they’ve said that they’ll stay on and kind of try and recover their losses who knows I don’t know speculation so yes gcn isn’t the YouTube channel isn’t going anywhere but the website apparently is no more and question number nine the UCI has announced plans to go down the football route by introducing what new system to deal with dangerous driving and riding during races I can’t remember what it’s called I’m ready yeah go on then Jimmy I can’t remember what like the gold technology kind of thing but like live camera referee like V yeah that kind of thing okay I put yellow red card ooh the correct answer is yellow cards ah you said that and I was like I’m a dumb Dum yellow red card I was right so these yellow cards can be given to anyone in the race Convoy so that includes Riders team car drivers Sports directors motorbikes Etc basically anyone found guilty of breaching the uci’s current safety rules may receive a yellow card along with the traditional sanctions two yellow cards in the same race will mean disqualification and suspension for a week if you get three yellow cards within a 30-day period you’ll be suspended for 14 days six yellow cards in the space of a year will lead to 30-day suspension there won’t be any phys physical cards given but basically there’ll be a log kept you know you’re not going to see someone from the UCI chasing after them with you should they should have to stop receive a card and then have to chase back on that would be funny is this it’s not just Riders though right it’s drivers it could be yeah there’s there is no much to my surprise I got into the first ever time I was in a race Convoy got into one of the cars with the DS assistant DS of a team and he’s like oh this is my first ever race like like he there’s no training course there’s no like practice yeah you’re just thrown into a race and you have to work it out you’ve got a driving license presumably but it is it’s a very skilled thing do you see there was that footage that went viral of uh a team car I it was it was in a women’s race and the team car rides up to a rider and accidentally knocks the back wheel of another Rider in front and then they both go down so I think it’s that one went I saw that one on like lab Bible and stuff like that it went really big um so I think it’s to try and prevent yeah definitely it is it’s much more complicated than a lot of people will realize and it’s it’s way more intense as well CU When you see a zoomed out helicopter shot of a race it’s just like cars driving driving through a field but actually it’s stop start stop start stop start like everything’s crazy they have to choose the right car with no turbos because the Riders have to get on the back of the cars to draft naughtily uh and if they had turbos they’d be lurching forwards and it’s they’re all automatics as well I I would be giving yellow cards for drafting cars and sticky balls part of the sport Jimmy disagree with it so apparently they’re going to trial this new system from the 1 of August before potentially bringing it in fully next year so they’re triing the system but you won’t get the sanctions and then if they’re happy with how it’s worked then from next year they’re going to bring it in fully cool they’re also going to test two new rules at this year’s tour to France to try and calm the chaos of bunch Sprints so the first change is the three kilom rule uh which basically ows a rider who suffered a crash on mechanical and the final 3K of a race to be credited with the time of the group they were in at the time of The Incident That’s now changing to 5 km in some circumstances and it’s basically because they found that there’s a lot more traffic calming infrastructure around finishing sites um so they’re trying to stop Riders making silly decisions when there’s you know potentially Rod humps or roundabouts or whatever it is the second change is the method of calculating time gaps in Mass finishes uh it’s going to be simplified the gaps between group will only be counted after 3 seconds instead of one the other change that they’re making is they’re going to carry out studies of equipment such as hookless rims tubeless tires form inserts Etc in order to work out what equipment might be contributing to crashes and this could potentially lead to tighter regulations on manufacturers so they haven’t they didn’t specifically say hookless rims but I’m giving you example of equipment because obviously famously there’s been a couple of incidents with that sort of techn Tech ology I think making racing safer is definitely something that should be quite high up the priority CU some of the accidents that happen especially now it’s just brutal it’s absolutely brutal so like make it safer excellent yes and with that the scores are in I remember to keep score this time I’ve definitely not won this somehow Francis has pulled them out the bag he seemed to know them all for some reason I feel like he’s been cheating Francis has a score of eight out of nine and Jimmy has a score of five out of unbelievable so well done Franc unbelievable it’s you losing why do I look like a mariachi potato time for another round of overrated or underrated I’m going to read out a list of things and you’re going to tell me if they’re overrated or underrated so first up suggested by Charlie and very relevant based on the last few questions we’ve had the UCI I’ve met the UCI Mr UCI yeah lives lives next door to from the UCI and it was uh I actually went to the UCI headquarters in Switzerland when we were riding to Switzerland and I always thought UCI overrated but actually he’s really nice and he was very um he embraced the fact that UCI Bann everything and went along with our jokes so he’s definitely underrated UCI as whole probably still overrated are they they’re not well-rated though are they everyone thinks everyone hates them yeah yeah I I I think the UCI don’t actually have that much beef about British cycling I have a lot of beef with we know but the UCI I think they’re all right they ASO terrible organization British cycling terrible organization UCI I’m going to say that they’re actually all right they do good stuff they make they make things happen yeah the older I get the more the the the older I get and the more Tech and AO stuff that’s released and then looking at it and going oh that looks horrible and then it gets banned by the UCI I’m like maybe they’re doing they’re doing God’s work I think people have beef with them sort of being so picity about sock length when they could be fighting bigger fish but yeah that’s the complaint isn’t it but overall I mean I think stuff in the interest of Rider safety is a good thing I’m I’m going to say underrated yeah because everyone hates them and I think they they exist to enable lots of stuff to happen Okay next one matching brand cycling kits from Jersey to socks suggested by LZ H for me this is so overrated it is absurd wear whatever the hell you want to wear I doesn’t care if it matches doesn’t matter if it’s a team kit doesn’t matter if it’s a bloody Tor to France win his jersey or a world Champs Jersey do not care ride your bike enjoy riding your bike and if anyone says oh you shouldn’t be wearing that him and any any what where does everyone else stand on this I couldn’t have put it better myself yep wear what you want even if it’s a t-shirt coaching for everyday riding or Fitness suggested by Jackson overrated elaborate please what a big question okay I think some people struggle with the getting into a good habit and the accountability of having a coach it’s like personal trainer isn’t it yeah really does help however you can also I suppose yeah doing it for a little bit and then forming the habit and continuing on your own I think you’re totally right I think that’s why a lot of people doing it’s the same as the PO personal training thing isn’t it it was it it takes 30 days to cement a habit it’s more like three years yeah it takes a yeah habits are hard to form so I think that that taking that off your shoulders and having someone else give you that accountability works very well yeah you have a a time in the diary every week and you you have to turn up and do it it sort of depends on your goals doesn’t it and how seriously you you take it there’s nothing wrong with doing it but you don’t need to do it it’s worth mentioning sometimes it’s I find myself slipping into it maybe because I’m a bit obsessive with anything that I pursue sometimes I’ll get a little bit of coaching from Coach Ken or Pete and it starts off very sensible and then the things that they say cause me to get too obsessed about it and then I end up not liking the sport again right and I think when I’m left to my own devices I keep it very healthy when I have the external oh just do the You Know M like do the training session even if you don’t feel like it you’ll be fine the TSS says you’ll be fine or your training load says you’ll be fine and then it just always gets out of hand and I end up not liking cycling again I’m one of those All or Nothing people as well and for a great example of it is if you remember a few weeks ago I ran to work and that was because I was like oh I’m doing a marathon later this year let’s let’s get a 10 mile in on week three of training see where I’m at yeah where where did you end up you ended up on the sofa in there lying down sending selfies please save me I do think it is overrated and for the same reason you guys accountability for some people works it’s expensive as well there’s loads of good free places that you can get like consistent training it’s harder to stick to it like I know all of the Garmin stuff as like they have the daily suggestions we did a video or Francis did video 30 days using the daily suggestions on his watch they can they do legit training plans as well there’s other stuff as well like straa have their own training plans zift have their own training plans and they’re all fine and something to follow goes in your calendar blah blah blah blah blah you definitely don’t need it but if it works for you cool mhm next Center Parks suggested by Seb who said we just got back from a trip there and for family orientated cycling it’s really hard to beat no cars anywhere for 4 days bike parking everywhere super quiet mostly flat and just about everyone can find a cycling option whether they need to put young kids in a trailer or grab a tricycle it’s the closest thing that most people in the UK get to a car-free lifestyle so it blows my mind that more people don’t come away from Center Parks campaigning for more cycle uh carfree or carlik spaces it’s a fantastic advert for 15minute neighborhoods I 100% agree with what Seb is saying I have been to Center Parks a long time ago when I before I used to ride bikes and I used to just you just you leave your you leave your car at the entrance and then you spend the rest of the time in Woodlands on Lovely paths and ah it’s just it’s just amazing isn’t it a shame we’ve had to make that place yeah an artificial place where which is what life should be like Anyway the the perfect PL example of that is like a city center a CBD whatever you want to call it they should you shouldn’t have cars in the center of a town you should enter it on a bus or a train or a car that stops like two miles or mile outside of the center of town and then there’s just loads of bikes that you just ride into for the the remaining bit of it remember how good Barcelona was not it’s not quite that level but how much more priority you get as a pedestrian and we were just we we had to walk to get bike boxes that day I was really hung over and then we were just we were walking green light green light green light green light and all the cars does have to stop the the 15minute neighborhood thing is really interesting because as much as cycling infrastructure needs to change if you live outside of a city most of the things you are doing are far outside a 15minute radius of You by bike yeah and you add Hills to that or whatever then does it become feasible for most people to be using their bike for everything even if this infrastructure was fantastic that’s where ebikes come into the the the equation and they are correctly SP ebike fills that Gap CU 15 like so where we live it’s not incredibly hilly but it’s pretty hilly 15 minutes doesn’t get you very far in some respects it gets if you go one way it gets you one and a half miles up the road because it is just a climb all the way whereas once you add good ebikes into that space you actually get all the way to the next turn underrated yeah I’ve never been but it sounds good thanks for those awesome suggestions if you have a topic you want us debate on overrated or underrated please send them to Wild Ones podcast Cad media. co.uk and we might read yours out in a future episode next up we have fluff up of the week of the we uh I’ve got two fluff UPS of the week week fluff UPS fluff up of the weeks uh both coming from our venture to Italy on behalf of bike video which is dropping later today uh the first one is um I’m unfortunately into red wine at the minute um I really enjoy a lovely glass of red wine on an evening couple of couple of times a week don’t don’t drink to excess it’s just like it’s just nice having a glass of wine with dinner and whilst we were in Italy I was like well I’m in Italy I may as well buy myself a nice bottle of Italian wine did so in the airport cuz I was surprised that they had this wonderful selection of wine cuz I thought it would be junk but it was actually great you also only had hand luggage didn’t you so you had to buy it in the airport to be able to get it oh so can you put a bottle of wine in in yeah you can put whatever you want in in bagage whatever it’s called I’m not good at this traveling thing I’m really not good at as as we’re about to learn here um so we then so well I flew from Marco Polo to Gatwick and then from Gatwick to Newcastle um what I didn’t know is that any liquids even even bought in dutyfree have to be put into magical little bags so when I got to Heath throw and then you have to do go through security again they then grabbed my delicious lovely bottle of wine I’m like oh you can’t take that I was like what do you mean I bought it in duty3 so they messed up not putting it in the magical bag yeah the sealed bag I didn’t know those things existed but I did know that you had to go through security again I was just so in my own little world that day after the amazingness of trips cinerella I’ll beat that cinerella we did not say it um but the thing is you got off at Heath raw so you could have actually taken his wine away had you know yeah yeah not only that but also you turned up with the wine and like why didn’t I just think you can’t have that cuz the security at Heathrow when you land in and then you change to a domestic flight is the worst like it did take you like 40 minutes to get through it was a while yeah and then even longer cuz you got pulled but what but but sure you go look it’s dutyfree and they go oh yeah cool that’s what that’s what I was expecting but no no no see you later and then I put it on Instagram and basically everyone said well they’re going to have a great time later yes yeah uh I also have another one from the same trip um it turns out that it the whole of Italy are and I guess the whole of Europe are hardcore meat eaters uh I don’t eat meat one of the things that we went to was this super old traditional house that they said something about being Latin themed so I think they actually speak Latin uh maybe four or five courses um and the main course was lots of meat with then like a little bit of pler and a bit of potato and when they got told that I was a pescatarian um they went into kind of meltdown and then the lady at some point came up and said oh do you want I was like yeah yeah yeah whatever whatever and then it turned out to be a plate of palenta with goats chees well I’m not even sure they they called it like Mountain cheese which I’m not sure what that means on top of it we were on a table of like 12 people and everybody could smell that cheese even from far away on the other side of the room pent is basically it was flavorless yeah it is as was the cheese even though it smelt yeah I don’t think that was their fault was it they were sort of it was sprung on them it was probably not planned very well but you say the Hall of Europe there’s there are I mean Italy nice Margarita Pizza bit of ice cream bit of past you know like pasta with tomato sace I’m adding a third one to this section we were in Italy for what was essentially nearly 3 days and the only Pizza that I got to eat in that time was one in Heath airport when we got back and I was I was so I just had my wine confiscated the l i SED him in you know you can bring it you bring a guest wine confiscated I’d been in Italy for 3 days and hadn’t had a single pie a pizza so I had to then have I was like I don’t care I’m going to have one from the airport and that sums up uh a section we’re now calling first world problems with Jimmy Nichols let’s head over to your emails because it’s time for listeners take over we had a funny email from Barry it says hi all just thought I’d share my own fluff up of the week here’s how my Saturday went 5:00 a.m. early wakeup call as I had a sporti ride put on carefully chosen cycling gear after monitoring the weather forecast all week eat a healthy car bloed breakfast in preparation for 90 M of riding 6:30 start my 1hour cycle to the event Bike repaired and ready to go Pockets loaded with food and root map installed on my garment 7:30 roll into the venue time to sign up pin on Race numbers and then line up for the 60m sport Eve 7:31 a.m. realization that I’m the only person in the car park check event emails on my phone 7:32 a.m. start 1H hour ride back home and get ready for tomorrow’s SP teeth oops love the show Barry very good very good but the only thing I have in line well the closest thing I have to that is driving from London back to my hometown of Cardiff to do the very first vellon Wales uh which is a 100 m closed Road sport E I don’t even know if they still do it it was actually where I met nibs in the start pen of that race oh um and I turned up you have to sign on the day before and I was like oh I haven’t got any shoes M so I had to leg it to Evans and buy the best pair of shoes well a pair of recycling shoes and they were hideous and I had 100 miles of them shoes is a hard thing to to recover from if you forget them as long as you have your shoes and your racing license you can always race do you think yeah everything else can be borrowed or stolen or of other people but shoes and racing license either of those things is bad news also a bit of a flex for Barry cycling there and back and doing the sport yeah he’s car bloed perfectly for his two hours of riding yeah thanks all for your emails if you’d like to send us one you can send it to Wild Ones podcast at CAD media. co.uk that’s the end of the show thank you very much for listening drop us a like and see you on the next one goodbye guys [Music]