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NCNCA Racing- August 28 – Vacaville Gran Prix
- August 27 – Winters Road Race
- August 27 – Sonomas
- August 21, University Road Race
Saturday Thinking – Radio Problem Solution
The NorCal army is doing a pretty good job of getting results in on twitter via #nccn or #madera if you are looking to get an update. While improving the delay in getting results got me thinking about the “radio issue” that every cycling publication has been reporting or weighing in on.
At first it was some interesting fodder for the off season but now it’s more played out than a Everybody and their brother is scrambling to get the latest news or view point on it.
- Velonews – USA Cycling lifts race radio ban for NRC
- Podium Cafe- Commenting on Joe Lindsey’s article on radios
- Bicycling – Joe Lindsey
- Podium Insight – Race radios to be permitted in NRC competition
- Fat Cyclist – Making fun of the whole topic
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I learned several things from all these articles.
1. The riders union is a bunch of pansies, the NFL Players Association would walk over less.
2. What started out as a cool idea is now something I, nor anyone else for that matter, cares any more
3. Cycling needs some better story lines cause if race radios is the best we can do then we are f$#The Solution!
I have the ultimate solution for the teams if they want to keep radios. The most important thing they are lacking right now is public support. I dont’ think anybody really buys the “safety” argument regardless if it is true. So here is my suggestion. Stream your radio feed – sure it might not be a great secure channel of communication but they would get their live channel and fans would get another close personal look at the conversations going on during the race. The Teams association could aggregate the streams under one website, delay it 2-3 minutes so nothing critical is exposed, and charge fans to a subscription fee to listen to all the channels. I can’t see the UCI having a say in it if all the fans supporting the races are on board.Hell, We’ll build your website for you… but probably not on wordpress. It’s getting kind of slow.
March 13th, 2011 at
I see banning race radios as an excellent way to eliminate the tactical idiots in professional cycling. Make the radio for emergency transmissions only, and have them go through the officials, then the riders can notify the officials and also be warned of dangers. The riders will have to rely on the time chalk boards instead of thier directors, which just MIGHT give the racers in breaks a little advantage, but most importantly it would eliminate the attacks by riders that are so obviously ignited by thier director, who has seen something on thier tv, yelling go-go-go into thier ears. No more attacks unless a team member on the road SEES something that makes them attack.
March 13th, 2011 at
Bah! The point i was trying to make is that at this stage both viewpoints are boring and not worth commenting on…
1. Ban Radios: This will make races more interesting
2. Keep Radios: This will make races safter
Bernie – you obviously fall into a facet of point 1. Nothing new in your commentary. In face you are guilty of making all the same points listed in the articles i posted.
The riders union and teams association either needs to grow a pair or drop it. Journalists covering it need to find a new angle.
March 13th, 2011 at
I like the idea that this Hernando guy has on the topic. The only thing you are missing is how to milk it to make money. Would the uci and race promoters be interested in a couple grand of revenue from subscribers to the live race feed? Shit that youw be so much better than listening to the bullshit coming out of the former floyd’s trainer, Robby Ventura or any of those other clown commentators
Now combine that with some telemetry like power, hr, vag fluid discharge, and I bet a bunch of us would be in.
March 14th, 2011 at
My bad, you must pardon me for not reading every single little link you post. I feel great comfort knowing that what I wrote puts me with the “in” crowd of popular cycling journalistic blog theory though. But – you contradict yourself in your own article tough guy, but you are right. You said the riders lack public support in this, and that was the truth and brilliance of your piece, though it is also its downfall, because nobody cares. Nobody is going to pay to hear radio transmissions that are on delay, and I suspect they wouldn’t pay for live ones either, especially seperate from a telecast. Hopefully I’m wrong though and someone can enrich thier pathetic life by paying for something else absolutely unnecessary, maybe to fill those holes that they can’t with thier own actual experiences.
I find it odd that you have an “ultimate solution” for something you make a statement about by saying “I, nor anyone else for that matter cares anymore.”
An ultimate solution for a problem (I use the term problem in a very loose sense) that doesn’t exist and nobody cares about, yet you wrote a whole article on it, and I commented twice. Maybe we both need to get out and ride more, eh?
March 15th, 2011 at
If you put in more random metaphors i think you could take that rant to another level and make it funny crazy. A couple of corrections..
1. Contradicting myself: I don’t think i’m contradictory by saying “i don’t care” and then offering the “ultimate solution”. I think that makes me arrogant. Big difference.
2. I wrote an article about it not because I care, but because I have nothing else to write about on the weekend and if i don’t post something i loose my google ranking. I’m all about my google ranking.
3. I’d pay for radio transmissions. If i could hear the radio banter then i’d care about it more.
4. Your right, a delay is stupid, it should be real time.
5. My life is more pathetic than you know so every little bit helps.
March 15th, 2011 at
damn googles