Racing Coverage

I was glad to find live coverage of the Giro on universalsports.com.  It beat the hell out the coverage that Vs. has provided in the past - who can forget the incessant SAAB, Lincoln, and TapouT ads.  As much as I like the commentary of Paul and Phil (my personal favorite quotes - "Digging deep into the suitcase of courage", "He's dying a thousand deaths", and "he looks like a frog on a Matchbox"), they can't quite cancel out all of the obnoxious ads you had to endure just so you could watch a bike race.  The Vs. network can't seem to figure out who watches their programming - Cycling, Strongman Competitions, Bull Riding, Cage Fighting, Fishing, and NHL hockey is a pretty eclectic mix by anyone's standards.  How on earth do they convince any advertiser that they can reach their target demographic on a consistent basis?

Universalsports.com had it dialed with their Giro coverage.  One 30 second ad when you log on, and then uninterrupted racing coverage - none of the human-interest bullshit about every Garmin Slipstream rider known to man and how they're superior to other racers (even though they can't manage to win any races of note) because "they race clean".  I think it's great that they race clean and everything, but at the end of the day if I want to see a "clean" racer get his ass kicked I'll just film my races and watch them.

After watching the excellent coverage of the Giro, I came away with a few conclusions:

1.  There is no way that Menchov and DiLuca can win without the needle.

2.  Basso has still got it.

3.  Fabian Cancellara needs to to find his happy place.

4.  Levi should focus on races besides the Tour of California and the Tour of the Gila.

5.  Lance is going to win his 8th Tour de France. 

Here's to making it easier for the lowly bike shop guy...

First of all, I have to say a big, sarcastic "thank you" to Specialized.  Don't get me wrong, I love the Big Red S, but I'm a bit peeved about something I just saw on Cyclingnews.com.  A little background...

I first saw the new Transition back in the summer of 2007, and I was very excited.  Great lines, superior aerodynamics,  higher quality carbon, and better pricing structure made me think "Cervelo P3 killer."  I showed the photos to a few prospective buyers (who were considering the P3) and their response was unanimous - I pre-sold about 10 of them.  After waiting for over 9 months for the bikes to arrive (6 months later than promised), my customers finally took delivery and everyone was happy.  The bikes looked great in the flesh and it looked to be a lasting design that would be easy to sell.  This thought was further buttressed when the Transition won the Ironman World Championship in Kona and Specialized replaced Cervelo as the Saxo Bank Cycling Team bike supplier.  I was pretty pumped that the bike that won Kona would soon be the choice weapon of world TT champ Fabian Cancellara in 2009, further legitimizing the bike as a world-class TT rig.

Then I saw the "Tech Feature" on Fabian's custom TT bike on cyclingnews.com today.  Wow, a great TT bike that looks absolutely NOTHING like the current Transition and will probably never see production.  Specialized has one of the best marketing machines around, so it baffles me that they would have their highest profile TT  rider on a one-off bike.  I'm a big fan of innovation and I want Fabian to be fast, but having him on a bike like this will make it difficult for me to tell people that the stock Transition is the best TT bike they can get (even though it probably is) - after all, if it's not good enough for Fabian, why would it be good enough for them?  

It's commonplace for pros to ride custom bikes, but 99.9% of the time it's essentially a stock frame with altered geometry to suit a particular pro's riding style.  I don't have a problem with that - pros are pros and they should get the geometry they want.  But when they are on a radical departure from the stock bike, all it does is make it harder for me to sell the high-end product on my floor as legit pro-quality equipment.  It was probably easier and cheaper to make Fabian a custom rig than to set up a whole new Transition mold, but damn guys, help a brother out on the sales floor!  Without guys like me you couldn't afford to pay him.

Having said all of that, I'm still happy to be a Specialized dealer.  Great company, great products, great service.  I just wish they would take a page from the Trek playbook - Levi, Contador, and Lance all ride production road and TT bikes.  That makes for an easier sales pitch when you have a guy who wants to ride a bike just like the one he saw at the Tour.  Just a thought.