Cycling tips podcast

[tarmackev]

Does anyone else listen?
I used to enjoy it and the male hosts are good, especially shoddy Dave.
When the “me too” and women in cycling thing started they were all over it but obviously only when it became popular.
They got a female host who isn’t great, she’s very dull. Sure she’s a nice person but it was obviously a box ticking exercise.
All the while they have somebody there filling a roll (who happens to be the partner of a world tour pro) there’s no space if a genuinely talented female comes along which is a shame.
Recently with the black lives matter thing happening they’re all over it with black cyclists and pushing to get different ethnicities involved, once again just as it becomes popular.
I guess it’s the cynic in me. If they’d have pushed for ethnic minorities in cycling a year ago I’d have loved it, when they so obviously jump on the band wagon it comes across as very fake. They suddenly start giving a shit when it’s cool and seen as the right thing.
I suppose I should be happy, cycling does seem to have issues with racism and anything that combats this is good. It would be nice if somebody had stepped up to make a change long before it became popular.
I know Rouleur magazine and Rapha actually pushed with strong ad campaigns quite a few times in the last five years so there is Hope.
With regard to the cycling tops podcast it just feels very fake, like the generic emails from the directors at my place of work.

Complicated times I guess.


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[AJS914]

One issue is that all these places are fishing for content since there is no racing and not much else going on in the cycling world. Velonews recently did a podcast on the cycling industry's "packaging problem". They may not use the most environmentally friendly packaging but, come on, this is not worthy of a podcast.

I generally like the Cycling Tips podcast but I just skip it if the subject doesn't interest me. I like Caley Fretz - I followed him over from the Velonews podcast and I like the stuff James Huang does. Abbey Mickey is sweet and was a pro cyclist but she was the kind of pro that couldn't even replace her own chain. She has her own podcast with them and mostly the content doesn't appeal to me but, who knows?, maybe women all over the world love her content.

The best podcast - The Cycling Podcast. They just did 3 weeks of a made up Giro d'Italia. They dove into a lot of Giro history. Many of the episodes were fantastic.

[TobinHatesYou]

She represents a demographic that is both sorely underrepresented and low-hanging fruit. But yes, there was one episode where they were discussing compression plugs and Abby had to ask if you “tighten the top thingy before tightening the side thingies” when preloading headsets... it hurt my soul. When she reviewed of the Canyon Grail AL, it was clear she was blindly reading off geometry specs with no idea what any of the numbers meant.

Mickey is really the only example I can think of. I don’t feel other women in cycling media are out of their element.

Also I will listen to any podcast where they interview people like Justin Williams and Eliot Jackson. They have interesting and necessary stories / POVs to tell.

Basically yes these brands should be represented by more than middle-aged men, but no not everyone is qualified. What we don’t need any more of is Hambini talking about Michelle Arthurs-Brennan’s genitals.

[AJS914]

The other totally awesome podcast I discovered in the last few months is Mitch Docker's "Life in the Peloton". It's now part of The Cycling Podcast but all of the old episodes are still up under his own name.

It's the only podcast where you get a sense of what it's like to be a pro cyclist.

[Maddie]

The other totally awesome podcast I discovered in the last few months is Mitch Docker's "Life in the Peloton". It's now part of The Cycling Podcast but all of the old episodes are still up under his own name.

It's the only podcast where you get a sense of what it's like to be a pro cyclist.

Fully agree with life in the peloton. Really digging it

[Stefano]

I have to have to disagree very strongly with this thread.

Mickey is just as if not more qualified than a host of male cycling "journalists"- in general the quality in the industry is low and the only reason you are bringing up her lack of mechanical expertise (which she's never claimed to have any expertise in) is because she's a woman.

If cyclingtips finds another qualified female journalist, I am SURE they could find room on their roster. They already bring on several part time female contributors and saying Mickey is somehow already occupying the "diversity spot" is extremely insulting to both cyclingtips and to her.

Lastly, while the timing has coincided with the BLM movement and seems reactionary, is that a good reason NOT to do it? I would argue that having more diversity will put them in a good position to become proactive in the future.

Thanks,
Stefano

[Karvalo]

Mickey is just as if not more qualified than a host of male cycling "journalists"- in general the quality in the industry is low and the only reason you are bringing up her lack of mechanical expertise (which she's never claimed to have any expertise in) is because she's a woman.

If cyclingtips finds another qualified female journalist, I am SURE they could find room on their roster. They already bring on several part time female contributors and saying Mickey is somehow already occupying the "diversity spot" is extremely insulting to both cyclingtips and to her.

Very well said. There are numerous rubbish male journalists and commentators out there (plus pretty much every competent male journalist and commentator has their own pack of irrational haters too) yet no-one ever says they're only there because they're a man. Yet if it's easier for a man to be hired in a male dominated industry isn't it always true to some extent? But no, if you're a white guy neither your position or your failings are ever ascribed to gender or skin colour, you just happen to be crap or undeserving as a pure individual. If you're not a white man then some people will always bring it up, no matter how irrelevant it is.

Lastly, while the timing has coincided with the BLM movement and seems reactionary, is that a good reason NOT to do it? I would argue that having more diversity will put them in a good position to become proactive in the future.

Excellent point also. The scale and depth of feeling of the current protests has I think brought home to many people just how big the problem is and how pervasive the everyday casual racism still is across society. If anything like that is the case for CT, they've recently had their eyes opened to the scale of the problem, wouldn't it be perverse to still not say anything about it just to not look like jumping on the bandwagon? I don't understand that thinking.

[ichobi]

Cyclingtips (and pinkbike their sister site) have publicly acknowledged their shortcoming on diversity and pledged to improve it. The same cannot be said for most other mainstream cycling media. That is praiseworthy even though it coincides with the BLM movement which made the whole thing seems like jus tagging on the bandwagon. Still this doesnt deny their effort. I hope to see they follow through. The best cyclingnews.com could come up with is just an article on the history african riders in the pro peloton, and a terrible one at that.

Also, i don’t wrench my own bike apart from minor maintenance and waxing chain. I don’t find wrenching fun nor worth my time. I rather pay someone to do it. Doesn’t mean i don’t know what’s going on with my bike.

[guyc]

Why does someone who is able to talk about cycling have to be mechanially awesome? Hell a lot of the men working as journalists don't even ride. I don't care.

We really need to stop asking women to meet standards we don't ask of men. It's tedious and wrong.

I'm a man. I'm mechanically rubbish. So are plenty of others.

[guyc]

Agreed on the Hambini point as well. No space for that level of misogyny and nor should there be.

[TobinHatesYou]

Why does someone who is able to talk about cycling have to be mechanially awesome? Hell a lot of the men working as journalists don't even ride. I don't care.

We really need to stop asking women to meet standards we don't ask of men. It's tedious and wrong.

I'm a man. I'm mechanically rubbish. So are plenty of others.

She doesn't need any specific skillset, but it would be nice if she could hold her own in the round-table format with Caley, James, Dave or Zach. She is overwhelmed when discussing a wide range of topics, and it means there's very little chemistry between her and the others. So what to do, leave her to host "life in the peloton" stuff or hope she evolves as a presenter/journalist? As of right now, they struggle to include her in the discussion without it being very awkward.

My issue is I believe plenty of other women are qualified to replace her. Amber Pierce is fantastic on the TR podcast. Emma Pooley was fantastic in her time on GCN. I just want Abby to be meet the standard set by other women in cycling media.

[guyc]

How long has she been doing it? It might be a case of growing into it. I should imagine it's a pretty daunting experience when faced with people who are as technical as that.

It could be that by having someone who's not that technical they appeal to another segment of course. And that adds to their demographic.

[maquisard]

I think the Cycling Podcast is great. Caley Fretz does a very very good job as editor of making the entire thing current and on point with what is going on in the world of cycling and elsewhere. James Huang, Shoddy Dave and Abby Mickey are great presenters and each offer a great contribution. Abby in particular doesn't come across as being there as a token girl but has a lot of interesting stuff to add.

[Bigger Gear]

Whenever I see people complaining about free podcast content I have a simple suggestion "If you don't like the content, don't listen to it". It's pretty simple.

I'll give CT credit for trying to diversify their content. They have been working hard to improve coverage of women's racing, unfortunately a lot of those efforts are on hold due to the pandemic. They hired Abby Mickey, and she has her strengths and her weaknesses for sure. But I do appreciate that on the general podcast they have female representation. The Nerd Alert podcast is really the strongest of all of them. I really appreciate James Huang's sheer volume of product he tests.

[tallterry]

Tarmackev:

I too wish we could back to a simpler time when cycling brands and media kept women and minorities out of sight and out of mind. The last thing I want to think about while looking at a $10k bike is somebody trying to make the world a little fairer and kinder for all.