Faulkner has a remarkably similar story to Evelyn Stevens
Varsity sport in college (tennis), finance career, introduction to cycling, becomes world tour caliber rider.
USAC needs to partner with the finance sector and get a Wattbike in every corporate gym in the country.
There is a massive difference between what Faulkner achieved and what Blum is trying to do.
And I think this is still possible on the womenās side of racingāor really any underrepresented demographic (āunderrepresentedā in cycling, not trying to imply any sort of political thing). Can say same for any sport where it just not popular for a group of ppl. Country X didnāt really participate in cycling, suddenly it gets popular, 10-15 years later you get a bunch of talent from that area.
Such is still the case with American women in cyclingā¦I guess 
Untapped potential. If not taken up at an early age, you get these āmiracleā stories. Take basketball. In this country, if you are a decent basketball player as a youngster, it will not go unnoticed. Same with football/soccer in (Iām guessing) every European or South American country in the world.
I guess this is the part that puzzles me about her story (or really, the sporting publicās response to her). Namely, if you are US National Champion (women), how on earth are you an underdog or ābarely made the teamā. She JUST won in May. WTF. Granted, itās US (see above point), not the Belgian national championship, LOLā¦but still. On the menās side of course being US National Champion simply means you are in the peloton, not an odds on favorite for much.
āThe unknown Faulkner from Homer, AKāā¦I heard that refrain throughout the entire broadcast. Something is wrong when you win the national championship weeks before and youāre āthe relatively unknownā whatever.
Itās also why I donāt think Blummenfelt would fair well in the world tour. Folks donāt go from triathlon TO road racing. Maybe the other way around (Talansky, etc). There is not some vast untapped pool of talent in triathlon flying under the cycling radar. If heās the first, well, I guess there always has to be a first. If there is some yellow jersey level cyclist in triathlon (at least on the mens side), we would know already.
Except Richie Porte 
Indicative of the laziness of NBCā¦not just for cycling coverage but for their entire OLY coverage.
Like cycling, they have been relying on a decades old broadcast approachā¦āif it aināt broke, donāt fix it.ā In the meantime, other broadcasters are upping their game with new announcers and technology.
I saw a clip of the BBC analysis for the Menās 100M where Michael Johnson uses some next level stats, splits and graphics to break down the race. (Unfortunately, it has been pulled down here so I canāt post it). Leaving aside the fact that Michael Johnson, one of the greatest Us Olympians, is notdoing commentary for NBC, the related NBC coverage basically amounted to showing the photo finish and saying āWOW!ā
But when you get exclusive rights to an event, there is no pressure to make yourself any better. American viewers donāt know anything else, so they just roll along with it. But for sports like US football, NBC has to innovate and keep up with competitors like CBS, FOX and ESPN.
Not mid career. Heās perfect example. He was discovered and made the move. He wasnāt 15 years into his pro career and thought: āhmmm, how about a go at road racing.ā
Same with Lance. He did triathlons firstā¦as a kid.
Iām with you. Big part of that was lame Peacock coverage. 100%
NBCās Olympic coverage has been lame for literally decades. Itās not aimed at actual sports fans, but the casual viewer who NBC believes is more interested in the āstoryā, than the actual sporting event.
At least back in the day they had John Tesh instrumental music. 
Anything to soften the blow of having to watch Noah Lyles antics, which NBC relishes in.
They actually had human interest stories on Simon Biles. Of all the ppl you donāt need a human interest story for, itās the GOAT. There is a full, well-produced documentary on her on Netflix for any youngster or pathologically isolated adult to get up to speedā¦ Anyone who is the least bit interested knows her story and her achievements.
I dread the moments they switch to that different tone of voice and train the camera on some poor unsuspecting athlete. It is sport. It was quite literally invented to generate suspense and to entertain. You donāt need to make it a reality show.
Man, you guys caught me in a mood. Sorry for the rant. But NBC. I just canāt with them.
Except all this came out before the olympic triathlon.
Instead of asking yourselves āwill he succeed, for sure?ā, ask yourselves āwhy not try?āā¦
I was going to say, but letās not go thereā¦
Iām happy for Noah that he won and it was cool to see how emotional he was with his mom.
That said, Noah seems about as fake as can be. Heās attempting to convey a similar personality as Bolt, but it doesnāt fit him in any way. So how it comes off to me is heās created a story in his mind of everyone doubting him and heās overcome so much disbelief from anyone following track. I follow track pretty closely, and heās literally created this all himself.
Also, Iām definitely not an old man yelling at clouds here. I loved Bolt and love peoples antics. Problem with Noah is none of it seems genuine at all
I canāt watch the Olympics
Itās more fluff then sport.
And the slow motion pans of the fans along the side of the road were ridiculous. They gave up a moto camera for that?
I actually thought this was a joke when I read it.
The chances of this happeningā¦
Whatās under zero?
I guess thereās some chance. He could get on a team and be selected for the Tour. I see that as possible, though even that is a serious stretch. Likely it would just be as a domestique for flat stages. Then, every single rider dies in a horrific accident. Maybe a meteor strike? After this tragic event the organisers continue the race and Kristian being the only rider left alive wins the Tour.
Thatās about the only way Kristian wins the Tour de France.
Iāve seen it mentioned that his cycling FTP might be 410 watts as full time triathlete. Once he gives up regular run and swim training, then increases his cycling training, could he increase his cycling FTP by 20 or 30 watts?
I was also going to mention Jorgensen. The hubris in thinking you could dominate a specific sport because you did well on that leg of your triathlon career? Off the charts. Like Anderson Silva thinking Chris Weidman could never hit him on the chin.
I wouldnāt be surprised if he increased his FTP. However, heād also benefit from losing muscle. And also, as we mentioned earlier, cycling is not a contest of power delivered on a smart trainer. Itās most certainly not a contest of O2 consumption either. Itās a contest of how much power you can deliver at a critical point in the race. You had to survive to that point, meaning that you had to position yourself well, your bike handling canāt be too bad or else youāre sprinting after every corner, you had to read the race to know the critical point is even coming, you probably had several hard efforts earlier in the race, so many things apart from physiology. And heās going to have to learn all those things at age 30 without previous experience in a top-level road racing peloton.
He needs to lose 20lbs
How much crashing will he endure