TDU and Cavendish news. Okay, so I’m not going to CT or velonews, so what does that leave? Cyclingnews? Any other places to go until Caley and Wade have a new service?
Twitter? 
Sorry - couldn’t resist.
In the same boat pretty much. Luckily it’s still early in the season.
I actually HAVE been getting my cycling news from Twitter lately. Cycling Weekly over post, but if I go to their feed once a day and just skim, I can get all the headlines and click through if I want more info.
Ran across this gem this morning.
That is fantastic!
Looks like James Huang might be out as well (from his IG story). Really hope he’s part of whatever project Wade has going, IMO one of the best “tech” guys not just in the cycling space but anywhere.
Thanks for sharing. I just looked and there’s no “might” to it. Reading his IG post, he resigned…on his 7th anniversary. This just makes me mad at Outside all over again. James is the reason I gave CT my money. I hope he ends up somewhere that makes him happy and pays him what he deserves…maybe with the Placeholders.
Christ….what a damn mess. Just unbelievable to me what outside di to CT, arguably the crown jewel in their bike media portfolio.
Hoping for the best for @angryasian ……he is too talented and respected to not find a good gig before too long. Sounds like some time off is well-needed and certainly well-earned.
And also of note is that this morning, CT/Outside announced that CT’s Veloclub is no more. Or, about to be no more. It’s being combined into Outside+ (no surprise) and apparently one gets a free year of that.
My membership for Veloclub runs till July (already cancelled renewal), but got the e-mail.
What’s ironic was that just last night I was trying to find info on exactly what Veloclub cost, and couldn’t find any references anymore on the CT site in any way/shape/form, every VC link dead-ended. Thought that was kinda strange. I guess this now explains it.
I was proud of myself when I joined veloclub. It was the first online publication I had ever paid for. I told everyone I knew about it and begged them to join. I bought a jersey. I was a proud and vocal member. I can’t begin to explain how much Outside’s destruction of that product has left me with the exact opposite reaction. I won’t pay a penny for any product they own ever again. That’s going to be hard since they own BikeReg and Trailforks, but I’ll find a way.
Wade and Caley are looking for input on what the new venture should look like, building from the members/readers up. Here’s a link to their survey.
I filled out the survey, but my overall reaction was that it was very much a “looking-back” survey….”tell us what you want to read about and how much you are willing to pay”.
Based on my experience in consumer research, you are FAR better off testing ideas and concepts and gauging reactions / interest…asking consumers what they want and how much they will pay for it usually only recycles what is out there today.
The old Henry Ford quote applies well here…”if I had asked people what they want, they would have said ‘faster horses’”.
I posted the link in another thread after I filled it out. I replied to the survey saying “it’s hard for me to say what I would pay when I don’t know what I’m paying for yet”
Man,that is a great comment……I hope they pay attention to it.
Overall, I fear the survey was too too generic and broad for them to get any useful data. My guess is the results will look like a scattershot pattern.
Just a guess, but they will probably try to do some form of word cloud to see what jumps out. I would pay for an exact duplicate of what they were a year ago, but that definitely makes me wonder about the Henry Ford quote.
Yup, as would I……the unknowns being whether that business model is viable (then and now) and what dies the future of online media look like (really THE big question).
I envision much more of a multimedia approach with downloadable content that can be consumed anywhere, even offline. Audio, video, word, etc., both short and long form. How you can monetize / fund such an operation, I have no idea….
I subscribed to an online magazine for bassists that was similar. The interviews would have embedded videos of the interview, the musician performing, etc. Downloadable pdf’s of sheet music and mp3s of the backing tracks to play along to would have been a fantastic addition.
On a side note, and i know this doesn’t help Wade/Caley: I’m sure it’s just my age, but reading a magazine on an iPad just isn’t the same as holding the rag in your hand. I can’t explain it. But…whoever figures that out could make a killing. I know the future is stuff like YouTube, but I don’t always have 20 minutes. Sometimes I just want to flip through and look at the ads or read the product reviews. Tear the page out and keep it for when I need to know how to do the maintenance or replace the product, etc. I miss that. A lot.
My take on this has always been that the media industry has been going about it the wrong way…they keep taking costs out of the production, using cheaper paper, staple bound, etc. It just ruins the experience.
I will gladly pay for a premium, regular mag…thicker stock, book bound, good in-depth articles that aren’t available online, etc. Let me really enjoy the experience…give me something I want to sit down with a good cup of coffee and dig into. Lava magazine did that for tri and Peloton was heading that direction…but both got killed for cheaper options.
But I think that is a pipedream and, as you note, more indicative of our age vs. a true business opportunity.
I wrote something to the effect of “resurrect CyclingTips” in the survey
Watch the SouthPark Super School News episode
Yeah… this doesn’t come across like there’s a solid plan.
Also I think the subscription based thing is just another way to chase a dollar into the ground. The site needs to be free, and they need to get revenue somehow besides subs. Growing subs is not sustainable and cannot compete with other kinds of revenue (see the twitter fee debacle for instance).
But hey, I’m just some guy, and nobody ever listens to me.