The sad implosion of Cyclingtips :( (new title to reflect the max exodus)

Ditto.

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Wade finally posted on his Substack and included the following:

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Welcome to the TR forum, James :smiley:

Sorry itā€™s not under better circumstances :frowning:

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So thereā€™s no confusion, I just want to make it clear thatā€™s a Photoshopped image. At no point did we (or Wade) ever have a branded CT Porsche 911 (although, damn, I wish I did!).

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Cā€™monā€¦ you guys were cashing those Big Disc and Internal Routing checks, rolling in the dough like Scrooge McDuck, right? :wink:

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Welcome James! We all feel for you. You all gave us so much over the years. It feels like a treasured community has been caught in a fire that is out of control and we canā€™t do anything to put it out.

Indeed, that and the concurrent collapse of crypto has transformed me overnight from a billionaire into a hundredaire. Tragic.

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Henry was wrenching for the DH team. The girl, apologizes for not remembering her name, I think had a bad crash.

If itā€™s the same person.

Hump

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Maybe there is no one left to change that? Iā€™m being semi-serious and semi-facetious here.

Although I did see the CT Holden driving around Melbourne several times.

Well, I think it is pretty clear the staff (those left at any rate) left it up there on purpose as a :fu:t2: To Outside.

The fact that Outside has not realized it and made someone change it speaks volumes.

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From the latest podcast episode it sounds like Cosmo will be joining once racing starts. Hereā€™s hoping they can turn this into a sustainable business

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Iā€™ve been doing some musing on the situationā€¦so far we have been (rightfully) focused on the staff at CT. But what about the larger business challenges?

The staff is down to James, Shoddy andā€¦ā€¦??? Two staffers canā€™t run CT. At least not and have fresh, regular content. Given what has happened, how do you entice / recruit new talent to come work at CT? I wouldnā€™t touch that job with a 10-foot poleā€¦sure, someone will undoubtedly see it as an opportunity and make a money-grab, but those usually arenā€™t the high quality people you need to make things successful.

Second, what about the advertisers? If you are a bike-related business, are you going to advertise on CT (or their podcast) right now? At a minimum, podcasts will become more infrequent, new content on the site will drop and their reach is going to decline (significantly?). Is CT a smart spend for your advertising dollars right now?

Third, subscribers are fleeing in droves, based on the CT forum. Many first-time posters are joining just to say they have cancelled their subscriptions. I am going to delete my entire account shortly (once I know my CC doesnā€™t get dinged on the renewal date). What was once reportedly a healthy stream of income had been blunted (best case). And as content continues to lag, more and more will ask ā€œwhy am I paying these bozos?ā€

TL:DR - with declining content and no one to add more content, advertisers and subscribers are gonna look elsewhere. CT is likely circling the drain right now.

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Ronan still around right?

Not just James and shoddy. Unless I havenā€™t seen/heard something

Forgot about Ronanā€¦but the overall point remains.

Thats from Detroit!

I struggle to remember the first article of yourā€™s I readā€¦I feel it was a rant about bottom brackets.

Made me laugh then.

Welcome

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Thatā€™s ironic since today he posted about dirty headsets!

I wish I could gotten a ride in that thing (or even better, had the chance to drive it). I do have an odd affinity for Utes.

Iā€™ve had the exact same thoughts. For me, Caley was the glue that held that thing together since Neal left. I think things actually got a little worse after he became editor and wrote less content. After Dane was let go and new people brought on board, the main podcast kind of lost itā€™s way.

I still love the work that James, Ronan, and Shoddy do and will listen or read their articles. I wonā€™t send Outside any checks though.

Itā€™s sad that things change. Richard Mooreā€™s death has greatly impacted The Cycling Podcast. That was my goto reporting for bicycle racing. He was the glue that made it all work brilliantly. And while I enjoy Daniel Fribe and Lionel Birnie, that podcast is not the same. Itā€™s like when they replaced the original three amigos on Top Gear. It just didnā€™t have the same magic.

Reflecting back, Caleyā€™s best Tour de France coverage IMO was the one he did with Ruppert Guinness pre-covid. Caley, if you are reading, there is an opportunity there!

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