"You try do Rake hill climb when you're 25 stone"
I’ve had an on off relationship with Cycling Weekly for a number of years. When I first got into cycling as a teenager, I used to devour Cycling Weekly every week, even including the adverts at the back. (I just longed for the day I could afford a 731 frame with Shimano Dura Ace, and I used to try and calculate how many weeks of doing a paper round I would need to do before I could afford one). Anyway, I thought it was an amazing magazine.One day someone gave me every back issue from the past 20 years. I’ve spent many hours reliving the great Boardman vs Obree years.
But, after a few years, there came a point when I felt like I was re-reading the same training tips and the only new thing was continental pro cycling scene which at the time was thoroughly depressing because it was not about who was the bravest / strongest cyclist, but who was taking drugs and who was getting caught. The recent success of Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish must have helped considerably revitalise interest in the pro cycling scene.
My favourite sections of cycling weekly are the results of time trials. It’s sad but true that the best thing I like is to see is my name in tiny print. These days the results are pretty thin on the ground. Cycling Weekly have probably done some market research and found that the average non-racing cyclist is just not interested in the times from the Wobbly Wheelers 25 mile TT. I really don’t know what is wrong with these people. I mean I used to memorise cricket averages from Wisden even though I didn’t play test cricket. Surely people must be interested to know what how many amateur Testers got under the hour?
I buy Cycling Weekly mainly to keep in the loop about cycling news and potentially to get inspiration for cycling articles. To some extent I sympathise with the difficulty of writing new cycling articles, there are only so many ways you can write about the need to keep pushing on the pedals. But, there is a point when you feel all the articles merge into one.
10 tips to lose weight over winter, Does it matter if you’re fat? (yes,) How to get fitter in less time, Train Smart e.t.c
Then there seem to be innumerable articles about nutrition extolling the latest food fad – raw food, protein, carb diet or whatever, I just tend to gloss over these as I my limited brain just starts spinning in circles and I know I’m not going to change my diet anyway.
The best section is probably Michael Hutchinson’s column at the back (who would have thought a time triallist would be so interesting). It’s at least unique, it breaks the mould of all those tiresome 10 tips to ride like a pro articles. His humour doesn’t always hit the mark, but, often it does and it appeals to my sense of humour. I also like the way he can make fun of us cyclists who can sometimes take ourselves too seriously.
I wouldn’t fancy the job as being editor of Cycling Weekly. I mean you always seem to antagonise every section of cycling who thinks there discipline is woefully underrepresented. (that is except anything Team Sky related and the marvellous cycle sportives which are covered to great depth and length) Also, in the long term, I can only see magazine sales decline as people switch to finding news and articles online. It’s a tough market to be in. But, whatever anyone says, I get more joy from seeing my name in a magazine than online. So, dear Cycling Weekly, keep publishing those cycling results. 10,000 testers can’t be wrong.
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Main problem with Cycling Weekly is that it gives my husband the opportunity to say “shouldn’t you be cycling strongly?” every time I buy it. So I don’t get it very often. That and it is £2.60 which is a bit steep for a weekly.
i echo your comments. the comic is the ‘bible’ as far as i am concerned. and yet, i’m getting serious sportive fatigue; whole issues seem dominated by leisure cycling – which is good for the sport in its own way – but at the expense of the competitive stuff, which ultimately is the bedrock and the roots of british cycling. if you lose this completely, then you lose the mythic side of things, and cycling is a sport dominated by mythic endeavour, epic tales, heroism and despair. i’d like to see more of the heroism and despair, and a little less of the dentists on carbon DA road bikes doing a metric hundred in 8 hours. i nearly wet myself in excitement when i appeared in the backpages.
as for the ‘weight loss’ thing; it seems quite clear to me, eat less + cycle more = lose weight.
Good Point, it would be good to have more time trial results in Cycling weekly, not on half a page between tech and the ads. i haven’t got my name in that section yet as it’s just top 10; but would be good one day.