Cycling Archive
Commentary by blog and social media consultant Josh Hallett on the use of blogs for public relations, media, marketing, communication & branding and from time-to-time the unsolicited opinion.
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I received my Nikon D80 a few weeks ago and have been thrilled with it so far. This past Sunday was the first time I had the opportunity to really go out and play with it though. I posted a Flickr photoset from my play time. It's a variety of different shots including the standard flower shot.
I had heard horror stories about how Nikon would announce a product and then it would take weeks or months for suitable stock to hit the stores. Luckily this was not the case with the D80. I ordered mine in late August and had it by Sept 8th. It seems that most of the stores received their stock in the first week of September.
Up until a few days ago all I had was the basic 17-55mm kit lens that came with the camera. Yesterday I picked up a 70-300mm zoom, while I still wait on backorder for the 18-200mm VR lens that everybody raves/loves. The next purchase will be a straight 50mm 1.4.
I have also learned that megapixels aren't everything (which I had read just about everywhere when researching the purchase). I have yet to shoot anything on the highest quality settings.
I'm looking forward to playing more with the camera and then taking for a real spin at the Tour de Georgia and US Grand Prix in 2007. I might need to get this 80-400mm VR lens before the USGP though :-)
I'm glad to see Floyd Landis win Le Tour this year, especially after that epic ride on Thursday.
Why did I call him Lloyd? Two years ago when I was at the Tour de Georgia watching Floyd win the Stage 3 Time Trial there was a guy behind me that thought his name was 'Lloyd Flanders'. During the event he kept asking, 'When is Lloyd going to come by?'
Waking up late in Seattle this morning I was startled to read about all the riders being dropped/banned from le Tour. What an amazing turn of events. This should blow the race wide open.
It's almost July, which means one thing, Le Tour. As usual, Frank Steele is spinning things up over at TDFBlog.com. Over the past few days Frank has been increasing his post volume, covering the build-up to the race which starts on Saturday with a 7km prologue in Strasbourg.
During the event Frank provides a comprehensive overview of coverage from around the web and blogosphere.
This will mark the first year I will miss the Tour de Georgia cycling race. I've been able to see the first three editions of the race, but just can't make it this year. There is just too much work, which is a good thing right :-)
Frank Steele who runs TDFBlog has created TdGBlog to follow all the action. I'll be watching his blog, The Paceline and Flickr to follow all the action.
The Paceline points to a new LIVESTRONG Rides 2006 web site. Details are scarce, but the new site says that there will be a series of rides across the U.S. in 2006. The locations of the rides are:
- Austin, Tx
- Denver, Co
- New England
- Portland, Or
- Southern California
I guess the Southeast U.S. gets left out :-(
There are no dates listed yet, but you can sign-up to receive more information. There is also nothing posted at the Lance Armstrong Foundation site.
The Paceline has photos of Lance Armstrong in rehearsals for Saturday Night Live. You must register to view member items at The Paceline.
A CNN article says that a spike in gasoline prices is fueling what could be the biggest year for U.S. bicycle sales since the Arab oil embargoes more than three decades ago. Close to 20 million bicycles are likely to be sold this year.
CyclingNews.com has posted an interview with Lenny Futura. Who is Lenny Futura? He's the artist that created the unique icon set for Lance Armstrong's Time Trial Bike.
The cool icon set received quite a bit of press when Lance rode the bike to second place in Stage 1 of Le Tour. Nike has had some details of the bike at WearYellow and NikeCycling.com. (See also TDF Blog post)
The article points out that Lenny also created some of the graphics for Lance's 10//2 clothing line.
Yet another Tour podcast. This one is produced by the Discovery Channel Cycling Team and features Dan Osipow calling in twice a day with updates from the Tour.
The podcasts are less than three minutes long and are recordings of Dan calling in via phone. The quality is a bit rough so far, but I think that's a result of calling via cell from Europe.
For those that are new to podcasts, Team Discovery even has a quick guide to get you started. It even has instructions for adding the podcast to iTunes, so they are on top of things.
Lance Armstrong's Bike Blog is back in action. The first post of 2005 came yesterday in advance of this year's Tour:
Here we go again, Lance and I rolling through France, for the final time. In 24 days, I'm hanging up my spokes from competitive cycling. From then on, I'll be relegated to being Sheryl's personal bike. Not that having Lance's sweaty behind on my saddle hasn't been great, but I'd much rather ride into the sunset with Sheryl. That's something to crow about.
The blog is part of the Austin American-Statesman newspaper web site and was run last year as well. There is no RSS for the blog, but I did leave a comment asking Mr. Madone if he was planning on adding a feed.
This blog did get some mention during the famous 'Character/Fake Blog Meme' of 2005.
The Tour de France is only a few days away. It sort of crept up on me this year. One of those, "oh man the Tour starts next week." I try to catch the live coverage every day. That means scheduling life around the Tour. If I am travelling or staying in a hotel I need to know if they get OLN ahead of time.
The TDF Blog, the Paceline and CyclingNews will become daily reading (often repeated stops). CyclingNews' live coverage page becomes the homepage on my Blackberry browser.
Frank Steele sends word that Sirius will be doing a daily podcast from le Tour. Frank also linked to this graphic this morning.
It was an insert in the The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, OR. The graphic was designed by Mark Friesen. You can get the full details here.
I don't plan on 'blogging' the Tour unless there is something I really need to say. Once things get going I will put up some links to the other sites/blogs I have been reading.
Dave Aiello from Operation Gadget also blogged about the Tour de Georgia, but unlike me, Dave received media credentials.
What is interesting about cycling (opposed to football or baseball) is that some of the better organizations that cover it are web-based. These includes sites such as Cycling News and Pez Cycling News. Publicity directors for races are used to dealing with web-only media.
I asked Dave how the credential process went, and here is what he had to say:
Operation Gadget was fortunate enough to have a traffic spike that went from the 2004 Tour de France through to January 2005. I would say that the period from July to early November was due to cycling-related coverage, while November through January was due to our coverage of electronic gadgets.
I wanted to extend the cycling coverage traffic spike longer this year, so I looked at the calendar and decided that I would apply for credentials for the Tour de Georgia, the Wachovia Cycling Series including the US Pro Championships, and the NY City Cycling Championship. If I got a credential, I would cover each race in depth.
I applied for a Tour de Georgia credential. Jennifer Vincenzo, the Pubicity Director for the TdG, asked me to provide some examples of the coverage I would provide. I provided a list of 12 different story ideas, most of which were behind-the-scenes or sports technology related. I clearly staked out these areas as differentiators for Operation Gadget.
If you look at the coverage I provided, I did several of the stories that I suggested in my credential request, including:
1) Mavic Keeps the Tour de Georgia Riders on the Road
2) How TV Cameras Follow the Tour de Georgia
3) How Race Referees Police the Tour de Georgia
4) Discovery Uses Personal Media Players to Fine-Tune TT Technique
The icing on the cake was when ThePaceline.com picked up the Personal Media Players article yesterday and made it their lead. We got an extra 100,000 hits from that, which is a significant boost from our expected traffic.
Congrats Dave.
Great day on Hogpen. Here's a quick shot for now. More to come later.
You would think that Nike would make sure the the Atlanta Niketown would have a good supply of Lance's new 10//2 clothing line?
You know the Niketown store in the state that is hosting perhaps Lance's last race on U.S. soil, the Tour de Georgia? You know the U.S. race Lance won last year?
Nope.
According to the manager the Atlanta Niketown was the only one in the U.S. not to receive the clothing line. How clueless can Nike be?
I told the manager I had just flown up from Orlando, hopped on MARTA and headed over here to pick up some gear. She told me I should have flown to Miami.
What shocks me is that Nike is usually pretty on the money with product launches and marketing. How could they miss this one?
I am off to Atlanta this morning. Blogging will be light the next few days, with a focus on the Tour de Georgia.
I will post a recap of my trip to Auburn though.
Next week I will be following the 2005 Tour de Georgia. For the past two years I have followed the race all over the peach state.
The first race in 2003 was exciting because it was the first major cycling stage-race I attended. The finish in downtown Atlanta was a blast, although a logistical nightmare for the city. 2004 brought Lance Armstrong and Mario Cipollini plus a host of other major Division I teams. 2005 looks to be even better with Lance, Floyd Landis, Levi and many more.
I plan to post a series of TdG specific content over the next 10 days. To keep the main page of the blog focused on my normal content, all the Tour de Georgia content will be over at a special Tour de Georgia page (similar to what I did with the Super Bowl Commercials)
I have even created a special Tour de Georgia RSS feed that also splices in Flickr photos.
I have a hectic schedule coming up the next few weeks. Next week it's off to Atlanta, GA. On Wednesday I will be heading over to Auburn University to meet with Robert French of MarcomBlog and perhaps speak to one of his PR classes.
The rest of the week I will be following the Tour de Georgia cycling race all over the state. I plan to post some cycling related items during the race, and update my tourdegeorgia tagged photos at Flickr. If you are in the Atlanta area and want to meet up between April 19th and the 25th let me know.
Back in Florida on April 27th I will be speaking at the Space Coast AdFed meeting in Cocoa Beach, FL.
On May 6 I am part of a panel at FPRA Gainesville's DigitalPR seminar (PDF Brochure). Even though I am slated for the morning, I plan to stay for an afternoon session on 'News in the Digital World' featuring CNN producer Diane Hodges. I'll be in Gainesville the night before (May 5th).
I then fly out to attend the Saturday sessions of Blog Nashville.
On May 14th I am tentatively schedule to give a workshop at the American Advertising Federation 4th District Annual Conference. More details as they become available on that one.
I have a few other private seminars scheduled around Florida in May as well. Busy Busy.
Leave it to Nike to do a cool integrated product launch.
10//2 is Lance Armstrong's new casual clothing line. 10//2 stands for October, 2 1996. "The day I was diagnosed with cancer was the day I started to live."
The collection which can be bought at Nike Town features apparel, shoes and other equipment. More details about the collection can be found at Wear Yellow and The Paceline. As the official fan site of Lance, The Paceline features some 'behind-the-scenes' information about the collection.
Perhaps the coolest piece of the collection is the Lance Banner Bag. Only 600 will be made. A portion of the bag's material is taken from the giant LiveStrong banner that hung at 7th Ave. and 34th St. in New York City during last year's Tour.
That is defintely on my shopping list.
Update 7.17.05: Interview with Lenny Futura, the graphic designer for the clothing line.
Cycling news site VeloNews has added a RSS feed to their site. Currently the feed pushes all their content in all their categories across with very short introductory blurbs. I would prefer a bit more, but obviously VN wants you to come to their site for more information.
They also seem to be doing some testing since the two most recent items are 'Test Items' with no content.
Lance Armstrong has announced his race schedule for 2005. It includes the Tour de France and the Tour de Georgia.
I have been to the Tour de Georgia every year it has been run, and plan on being there this year. It's a great event.
Right now I am the only one using the tag 'tourdegeorgia' at Flickr so you can check out a few photos from the past two years.
The Lance Armstrong Foundation announced that the single-day sales record for LiveSTRONG bands was broken this past Friday. The original record was 382,000 bands, the new mark of 900,000 bands sold was a result of Lance Armstongs' appearance on the Orpah Winfrey show. Plus an additional 300,000 more bands were sold on Saturday.
The theme of
Friday's show was of course LiveSTRONG. Lance and Orpah challenged the viewing audience to break the sales record. Viewers were encouraged to go to
LAF's online store and order bands. The promotion seemed to work.
The current sales total for LiveSTRONG is around 33 million bands!
Lance Armstrong will appear on the Oprah Winfrey show this Friday, Feb 11. You can check out the details here.
The 2005 Pro Cycling season is under way, which means that Graham Watson is publishing again. Graham is hands down the best cycling photographer around. His photos are amazing. Go take a look!
The formal presentation of the 2005 Discovery Channel Cycling team is set for Monday, January 10. The team will be introduced officially at Discovery Channel headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. Be sure to check The Paceline late Monday afternoon for exclusive pictures of the event.
At this past weekend's Online News Association conference, the Online Journalism Awards were handed out. One of this year's winners was AFP for their coverage of the Tour de France.
The AFP won in the 'Creative use of Medium' category. "Judges said it is an incredible tool for following a sports event in real time, with an interface that provides tremendous detail on the race. It includes real-time running news updates and complete access to all data about every rider in the race. An excellent job mixing maps, news and data."
I remember using it at both USAToday's site as well as the NYTimes. Poynter has a story as well. (Thanx Barry for sending the tip)
I found my next bicycle. Trek will produce 600 special edition LiveSTRONG bikes.
From The Paceline:
"We all saw Lance ride into Paris in July on a snazzy looking Madone SL. Decked out in his now-familar yellow jersey, his ride was equally as spectacular. Gold leaf graced the tubes to spell out LiveSTRONG on the top tube, and to outline the TREK and OCLV 110 Carbon graphics on the seat and down tubes. Resplendant with the yellow spoked Bontrager XXX Lite Carbon wheels, it immediately spurred the question - "Can I get one!?!"
And the answer is: Yes, That is, so long as you are one of the lucky 600 to get their $10,000 on the table (a portion of which will be donated to the LAF)
So send me some money :-)
A recent article on Mark Webber at the WilliamsF1 web site reports that Lance Armstrong had expressed an interest to drive a Formula 1 car.
Mark had the opportunity to ride with Lance in Texas. “He said he wanted to drive the car himself rather than be a passenger,” revealed Mark. “I told him I wasn’t sure if it was possible but I’d look into it!”
I am not sure how this will turn out. I know that WilliamsF1 (BMW) has taken advantage of this type of cross-over promotional opportunity before. The most recent high-profile event was when Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya switched cars at Indy in 2003.
The other notable US event was when Sarah Fisher did a few demonstration laps in a McLaren back in 2002.
Although I am not sure how Subaru would react to an event showcasing Lance in a BMW-badged F1 sled. I also imagine that Lance has some stipulations in his contract about drving a 900 BHP race car during the season.
Update: From The Paceline - "I did tell him that I'd like to take a few laps with his car but it's not like I'm looking to run against him or Schumacher," he said when we recently spoke to him. "Although it is fun to dream sometimes."
Part two of Lance's interview with CyclingNews.com is up. part two is longer than part one.
CyclingNews.com has a long interview with Lance. Part I is up now, Part II should be online in a few days.
Driving today with my three-year-old son in the car seat we passed a group of small children riding bicycles. First thing out of his mouth? "Daddy, those children need helmets"
I am trying to assume that Tyler Hamilton is innocent of the recent doping charges. The only scenario I can come up with is that the two recent tests have picked up an abnormality in his blood system that has always been present. It has been discussed that starting with the Olympics a new, more comprehensive test has been used by the WADA. Since this new test has not been employed before, this abnormality has never been picked up before. I am hoping they come back and say, Tyler has XX disease which is a rare form of XX, although harmless, it does casue a positive for transfusions in testing. Kinda like the poppy seed bagel showing up as opium. Or cocaine in South American chocolate (ala Simoni).
The comprehensive WADA test has also been speculated to have been a contributing factor in the adsence of some top US athletes in sports such as basketball and baseball. Two U.S. born athletes representing Greece in baseball tested positive for steroids. Of course baseball has it’s own laughable drug policy, but that’s another story.
It’s really an unfortunate situation, even if Tyler is cleared, there will always be that doubt.
After working on a project for a few hours this afternoon, I took a break and jumped over to NYTimes.com to see what was going on in the world. I was obviously shocked to see Tyler Hamilton as the front page story with photo.
The article says it all.
In this day in age you don't know who is telling the truth, but if you can't trust Tyler who can you trust? I certainly hope he is cleared of any wrong doing.
Brett Lider is in the Alps right now. A few other friends are heading to the Tour in a few weeks as part of a cycling tour. They'll even get to ride Alp D'Huez prior to the stage.
Today I went to the Devil Rays v. Marlins Major League Baseball game with 3500 employees and friends of the United States Postal Service (a friend of mine is a PR person for the Suncoast district). For the past five years the Suncoast District of the USPS has attended a Devil Rays game in June or July as a group, all wearing yellow (this year's shirt) and supporting the USPS Team and Lance.
Kenny Labbe (Kenny in the stands) of the USPS team spoke before the start of the game and threw out the ceremonial first pitch. It was quite impressive to see the stands full of yellow shirts. (the stands).
To give myself a goal to get back in the form I used to have, I have registered for the Six Gap Century on September 26 in Dahlonega, GA. You can find the details here.
I love the route and have ridden most of the gaps at various points, but never the whole route.
