Cycling UK Forum

Having looked forward to watching a programme about cycling what did I get? 100% cycling as a sport....lycra and road bike riders and yet more lycra and road bike riders, with a little bit of MTB racing. Boring!
Nothing on utility and leisure cycling and bikes, no wonder that so many are put off cycling which they see as a niche sport for super fit individuals.

I'm not into sport at all but because I like cycling (and bikes), people I know who are into sport presume that I will 'make the exception' and follow cycle racing. They seem confused when I tell them I never watch or follow it - don't even know with confidence the names of our olympian cyclists (i know them a bit because people/press/tv make a lot of noise about them).

I'm pretty much on the same lines as both of you.

I think that people fixing up their old faithful bike and nipping off for a ride into the countryside for an hour or so, maybe stopping to load a loaf and bottle of milk into the panniers would be a superb show.

They could review the latest budget cycling trousers that you could wear at work and cycle home in, they could do a spot on a cyclists kit when touring, bits on maintenance and which panniers are best for an Aldi shopping trip etc.

And if we had time there could be a celebrity cyclist feature for a few mins (maybe even a competitive cyclist, but a profile of what he rides when he goes to the pub and is wearing his jeans etc)

However this kind of show doesn't sell anything and the advert revenue would be pretty low I guess. It also doesn't follow any formula of an existing show and is therefore never likely to get made.
In short, it's the Greame Obree of the TV shows.

It's a shame as I can see it appealing to loads of commuters, occasional cyclists, a large proportion of the Eroica crowd, and lots of people that come on to forums like this. In fact anyone who loves bikes would surely give it a go?

I've just talked myself into writing it and am mailing Channel 5 now! Where's Ewan McGregors phone number?...he's first up for 'celebrity old bike' slot.
In my mind it's already franchised out to Holland, Germany and Taiwan.
And I am sitting on the beach in Scarborough in the off season, eating a 99 in a deck chair, counting all my money from this mastermind plan!

Some people from the ITV Cycle Show are coming along to our club's Sunday ride this weekend to film a piece on how accessible and easy it is to get involved with a cycling club, so expect even more Lycra filled segments! They have said they want to focus on our social paced groups so there's a bit of hope yet.

Got bored & turned it off.

Sooper8 wrote:However this kind of show doesn't sell anything and the advert revenue would be pretty low I guess. It also doesn't follow any formula of an existing show and is therefore never likely to get made.
In short, it's the Greame Obree of the TV shows.

Make it a bit less practical (a tendency towards more sportier bikes and sillier tasks) and I think you've basically described Top Cycling Gear. Of course, it would be the same sort of short-lived massive commercial failure that the last incarnation of Top Gear was Much better to play it safe and keep on the tired and trusted cycle-sport format.

What club's that, easyroller? A racing club or a freewheeling group?

Oh it's on again? I missed it, presumably I can download it.

I remember last years series stayed on the planned for some time. I think it was around December when I finally got around to completing watching the series!

GCN on the other hand - pretty much watch all their stuff straight away.

Its this a little bit like watching a marathon program and expecting a segment on jogging though? I thought it was a show about sports cycling...

Nope it was started with the aim of appealing to a wide spectrum of cyclists.

Threads about previous series
2014: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=88666
2012 & 2013 merged threads: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=66032&hilit=cycle+show

Mark1978 wrote:Oh it's on again? I missed it, presumably I can download it.

Or just wait until Sat/Sun night 0025 or Sunday morning 1100 for repeats, according to http://www.tvguide.co.uk/detail/1473926 ... cycle-show

I watched it and when I finished it was 9pm, that's about it.

If you consider the car analogy I don't follow car racing and don't want to watch a program about flashy high performance cars and interviews with F1 drivers. I own a car and use it as a means of getting from one place to another.
But I don't want to watch a program about people buying second hand cars, driving to the shops or whether brake pads are cheaper at Halfords or Quickfit and I don't think many (100,000s) other people would either. Just because I do something doesn't mean I want to watch a television program about it. Personnally I might watch a program about cycle touring but again I don't think this would generate a large enough audience to warrant a TV series.

Although it's mostly aimed at MAMIL's, I suspect they will have the occassional feature of non-sports cycling, so stick with it. There is a tendency within the media to think that all cyclists are into sports cycling.

I do follow the sport, so it's right up my street.

TrevA wrote:I do follow the sport, so it's right up my street.

So do I, but previous series did nothing for me (as you can read). I can't comment on the current episode because I was out riding my bike with friends to the pub and didn't set the recorder.

I watched it with half an eye and much of it seemed to be making something intense and serious about cyclists who are not at the upper echelons of the sport. It reminded me of Keith Miller's quote when asked about the pressure of international Test cricket. Miller who had been a WW2 pilot responded ""pressure is a Messerschmitt up your a**e, playing cricket is not"

https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Keith_Miller

I can't believe I've had to asterisk letters in that quote - what's next? -bowdlerising Hamlet's allusion to 'country matters'....

I, like many other people, didn't know it was on so ITV must want to keep it secret! I will try to catch the repeats. I was not impressed with any of the previous series but kept watching in the hope it would get away from the talking heads and lycra - it didn't. No so called celebrities please; most of them I do not recognise and they use the show for self promotion.

From the comments on this thread it seems that the show treats cycling as a sport only and not something "normal" people do as part of their everyday lifestyle. I'll give it a go by recording the repeats and fast forwarding through the adverts and boring bits. I should be able to watch an hours programme in about 20 minutes!