If you take a look at the number of quality 3 minute films that have come out after every DH race over the last couple of years you can’t help but think that there is more than enough film making talent out there to put some great riding segments together for all forms of cycling.

For example

Well I finally stopped crying and burst out laughing when the Wiggle advert came on in the middle of a CRC show.

Dire.

I know they had to keep it light hearted, brief and were sort of aiming for a kind of Top Gear/5th Gear/Gadget-ish type show but with bikes vibe

Interesting observation. Gadget show actually do cycling stuff with real passion and display pretty good levels of fiutness and cycling geekery – but pull it off in an entertaining manner.

Ideal presenter combo???

Jason Bradbury* for cheery eccentric geekery
Chris Boardman for stoi, grounded, cycling gravitas…

* and no, don’t suggest pollyanna whats er face

Suzi Perry then

Ohh,

and what’s with the Box Hill place? Are they seriously calling that a road “climb”, flippin heck, I know we have taken the proverbial about the Essex “mountains” for the mtb, but that was hilarious….

Interesting observation. Gadget show actually do cycling stuff with real passion and display pretty good levels of fiutness and cycling geekery – but pull it off in an entertaining manner.

You’re joking right?
Have you seen the piss-ripping that happens everytime The Gadget Show attempt to do cycling? The worst one recently was riding round Monaco where they’d put the front wheel in the wrong way round – not that cardinal a sin you might think until you realise that this road bike had disc brakes… Gadget Show is horrendous, proper lowest common denominator, dumb-it-down TV.

I can see what The Cycle Show is aiming for. Maybe with some constructive feedback, they might change it a bit (it’s filmed on Sunday afternoon for broadcast on Monday) so they have plenty of time to tinker with it a bit. Give it chance – it’s cycling on TV. Yes, the first episode was pretty awful but maybe tell them what you want and how it should be formatted and they might make some changes?

The problem is that by trying to cover everything, they actually end up covering nothing cos they’re flitting from one thing to another with no link, no explanation.

and what’s with the Box Hill place? Are they seriously calling that a road “climb”, flippin heck, I know we have taken the proverbial about the Essex “mountains” for the mtb, but that was hilarious….

I look forward to seeing you in the lead group at the Olympics road race, powering up it in the big ring on the 8th lap.

esp those who are really into biking, knowledgable and opinionated, eg those glued on here.

OMG OMG OMG OMG… Ironing to the power of sick

and what’s with the Box Hill place? Are they seriously calling that a road “climb”, flippin heck,

call it what you want, its the olympic road race, so cashes in on the recent general publics cycling interest (TdF win and the potential road race medal next weekend)

obviously you would rather see some nobody ride up a steep hill, waiting to hear your suggestions, ones that wont make the pyrenees look like the tour de francis 😉

wayne hemmingway was fine, the bloke who did the box hill bit was too dour, like said already, the main presenter wasn’t the right person or he wasn’t given the right material. I think it was predominantly the studio/LMNH bits that really spoilt it, topped off by that pointless race at the end between Obree and Fisher, only 22mins to deliver a good programme and 5 mins were wasted in that. The LMNH ‘studio’ location is as good as any, but they do need to turn the volume down on the crowd and have more interesting chitchat, if that’s going to be the format.

Rob Warner , Obree and fisher all on the same show would be a hoot …

That would be the Top Gear equivalent

I look forward to seeing you in the lead group at the Olympics road race, powering up it in the big ring on the 8th lap.

No, you’re mistaken, not me 😉

It’s a road race, it can all be on the flat as far as I’m concerned. Just surprised with the way it was being pitched on the show… 🙄

The features managed to be both too-short and too dull, not enough explanation for those not into bikes, and not enough detail/interest for those who are

basic stuff. Rob Hayles (the “too dour bloke”) says Ive got 6 riders of differing abilities. Okay then, spend 10 seconds introducing each one, you may find they represent the audience and we identify with them. Then another 10seconds each at the end covering their thoughts on the ride, how taxing the climb will be after 8 ascents etc

Interesting observation. Gadget show actually do cycling stuff with real passion and display pretty good levels of fiutness and cycling geekery – but pull it off in an entertaining manner.

You’re joking right?

Dumb it down TV? The presenters are enthusiastic and try to entertain. Compare that to Rob Hayles who is a pro rider, but not a natural presenter. Have you watched any of the bike sections Jason Bradbury has properly been involved in on GS? He is a really handy rider, from seeing him ride an MTB a few times I’d guess he grew up riding BMX (in fact I think they showed him doing some flatland stuff on a bike once) and I reckon he’d be outstanding on a show like this. They are trying to pitch an even broader field (anything consumer/tech) so are going to struggle to cover both fans and the public more so than the cycling show, they are trying to cover eg. cycling in a 2 minute slot hence the lowest denominator dumbing down. Cognescenti are going critise it for not pandering to them but it meets its brief more thoroughly than the first episode of cycling show did. Some of the more rational responses to the Monaco article pointed out a novice cyclist had been put on a too-big-for-her £20K bike, so maybe having the front wheel in wrong was to prevent her locking it up and binning it? Again, not a feature aimed at “us”.

I think most of the criticism on here has been constructive, highlighting specific areas where it can improve, and we all want it to succeed. Being an apologist is to accept mediocrity as thats all we deserve.

I just watched it – it was OK for a first shot.

Fisher, with his faux eccentricity, was a mistake. Outside the ‘industry’ no-one knows or cares who he is (neither do I really), and a viewer with casual interest would most likely run a hundred miles the other way if that’s a typical ‘cyclist’. Obree should have been better introduced too.

I can see 5 minutes ‘sport round-up’ (all disciplines) each episode being worthwhile, perhaps it would help the rider in the street to connect his experience to top of the pyramid, and show the breadth of what cycling can offer.

Let’s give it time to breathe. Good on ’em for having a go.

I just watched it – it was OK for a first shot.

Fisher, with his faux eccentricity, was a mistake. Outside the ‘industry’ no-one knows or cares who he is (neither do I really), and a viewer with casual interest would most likely run a hundred miles the other way if that’s a typical ‘cyclist’. Obree should have been better introduced too.

I can see 5 minutes ‘sport round-up’ (all disciplines) each episode being worthwhile, perhaps it would help the rider in the street to connect his experience to top of the pyramid, and show the breadth of what cycling can offer.

Let’s give it time to breathe. Good on ’em for having a go.

sorry double post

I just watched it – it was OK for a first shot.

Fisher, with his faux eccentricity, was a mistake. Outside the ‘industry’ no-one knows or cares who he is (neither do I really), and a viewer with casual interest would most likely run a hundred miles the other way if that’s a typical ‘cyclist’. Obree should have been better introduced too.

I can see 5 minutes ‘sport round-up’ (all disciplines) each episode being worthwhile, perhaps it would help the rider in the street to connect his experience to top of the pyramid, and show the breadth of what cycling can offer.

Let’s give it time to breathe. Good on ’em for having a go.

cross post from lfgss, cos it made me smile

Originally Posted by gucci
Someone needs to get those cap-wearing, coffee-loving hipsters to shut the f*** up while they’re filming…

think we all agree on that bit.

You can voice your opinions on their Facebook page 😆

or email
cap.wearing.coffee.lovin.hipsters@facebook.com

I’m sure at some stage they’ll probably need an MTBing Guest or two and if you want one with a bit of media training the obvious choice is Rob Warner, who I can see wiping the floor with that presenter TBH, that would be worth watching…

+10 for this, we’d all love that, surely! 😉

Just watched it.. Some miserable sods will moan whatever the format is (and there seems to be a plethora of them on this particular forum). Personally I was glad to see some cycling on tv regardless of the quality and didnt think it was that bad for a first attempt.

Have you watched any of the bike sections Jason Bradbury has properly been involved in on GS? He is a really handy rider, from seeing him ride an MTB a few times I’d guess he grew up riding BMX

yea.. he’s brilliant 🙂

double post

Have you watched any of the bike sections Jason Bradbury has properly been involved in on GS? He is a really handy rider, from seeing him ride an MTB a few times I’d guess he grew up riding BMX

Yeah. Judging by the ‘climbing’ sequence from Monaco he sure as hell wasn’t brought up riding any sort of road bike.

Some miserable sods will moan whatever the format is (and there seems to be a plethora of them on this particular forum)

or… some people have standards for what they want their sport to be portrayed as, and what they want to spend time watching.

Personally I was glad to see some cycling on tv regardless of the quality and didnt think it was that bad for a first attempt.

whereas you don’t.

i thought it was going to be on for an hour,
i mean come , just how do you cover ALL forms of cycling + ALL levels of cycling in ALL forms of cycling, in 30mins a week is just going to spread itself too thin. but hey, its a start!!!!

Ski Sunday as a format – bit of competitive round up, some leisure / recreational, some techniques, all in a lightweight magazine type show.

Has to be the audience – just a matter of connecting with them

and what’s with the Box Hill place? Are they seriously calling that a road “climb”, flippin heck, I know we have taken the proverbial about the Essex “mountains” for the mtb, but that was hilarious….

it’s neither the steepest, longest or hardest climb in the area but it has toilets and a cafe at the top and a nice view.
the smart cyclists ride past all that and stop at cycles dauphin just along the road (or avoid the hill altogether) but for the olympic road race it has parking at the top and bottom, access routes at the top and bottom, a big wide bank for spectators and is NT land so no private landowners involved so the temporary infrastructure is easy to implement.
it’s a no brainer for a looped climb close to the LONDON olympics.

Just seen it, tough time to start a program like this, a lot happening I would like to see more content it was far too general rather than focusing on something in each show, will give it a few more episodes out of curiosity

going to watch it again tonight on the player, to see if it matures like cheese or just annoys like the first time.

Just watched it. Seemed to me like they were trying to pack in far too much. I’d have like to have seen more of Obrees WR attempt. GF might have had more to say for himself too. I suppose they felt they had to hit a number of targets the first week, just to establish some future audience.

Mansell looking away from camera all the time was a bit odd, as was the fact that they had to crane towards the presenter to hear what was being said (I think the café format was pretty poor).

They should take a look at the format of BBC Scotlands Adventure Show – one main item interspersed with a few “magazine” style features.

The pies in LMNH are great, the TV program managed to undo everything Cav & Brad did for cycling in 25mins, awful awful production

Have you watched any of the bike sections Jason Bradbury has properly been involved in on GS? He is a really handy rider, from seeing him ride an MTB a few times I’d guess he grew up riding BMX

He used to race Downhill when he was younger.

I can’t believe that people are seriously suggesting that this show should use Jason Bradbury from the Gadget Show. He’s reason enough to automatically hit the off button. Not only is he excruciatingly annoying but his riding style is just plain strange like he’s trying too hard to look good.

Have the Gadget Show ever actually produced a decent cycling feature? The only half decent one had Guy Martin rating a few bike and deciding the Orange Five was the best buy (hasn’t he got a couple of free Orange bikes – one from Hope and another from Orange?).

The pies in LMNH are great, the TV program managed to undo everything Cav & Brad did for cycling in 25mins, awful awful production

No you’re thinking of Leslie Garrett.

Never, ever watch anything on ITV…. Its a horrible TV channel 😕

I thought it was ok, certainly nowhere near as bad as lots of people on here are making out. They’re clearly asking for feedback and looking to adapt the format too.

I’ve met Fisher before, and would say he’s a ‘strong’ character at the best of times, let alone thrown up in the 1st episode in direct head to head with Obree. Squirmed in my seat a bit the way he was talking at him, and to anyone that doesn’t know either of them (or what a washed up F1 bankroller has to do with cycling) would be kind of at a loss.

Safety bit I thought was OK, though could have been improved, made clearer, and not being sexist, but afraid most people would probably pay more attention to the nice lady presenter than some random gadge.
Everyone can always benefit from safety tips, though I think showing/symbols/scenarios from driver/ped/rider perspectives and how one should go about it would be very useful.

or what a washed up F1 bankroller has to do with cycling

pay attention at back.

I thought it was OK. Could have been a bit longer, is space on itv4 at a premium?