Jill Douglas is very, very good at presenting things on bikes, and suits this show perfectly. A major improvement.

Bravo to the producers for doing a show about women in cycling!

Excellent!

Bravo to the producers for doing a show about women in cycling!

I agree. 🙂

JD is so much better than the goon who normally presents this.

I’ve got me heels on.

I’d escort that young lady round the world if she asked nicely. Might have to ride my motorbike though.

This has been the best show so far. Better presented, better chats and better articles.

Yup totally agree, best CS by faaaaaaarrrrrrrrrr.

This has been the best show so far. Better presented, better chats and better articles.

+1

just been watching the anthillfilms premiere so gonna +1 this, always thought Jill Douglas was quality though and Munqe Chick is looking forward to some decent womens coverage.

Best show since it started imho

Backflip. Yay!

So far I think I’ve only fast forwarded 75% of the show, rather than 90% like normal

I agree that the presenter is much more natural and there is more flow to the show, she should get the gig full time .Was that the same Hannah Barnes that does mtb?

Nope different Hannah Barnes.

Great show.

Was actually happy to watch that tonight, way better than previous episodes

Bunny, bunny, rabbit, rabbit, cyclocross (good), more bunny, yada, yada, yada.

Plumbs new depths of shiteness.

bit of a slip from Jill Douglas methinks, asking the Belles what “extreme mountain biking” meant when they are an endurance team. Good show all-round, though they laboured the same “what barriers to women” questions with every guest she is a far better presenter.

back flip was impressive, perfect landing.

I have to agree with the majority, it flowed much better today than the bloke that normally jitters his way through presenting- and to the detractors of the show- dont bother watching if it irks you that much, never have understood folk bitching about a show that no one is forcing them to watch.
My misses is a twice a year cyclist and she actually got interested so for me its all good!

bit too much sofa chat for me and not enough features.
but then girls do like a natter don’t they?
Jill Douglas FTW though. Polished.

my non-biking wife who was half watching commented on Jo Rowsell’s wig and her surprise at how fashionable and well turned out the ladies on the show were…

Brakes, big up Trevor Sorbie for his wig work.

still fast forwarded over 90%

Yep me like.

But… isn’t the hard part of a backflip actually landing it?
Just sayin. 😕

Don’t see the point of a ladies only show. The rest of the series hasn’t been men only.

Seemed a bit of forced PC to me.

Bikes. People ride em. Doesn’t matter what sex, size or age.

Blimey Jill Douglas makes a difference doesn’t she? Shame she isn’t the permenant presenter 😕

To compensate for women being massively underrepresented in the main. It unacceptable that women should be too intimidated or turned off by male dominated media presentation to enjoy the activity IMO. That women pro racers don’t get a minimum wages is scandalous.

cant see how the show gets slagged so much , the first 2 episodes were predominately Road but to be fair there are 3 times as many roadies too mountainbikers. Also the tour was on , I dont mind the Irish dude and any cycling programme has to be better than the usual pish on UK tv.

The ‘well dont watch it then!’ argument isn’t really appropriate when its the only cycling show on TV. Every time I’ve been browsing the channels and spotted the word ‘cycle’ I’ve been a little bit excited until I actually watch it.
Same with their motorbike show too.
Perhaps it’s just one of those things that doesn’t translate to TV?
Would be nice to see a couple of really well filmed, meaty documentaries.

So was there was there more than a token few minutes given to mountain-biking?

No mention of Rachel though ! 🙄

I think Graham Whatshischops isn’t that bad. Clear Jill Douglas is very polished, has experience and my girlfriend says she has great legs (not that I noticed of course).

eggshellblonde – Member

But… isn’t the hard part of a backflip actually landing it?

Nah, gravity’ll take care of that.

But… isn’t the hard part of a backflip actually landing it?

1) I would assume the “hard” part is psychological, forcing your brain to accept youre not going to come straight back down (hence her doing normal jumps first to see where she’d land).

2) did you see her landing? It may have been in a foam pit but it was perfect-upright, feet on pedals, hands on grips.

Feel free to post clips of your far better backflips, though, so we can join in as armchair experts. 🙄

To compensate for women being massively underrepresented in the main

+1. ITV4 are well behind cycling so kudos for addressing the issue (and featuring some womens racing in the crit series coverage and nationals). The impending womens Tour (of Britain) has “negotiated TV coverage”, I hope its ITV4 and if so who can blame them for waving the flag now?

Mention of Rachel Atherton/Manon Carpenter would have been nice (and obvious to us MTBers) but who knows when this was written/shot, I’m sure if they were in the country not competing abroad they may have featured.

The rest of the series hasn’t been men only.

it has pretty much been

I watched most of the first half but we had to head out at 8:30, I did suggest to my missus she watch the bit about “Breeze” as I can see getting out for riders with groups of women benefiting her, although she does go on a “Mum’s ride” now and then with some mates…

It seemed a bit better (fist episode of S2 I’ve caught), I might watch the rest on catch-up…

The point about Girls being effectively discouraged from cycling in their teens was a good one, normalizing cycling for girls so that it’s not something they “Grow out of” at 13 is a key thing IMO…

Was their much coverage of Women’s MTBing in the second half?
First bit did seem a bit road heavy perhaps…

certainly The fact that two British Female racers are dominating WC-DH this year really shouldn’t be glossed over, that is certainly a male dominated sport and Rachel Atherton/Manon Carpenters success really should be pointed to as a success story.

The fact that Tracey Mosley having enjoyed a ~Decade at the top of Womens DH is now stamping all over the Enduro world series is further testament to the depth of MTBing tallent in this country…

Was that covered at all?
I’d hate for women to think that the only two options were racing City Centre Crits or tow path pootles, cycling is a pretty diverse set of disciplines, there should be something for just about everyone…

whilst there was lots of footage shown of Rachel Atherton, she wasn’t mentioned once. Nor was mountain biking.

Rowsells Tony Le Mesmer stare scared me.

brakes – Member
whilst there was lots of footage shown of Rachel Atherton, she wasn’t mentioned once. Nor was mountain biking.

was considering watching this episode to see if it was any different from the badly made roadie stuff i saw last series

dont think ill bother

My parents enjoyed watching it so looks like the masses can like the show.

I was a bit disappointed that Rachel Atherton wasn’t mentioned but they already hads loads of world champions/gold medalists/mountain bikers/cyclocrossers on so it wasn’t really needed to show what women can do.