Thanks to Ride Cycling Review for sponsoring the Inner Ring for January. All sponsors get a public thank-you once a month and the Australian magazine is here for January.
Only you don’t need to ride the Tour Down Under to pick up a copy as the magazine is available to read on your computer or tablet via Zinio, the electronic magazine distribution site.
And if you want to find out more about the magazine there’s an article to download for free below.
Whilst the sport is reeling from the Armstrong case, doping isn’t the only ethical problem the sport faces. Nicole Cooke told of unpaid contracts and broken promises, something that’s not reserved to the past, nor to women’s cycling. Meanwhile the UCI is investigating the story of the 2010 Liège-Bastogne-Liège and allegations that the result was sold by Alexandr Kolobnev to Alexander Vinokourov. Writer and lawyer Lisa Jacobs looked into corruption, race sales and pro cycling in an article for Ride which you can download (PDF):
RIDE-55-Legal-special-article.pdf
Or if you want something lighter, head over to cyclingtips to see a collection of pro team bikes photographed at the Tour Down Under and note the next edition of Ride will have all these bikes and more studio photographed and weighed, plus comment from the pro team mechanics.
If you haven’t read it before Ride has an Australian tone… but so does the sport these days with the Tour Down Under, Simon Gerrans, Cadel Evans and the Orica-Greenedge team. But this is a regular cycling magazine with plenty of global content from races to tech reviews – see the latest issue with Marianne Vos on the front cover.
To find out more about Ride, click here or click on their ad on the top right of the screen.
- As well as the on-screen ad, all sponsors get a post each month to explain what they’re about. So thanks to Rob, Toby and colleagues for their support which helps to make this site happen
Thanks back at Ride for supporting my daily read.
What sort of costs do you have? Maybe you should let readers donate???
I’ve thought about donations but they could be irregular, maybe people are generous at first but if this site has a regular output I’d prefer a regular income to make plans with if possible. It’s easier to quantify the value of the space on the page.
As for costs, the hosting is getting expensive as there are more and more readers; the site creaks a bit under the load of hundreds of thousands of readers every month. Then there’s photos and travel for race recons and more. But I can cover my costs OK but want to make the time more worthwhile, more sponsorship equals more output.
Qwerty,
It’s good to support good things.
Please let me know if you have a look at the magazine (in either the print format or the Zinio version).
Cheers
Rob
The PDF download link is not working
Sorry, the file name needed a tweak. It’s working now.
Could you be interested in a business/investment partner?
Thanks but there’s no big costs to invest in, just a space to rent out.
I have a great interest in cycling and operate a number of cycling-related enterprises. I am looking for a magazine to invest in to grow cycling.
I have an excellent support organization called the UCI to grow cycling and inrng.com at any cost.
This Internet has great potential, however I do not have a good platform to disseminate my message that 2013 will be the cleanest peloton ever.
Looking forward to your reply.
Not Hein Verdruggen
Regarding donations, a model I’ve seen on another very good blog is voluntary subscriptions, where people sign up through Paypal or whatever to pay a few £/$/€s on a monthly or quarterly basis. It helps avoid the problem of the blog author having to beg for donations.
I’m sure I speak for many readers when I say I’d be happy to pay a small, regular subscription if it helps keep this blog alive.
This blog is alive and well and the recent appeal for sponsors has generated interest… and sponsorship contracts.
I’m glad to hear it! 🙂
“Beg for donations” is a bit of a stretch. It was more like a call-out followed by a response. At least that’s how it was in this instance.
I’m sure that many of us who enjoy this blog would contribute a small subscription. I certainly would.
I might suggest Ride Cycle Review change the free article to something more positive. Coming off last week’s Oprah interview of He Who Shall Not Be Named, we don’t need to hear about another scourge, at least not yet. Good article, but very ill-timed.
Need or want? I know it’s a heavy topic so I linked to the bike photos too if people want something brighter.
Thomas, thanks for the suggestion. We have plenty of options for material to offer but we didn’t want to just waltz onward and pretend that everything is going to be rosy now that a certain person said a few things. That said, there is plenty of uplifting material in the current issue (ie. the one with Marianne Vos on the cover)…
Fair enough. I grew up around horse and dog racing, so I’m about as cynical as it gets re: honesty in (any) racing. There’s this particular type of competitor that’s well represented on the line. It is of type “If I can get away with it, I’ll do it.” Read this sad article: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/01/a-former-cyclist-reflects-i-would-have-done-what-lance-armstrong-did/267361/ Listen to it’s “I myself have been taking supplemental testosterone for medical reasons for 15 years” dissembling. #sadness
Since I can beat him over the head with a mallet, let’s go with “need”.
Small note: it’s RIDE Cycling Review. 😉
I took a subscription last time they were here in 2012 and enjoy the reading.
Thanks RIDE!