Impact of Cadel win on Australian cycling

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Marcus135

Oct 6, 2010
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From what I have seen Cadel's win has created a huge amount of media hype for a few days and thats been in. We will not hear much at all until next years tour. From a conversation i had with the owner of a local bike store a few days ago he said that business has been booming, they have sold a huge amount of bikes this month. However its not going to last.

Most drivers around Australia still hate to see cyclists on the road and honestly i cannot see that changing any time soon. Cycling however has been booming over the last four years in Australia in general. Middle aged people have decided its the new thing to do and u see a lot of "weekend warriors" out on a Saturday morning.

Bike lanes have also been constructed at a huge rate around NSW as well over the past years but most people still strongly oppose them as it takes up "to much of the road".

In my opinion the impact of Cadel's win will really just be a few days of media hype and a boom in bike sales in the short term. In a months time most people will have forgotten and still oppose every cyclist they see on the road when driving :(
 
daveinzambia

daveinzambia

Jul 20, 2011
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Thanks for the link but have to honestly say reading the comments section has really depressed me.

Back to riding round centennial park at night after they have locked all the cars out. Only danger then is dodging the homeless guys
 
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Barracuda

Jul 16, 2009
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fatsprintking said:
The fact that 2.2 mil viewers watched the time trial stage and that there is page after page in all the papers today would suggest that at least at a media level that the sport has made a jump into the mainstream.

This process has been going on for 30 years, but it will be this event that creates the big shift.

Next year you can expect much greater coverage and analysis of not only this race but also other big races through the year. You might even find that Matty Goss gets a little bit of overdue coverage for his MSR win.

It is pretty amazing to think that Australians have won the Tour and a monument in the same year. Hopefully some of the coverage in the 1 month of frenzied coverage that will follow will serve to educate the puiblic more about the subtle elements of the sport so they are interested in watching and learning from here on end.

I think that the impact that Chiara is going to have cannot be underestimated either. She is no doubt going to become the template for how you can be dignified and independent while still being a supportive partner. She creates such a contrast to what we generally see in Austrlian sport with its WAG's. I expect to see her hecome the foucus of some serious attention in Austalia at a womans day type level which is once again a big jump into the mainstream.

Things will die down after a while, but the sport has certainly taken a huge leap forward in much the same way that Soccer did a few years ago.

The difference is that Australian's are actually good at cycling...
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Agree, however alot of what I see and here in my neck of the woods from the general public is " Wow, didnt that Cadel guy ride a great race in that Time Trial and won the Tour de France " ... I try and educate them politely on the chess like nature of a Grand tour and cycling in general but goes in one ear and out the other.

My only comment is where have these people and the media who are now jumping on the bandwagon been for the last three weeks, let along the last 15 years.

Cadel did not win the Tour by coming second in one time trial stage people.

That is all !
 
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rgmerk

Jul 27, 2009
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Barracuda said:
Agree, however alot of what I see and here in my neck of the woods from the general public is " Wow, didnt that Cadel guy ride a great race in that Time Trial and won the Tour de France " ... I try and educate them politely on the chess like nature of a Grand tour and cycling in general but goes in one ear and out the other.

My only comment is where have these people and the media who are now jumping on the bandwagon been for the last three weeks, let along the last 15 years.

Cadel did not win the Tour by coming second in one time trial stage people.

That is all !
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You see a glass half empty because they don't understand all the nuances. I see a glass half full because they watched at all.

Interest in professional cycling has come from near zero a decade ago to where it's a significant part of the Aussie sporting landscape. Thousands of people - though most will never race themselves - now do events like Round the Bay in Melbourne. Lots of MAMILs will avoid heart attacks because of it. And some kids - not enough, but some - who aren't big enough, or coordinated enough, for footy, are trying the sport and discovering that riding a bike is something they can do well.
 
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The Falcon

Mar 12, 2009
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daveinzambia said:
Thanks for the link but have to honestly say reading the comments section has really depressed me.

Back to riding round centennial park at night after they have locked all the cars out. Only danger then is dodging the homeless guys
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Dave, if those comments shocked you its fair to say you havent been following public sentiment on this mate, its ALWAYS been that way. There are the few vocal idiots and then most people are OK.

I think things are improving but by a question of degrees only.
 
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Barracuda

Jul 16, 2009
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rgmerk said:
You see a glass half empty because they don't understand all the nuances. I see a glass half full because they watched at all.

Interest in professional cycling has come from near zero a decade ago to where it's a significant part of the Aussie sporting landscape. Thousands of people - though most will never race themselves - now do events like Round the Bay in Melbourne. Lots of MAMILs will avoid heart attacks because of it. And some kids - not enough, but some - who aren't big enough, or coordinated enough, for footy, are trying the sport and discovering that riding a bike is something they can do well.
Click to expand...

Maybe glass filled to the Middle :)

Yes .... but mainstream media land and the likes of Mia Freedman dont assist the situation.

But agree that more people watching is a huge step forward.
 
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Marcus135

Oct 6, 2010
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That video of that STUPID woman as well as those comments make me sad to live in the country i do. Australia has some of the worst road rage in the world it really is crazy how ignorant some people are...
 
auscyclefan94

auscyclefan94

Jun 16, 2009
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A moron in the "your say" section of the paper said today that cycling is like golf in that it isn't a sport.

*facepalm*
 
rickshaw

rickshaw

Jan 14, 2011
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Here's a thought....

If I was an Aussie ex-pat, very old, very rich, in serious trouble because my media empire has been engaging in illegal acts.... I think I'd have that media empire turn up the volume on the Cadel hype. You know, get folks thinking about something else. Rupert and Co. must be very proud to have an Aussie Tour winner, Oi Oi Oi. No wait....
 
swuzzlebubble

swuzzlebubble

Nov 2, 2009
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media
 
auscyclefan94

auscyclefan94

Jun 16, 2009
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Archibald said:
not wrong
it's no wonder I don't want to move back to Aus
the more I see from the outside looking in, the stupidier Australians look - I'm almost ashamed to be one...
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Come on, that comment is a little brash.

I thin some cyclists who regulary commute or exercise by riding their bikes on the road must admit that there are some idiots who break the rules and cause trouble. i think there are others who don't break the rules and are rather obedient.
 
Archibald

Archibald

Jun 15, 2009
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auscyclefan94 said:
Come on, that comment is a little brash.

I thin some cyclists who regulary commute or exercise by riding their bikes on the road must admit that there are some idiots who break the rules and cause trouble. i think there are others who don't break the rules and are rather obedient.
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this has nothing to do with idiot riders. just read those comments that follow the article - it's simply embarrassing to think that diatribe is coming from Aussies. So much for giving people "a fair go"...
 
leftover pie

leftover pie

Jul 13, 2010
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had a guy yell

"cadel evans. . . yoooooo beeeauuuttyyyy!!"

at us at about 6.10am on saturday morning from the balcony of his apartment block.

a *******ised version of "jesalenko. . . . yoooo beauttteeeeyy!!"

which i thought was pretty cool.

i'm sure his neighbours didn't share his enthusiasm though. :)
 
auscyclefan94

auscyclefan94

Jun 16, 2009
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Archibald said:
this has nothing to do with idiot riders. just read those comments that follow the article - it's simply embarrassing to think that diatribe is coming from Aussies. So much for giving people "a fair go"...
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agreed, some of the hate for cyclists in the media today is really dissapointing. Also sad to hear people kncoking Cadel. It is really dissapointing.
 
Spider1964

Spider1964

Jul 8, 2009
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London Riots

Archibald said:
not wrong
it's no wonder I don't want to move back to Aus
the more I see from the outside looking in, the stupidier Australians look - I'm almost ashamed to be one...
Click to expand...

Rather be here than London...:D And we are the "stupidier" ones? Mmmm ;)

Wonder if Liz will be sending some of these scallywags off to the colonies so we can sort them out?
 
fatsprintking

fatsprintking

Jul 15, 2010
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simo1733 said:
Is it for real!
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Oh yeah - there are plenty of idiots in Australia, just like everywhere else.

But it has always been this way. Back in the 80's as a kid trying to make it, I was doing lots of miles. My best stories were getting a pie in the back of the head thrown by a car travelling at about 120kph, and then having a stubbie dropped behind me an showering me with glass again at over 100kph. Both these things happened durring THE SAME RIDE, when I had devcieded to ride back from Torquay to Ballarat.

I rode down Beach Rd in Melbourne for the first time in a few years a couple of weeks ago and to be honest I thought the cars were pretty good. What crapped me of however was the fact that the riders that came up behind me made it 100% clear that they wanted me to **** off and would not allow me to come through and do a turn. Most of my negative experiences of late have been with other riders rather than cars to be honest.
 
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