You better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone. …
I started the New Year off with a bang, resigning my temporary commission as a junior officer aboard the sinking ship VeloNews.com.
It may sound impulsive, but it was a decision long in the making. I had been with VeloNews (now Velo) for nearly 23 years, since March of 1989, and had been a contributor to VeloNews.com for some nine years, eventually rising to the lofty post of online editor at large. As the MarketSpeak® has it, I felt some “ownership” of the “brand” and wasn’t eager to simply walk away as some equally frustrated friends and colleagues had done, among them former editor in chief Ben Delaney and former web editor Steve Frothingham.
But VeloNews.com has been rudderless since Steve moved back to Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, and though I agreed to fill in as web editor five days a week until a replacement unit was located, acquired and installed, I was a having an unusually difficult time getting management at Competitor Group Inc. in San Diego to commit to a basic two-days-a-week contract for Your Humble Narrator as 2012 approached.
Contractual squabbles were nothing new. Rassling management over contracts became an annual Feat of Strength after CGI acquired Inside Communications Inc. back in 2008, and excising toxic bits from their reams of legalese was like unbuilding Frankenstein’s monster.
But before there had always been a web editor or magazine editor standing between me and San Diego. We would exchange pleasantries (“Fuck no, I ain’t signing that. And where’s my check for January?” “Didn’t get paid again, eh? Why don’t you go on one of your pain-in-the-ass strikes?”) and eventually the exasperated intermediary and I would reach a deal that graciously permitted me another year’s earnings (unless CGI woke up cranky one day and decided to sack me), the retention of my copyrights and some limited freedom of speech.
This time around the website was on its own for budgetary purposes, the digital herd had been ruthlessly thinned and I stood alone against the Pirates of Mira Mesa. Repeated inquiries as to future employment were met with: “We’ll take it up with the new cap’n soon’s he’s piped aboard, matey. Now grab hold of an oar, the admiral wants to water ski.”
Well. Call me paranoid, but having seen the cutlasses come out for Charles Pelkey, John Wilcockson and other more senior members of the crew, I was starting to hear the sound of whetstones on steel in my sleep. So rather than wait to walk the plank, I used it as a diving board and went over the side.
The coward’s way out? Maybe. Truth is, I just didn’t feel like fighting tooth and nail for half a chance at the dubious privilege of repurposing magazine content, rewriting press releases and picking a new featured image in an old photo gallery to make it look fresh. I’m too old a salt for that. It’s cabin boy’s work.
I hate to leave the boyos in Boulder behind, facing heavy weather, but I won’t miss the buccaneers in San Diego. It’s a Bounty full of Blighs and not a Christian in the lot.
Mad Blog Media 
Good time to delete Velo News from my Web bookmarks. Adios, Dog.
Aw, shoot, Jay … you’re always welcome to hang around here. It’s a dive, to be sure, but there’s never a cover charge and the drunks are friendly.
Wow. Shocking news that is. Quite a number of former VN crew out here in the world. We should form a club or sumthin’.
Aye, there do seem to be a fair crowd of us here in the dinghy. Please tell me the fat barstard is last to be eaten once the grub runs out.
Seems enough of you out there, Charles, to start another mag. Hope all is well with you and family.
You should form another website/magazine. I’d go to that site. Consider the newly reformatted and dubiously advertising linked velonews deleted from my bookmarks as well.
The CG folks were never my favorites back-in-the-day when I managed a SoCal bike shop and worked on advertising with them and other print media, so I figured nothing good would come when they took over the controls of VeloNews. And nothing has, with OG’s bailing out probably the last straw for me while Maynard Hershon’s departure was probably the first. I quit commenting there recently when I decided the readers were more “new golf” than I cared for along with the nasty, “you suck”, “no, you suck!” exchanges that dominated things. I don’t think too many of their readers will miss you, it’s a very different crowd these days. I’d love to read a research paper on how North American cycling has changed from the LeMond generation to the BigTex generation. Greg embraced Europe and European cycling while the other fellow adopted sort of a “kick their ass, take their cheese” attitude. To me it seems a lot of North American cycling fans now have a similar attitude, which might explain why CG was not-so-great in regards to you recently?
Larry, your guess is as good as mine. I don’t recall having met an actual CGI poge in the wild, so I have no sense as to how they think, or if.
The feeling I got watching San Diego flail from a distance is of folks wildly rearranging deck furniture on the Titanic (or actually, telling other folks to do it). Lots of officers, very few able-bodied seamen. Velo puts out the mag now with a staff so small you could stuff the lot in a SmartCar and have room left over for a keg of beer and a chubby hooker.
To be fair, I lowered my own property value when I stopped writing “Friday’s Foaming Rant” for the website. I stayed behind the scenes, editing and posting, never covering events in person, rarely bylining the little bits that I wrote for the site, forgetting what I learned in 15 years of newspaper work — that nobody thinks he needs a copy editor until the copy editor isn’t there anymore.
But times are very different now than when I quit my last newspaper gig in 1991. Maybe the copy editor has gone the way of the Linotype operator. Who knows?
Meanwhile, I have a couple other gigs to keep the common groats and lentils in the cupboard and a flagon of popskull in the ‘fridge. We’re far from living in the ’83 longbed … which is good, because the fucker won’t start, and you can’t outrun the repo man in a truck that won’t roll.
Larry – I think you might be onto something there w/respect to the Lemond vs BigTex generation. It certainly seems way different now as to then.
Oh yeah – Here’s something w/respect to Iowa that is currently making the rounds of my friends here:
We all like it for some reason or another
That’s pretty good! The “Iowa Nice” thing is interesting. When we lived in New England we were struck by how obnoxious the folks were to each other on a daily basis, the lack of civility wore on us after awhile. I suppose it’s like in NYC you just get used to it and realize the people are not really so bad. In Iowa it’s the reverse, they’re plenty nice to you – to your face. But behind your back’s another story. And yes the left-wingers there are OK but they’re concentrated in the cities to the east while we live in the far northwest where politically it’s Nebraska. But it’s cheap so when the wife doesn’t have to be there for classes (like now) we can afford to be in italy instead. For now that’s a trade I’ll take though we’re working harder than ever on making the Italy deal a permanent gig.
I’d love to hear more comments on how cycling has changed from LeMond to BigTex….or maybe it’s just us old farts who’ve changed? I don’t think so since back in the Maynard daze the most expensive thing most cyclists owned was the bike, not the SUV, golf clubs, house, etc. Nowadays the sport’s the “new golf” with the country-club set taking over. For me this is not a good thing, what do the others think?
Stay strong Patrick, velo snooze has been going down for a while now.
No worries, Bro’, I still have Bicycle Retailer and Adventure Cyclist throwing work my way. The pawnshops and plasma banks will have to wait a while yet.
“Maynard Hershon” Wow Larry T. you must be older then I am.
I’m so old I remember watching Maynard give a reading from his collected works at Interbike one year. He’s still around, y’know, writing bits of this and that from Denver. I believe he still writes regularly for a motorcycle mag and some other pubs as well.
Seriously old, yeah, vintage 1955 in fact. Maynard’s stories in the late, lamented WINNING magazine were often the best part of the mag. When VN picked him up I thought it was a great day for him and them. When CG took things over I knew it was going to be downhill from there. Other than JW’s now-and-then bits there’s really nobody left now from the good ol’ days when there were readable stories, etc. Now I pay $way-too-much.95 for the excellent Rouleur magazine because at least they employ writers who a) can write and b) seem to get paid for it. Too many current magazines and websites publish crap they get for free from hack writers who are either pushing some commercial agenda or just like to call themselves journalists for the schwag they get. Maynard’s still a great guy and I wish he’d find a place to run his stuff and start writing again. Maybe there’s a market for an old fart’s cycling mag these days? For now Rouleur’s as good as it gets.
BUYcycling magazine gutted its staff of real writers before CGI liberated VeloNews from everyone we old farts (vintage 1954 here) liked to read. Seems to be the business model these days. Since I’m not a cycling professional nor do I follow bigshot racing that much any more, its not giving me crying jags.
Back when a bunch of us were getting into serious cycling (whatever that is), we gleefully hung out at the Earth and Space Science’s mail room, waiting for the latest issue of Bicycling Mag to come out, and later on, VeloNews. That was then, this is now. I might actually start following stuff like Adventure Cycling because at my age, getting out for long rides is more important than finding out who has the best professional level doping regimen.
Gosh golly gee-whiz.
Thank you so much for all your work for the magazine and the website over the years.
Enjoy this new chapter! Best wishes!
My pleasure, Libby. I’ll still be here, and at Bicycle Retailer and Adventure Cyclist too … until they wise up, too. I’ve only written a few bits for AC, but jeez, I’ve been with BRAIN since 1992. You think they’d get their eyesight back one of these days.
Ahoy, matey. You’re gonna love it here on Unemployment Island. Didja bring anything to eat?
Arrr, ye landlubber. Don’t ye have a blaugh t’write for yeer new marsters? As for food, I always takes me nourishment in liquid form, as ye know.
Aye, here on unemployment island we love our Fat Bastards, much better than slim jims.
Well, Velo News seems to have put another appendage in the grave with your departure. Damn and but now I have one less website to waste my unemployed time at. Just have to ramp up the Adventure Cycling Association reading.
From where I sit on the cusp of the 50 to 60 year old cycling cohort the trend looks to be towards touring and away from sport/racing bikes. In joining Adventure Cycling you may have hooked up with a growth area of cycling that also has the distinction of having been around long enough to get you and your historic references.
Besides the ACA is too straight laced, they could use some snark, just start them out easy.
Good luck, may the wind be warm and at your back and the cooler always full of something tasty to drink.
You’ll clearly need to find an outlet for the words crawling around in your noggin, let us know where.
Chris, will do. There must be someone out there with a big wallet and a small brain, no? Maybe if I join the Republican Party and run for preznit. …
Sometimes its good to jump before being pushed, O’G. When the people who take over the ship aren’t particularly vested in its long term seaworthiness but instead are skimming off the top, one starts to worry about those creaks and pops below the water line that are going wanting for maintenance while, as you say, the admirals are off playing golf and drinking expensive wine. That, mate, is the name of modern day cutthroat capitalism in the USA.
Good luck with Adventure Cycling and BRAIN. Come on down for a brew or three and we can road test that Long Haul Trucker vs. your new touring rig in loaded touring form. The bike also being loaded, of course.
K, 22 years ago I jumped before they could give me the shove, and it’s been nothing but gravy since. I’ve gotten away with more bad behavior than a battalion of toddlers at a thousand Montessori schools.
Dumpster-diving will be good for me. I’ve had it too good for too long. And I’ll pop round to visit. Have you met Matt Wiebe from BRAIN yet? If not, you’re in for a treat. I’ll get you two beered up, sit back and take notes for a science-fiction novel.
Have not met Matt. Been shooting the shit with Hershon all night about motorcycle maintenance, though. Looking forward to the visit. As long as I am gainfully employed, I’ll be glad to sport the beer.
Well, shitbuckets…
I still loves me some VeloNews… NOT Velo, just can’t say it… but brother it’s just gonna be even more different without you there to keep poking the bee’s nest from time to time. I am confident you made the right choice… if for no other reason than the damn layout of the site now looks a bit too much like the new Facebook Timeline… which looks too much like the old MySpace… which just sucks all kinds of unholy hell.
I know you’ll be fine and you’ve got your ducks aligned and all that kind of stuff, so I won’t wish you good luck, because… well, you don’t need it. Yer smart enough, I think/ hope.
It’s a sad day though. One of my favorite rats has jumped the ship. And the ship… well, I remember better days there. I used to aspire to write for them. Now, I just wish they’d go back to being something to respect again.
Anyway, good onya. Leave with dignity more or less intact. That takes balls and courage- but also enough intelligence to see the writing on the wall.
Cheers, my friend.
Tim, my friend, it was long past time to go. The Boulder boys are soldiering on — as a scribe of 34 years’ standing, I can assure you this sense of duty is something management factors into its spreadsheets — but I just couldn’t do ‘er anymore.
It’s too bad, really, ’cause there’s a lot of talent left on deck back in Boulder. These yahoos at CGI don’t know what they’ve got there, or don’t care, one or the other.
I recollect one old boy’s phrase for this kind of boss: “He got hisself a hand fulla gimme and a mouthful a much obliged.”
Discretion is the better part of valor, my friend. Leaving with your dignity intact is important. Bravo. I know dignity don’t pay bills, but I have a hunch they’re gonna get paid just the same.
This just gives me more reason to pour over the tidbits in BRaIN with greater fervor.
Obviously, it was a case of pearls before swine. You will always land on your feet (or your ass, depending on the bar stool). Glad I can still find you somewhere!
Susan, I will land on something, I promise. It may be Herself’s size-6 1/2 shoe when the bills come due, but I’ll land, guar-an-tee.
Keep your chin up, Mad Dog. You’ll be fine. Maybe you and Pelkey can form a PAC to explore a Chaves run for POTUS ;-}
So, it looks like you and me both did one thing smart in our lives: married someone who can keep a job!
Add yours truly to that category – thank heaven for smart women…the only dumb thing she ever did was say “yes” when I asked her to marry me!
Time to send them furry free loaders out to earn their kibble.
So sad Patrick. How about this idea – publish a cookbook with some of your great food, illustrations and maybe some contributions from your blog readers. I’ll preorder a few for sure! The next thing you know, you’ll be on the Food Network. Problem solved.
Surprised? Not really. Surprising? You betcha!!
Much like Larry, I haven’t paid a lick of attention to VeloSchmooze, Snooze or Pooze since ‘aughtseven (really earlier than that since the bi-monthly TCWSNBN updates became nauseating), but as someone who used to work with one of the CGI big-wigs I can’t say that they are that bad. Maybe not too clued in on the bike-only scene as they had a try-geek heavy background. Which now that I think of it might explain their inability to steer.
Oh well, their loss in the end. At least those of us who follow the Fat Guy (or not so Fat Guy) will know where to find you to get our fix!
2012 will be a good year my friend. If nothing else, publish another book of rants, toons and recipes. I think we would all buy a copy (or ten)!!!
No wonder I never heard back from my OWN late reply…
O’G, in all seriousness, are you genuinely happy to have abandoned ship before being double-tapped in the head and thrown overboard, or are you already worrying about $$/swag and regretting not getting laid-off and qualifying for unemployment (if, in fact, that was even a possibility)? Just curious…
Joe, I’m relieved to have pulled the plug. I don’t like working for people who don’t know what they’re doing (and don’t care), and the lack of respect CGI showed for the old guard that made VeloNews a property worth buying was both offensive and exasperating.
I’ll miss the money, and I feel badly about leaving the boyos in Boulder behind, but I just got tired of being pissed off all the time. When you heave a deep sigh as you clock in, it’s time to find something else to do.
No unemployment for me. I haven’t looked into it, but I doubt whether a contractor qualifies for it. Plus I still work for two other outfits — Bicycle Retailer and Adventure Cyclist — so I have an income, albeit a slightly reduced one.
It’s a challenge, but that’s a good thing. I’ve had it too easy for too long. Working for VeloNews for 22 years was like sticking up the same bank over and over again and getting away every time. It didn’t start to feel like work until the vulture capitalists flapped in from San Diego and started shitting all over the property.
Thanks for the genuine reply, O’G. I appreciate reading your thoughts and insights and, of course, I value the personal revelations that add so much to the story. It was to VeloNews, actually, that I sold my first ever written piece – a stylized account of racing the Vandedrome (wish I could find it online somewhere) – so I feel like I can “feel your pain,” if you will. I grew up with VeloNews and your cartoons, first reading the mag back in ’89 after I’d started racing as a junior.
Now, it’s truly flabbergasting the degree to which VeloNews has fallen apart and become irrelevant. What happened? It was bought by a larger concern out of California? Who was/is left in Boulder? Why did they fire “everyone,” or cause them to head for the hills? Does VeloNews make money for its owners?
Patrick,
Now you have no excuse for not coming to one of my Wednesday mtb races! Spectatorwise I mean.
We’ve got a bottle(s) of tequila over here! I’ll drink it for you!
well crap not much reason to go to velonews.com. Sorry to see a good thing get screwed up again. Well where we gonna get our fat guy fixes at now? Sorry to be selfish but in the last 4 or 5 months that was about it for me. Hang in there and the folks in Missoula are lucky to have you on board.
Good for you! Change can be healthy and I think you made a wise decision. I for one am fortunate to have my Velo subscription expire with this months issue (Feb 2012). Received said Feb issue in the mail on Friday and was disappointed at how thin it has become. Plus, it appears that it is another “best of” issue. Seems like it is trending towards weak content, which lends itself to web filler a couple weeks after publication. I very much have enjoyed all of the Velonews writing over the years, but will be spending my subscription money elsewhere.
I always have enjoyed your blog and will continue reading. Keep up the great work, you will always have an audience.
Patrick – Good deal. If they didn’t have a clue before about the need for a copy editor, perhaps they might be getting one soon. But… Maybe not. I haven’t a had a subscription to VSnooze for well over ten years now. Maybe all you Ex-VNews folks can bring back Competitive Cycling without the results coverage. I still miss that bit of fish wrap.
Well old friend you know my opinions (or you should after all the time you have known me). If you are anything you are a survivor and one that has respect, sense of humor and amazing intellect. I stopped reading VN moons ago and felt much better for doing so. I am one of the dinosaurs in the sport and I know in my heart that there has been a generational shift (I am from the Lemond era albeit I was also at the beginning of “the man” from Texas’ start – the change in the sport has been coming for a long time – you will be better off without the hassle of CGI my friend and I will enjoy reading you wherever you go. You are one of the ones that “gets it”. Love and Kisses from Northern CA. Beth Wrenn-Estes
Hey, girl! Miss you!
Andy Bohlmann
andy@tourofcolorado.com
Seriously…..time to write the book everyone knows is inside you.
aye
call it the last straw. bye velo.
o’g. where can i read yr shiite?
After the piss-poor work that Velo has done with spell checking, grammar checking and overall pre-press work (i.e. the Ultegra Di2 ad on the back of the last issue), I knew things weren’t going well there. Best of luck in whatever you do.
Congratulations, Patrick. To paraphrase my colleague Elden @fatcyclist.com, they had to change the name to *Velo* to conform to the Truth In Advertising laws because there’s no longer any News in it,
Also, you’ll notice the cover no longer bears the modest tag that’s been around since the Barbara George days: “A Journal Of Bicycle Racing.” That’s because it’s not.
In addition to the mass exodus of senior talent, you’l notice *Velo*’s advertisers are increasingly voting with their checkbooks (or their employers’) as well. And speaking as a guy who bought more than a million dollars (yes, really) worth of ads with your former employer in my career, I certainly have. If they’d like some of that business back, all they have to do is go back to earning it.
Congrats and hope the change opens up time for something more rewarding.
Still remember Kip telling me years ago when he offered me a job there that in 5 years I’d probably either have quit or be running the place. I’m pretty sure I know which…
I haven’t really read any Velo News for years. It’s your Blog that has all the good dirt anyway. Keep up the good work. Happy and prosperous New Year to the dog house, from Vermont.
Oh my. Hope the plunge into the sea was refreshing
I’m glad you got out before your head exploded. Will people ever realize that companies are not the executives, but the people who put out the product? Find some people you respect and enjoy working with and get back to work. The best always.
Sounds like the 1% screwed the pooch (again).
There is life beyond cycling journalism. Trust me on this one. You won’t be forgotten, but the ulcer will go away. Rock on.
-—Captain Dondo
Excuse my naivete, but why is this (the degradation in quality of VeloNews, which both causes and follows the staff exodus) happening in the first place? Velonews used to be a great publication, and the website was ok, even if they could never match cyclingnews.com for timely race reporting. I always thought VN’s niche would be features and less-time-sensitive reporting. How does one group of corporate overseers destroy decades worth of brand-building and readership goodwill in a matter of a year or two?
By buying the thing and taking control of editorial decisions, I guess. I could think of examples closer to home as well.
All the best POG! -Joanna in New York
Having worked with the folks at Adventure Cyclist for almost 20 years, it’s great to see them mentioned in these circles. A little spice would be great for them. I’ve read your words for 20 years, and just got the opportunity to work with you two weeks ago. I hope we meet up somewhere down the line… and I hope there’s a beer involved.
I stopped buy that rag after they fired Charles and John.
Also Adventure Cyclist needs an iPad app. Thats how I read almost all my bike mags now.