The Paceline Forum - Article: professional cyclist talks about leaving the sport

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Quote:

Originally Posted by MattTuck (Post 2245865)

Yes, this is what I was referring to -- name recognition and ability to monetize their personal brand (and I'd say Phil is pretty good at that). By the nature of cycling and broadcasting, sometimes a domestique's job is already done for the day before the first TV images are seen by fans.

I'm trying to remember the last time that a sideline reporter interviewed a lineman after the game.

Still a lot different. 73 offensive lineman make over $5m per year. Monetizing the brand is not as necessary.

Jeff

Quote:

Originally Posted by carpediemracing (Post 2246299)

For someone that got into cycling in the 80s and 90s "A Dog in a Hat" was, for me, incredible.

http://sprinterdellacasa.blogspot.co...og-in-hat.html

Parkin was in the last issue of Dirt Rag, I still need to read it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattTuck (Post 2245865)

I'm trying to remember the last time that a sideline reporter interviewed a lineman after the game.

I wonder if a bunch of them sound like they're punch drunk after the game and the NFL doesn't want them interviewed for fear of exacerbating head injury PR issues.

The NFL is incredibly good at PR and controlling images & the media, I wouldn't put it past them.

Kind of surprised that after all this time he is still calling out lance. Move on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldguy00 (Post 2246689)

Kind of surprised that after all this time he is still calling out lance. Move on.

When you go to Rome you either do as the Romans do or crawl back home and complain about how you coulda been a contendah.

I sat next to Axel Merckx on a flight between Rome and Olbia (Sardinia) in 2007. The plane was full of Giro riders. We had a long talk about life, family, and retirement. He was retiring after that season, he said it was a good time to go. Their designated team leader, Hontschar, was not riding due to blood "problems", so they were basically looking for stages but didn't have any riders for that either. Merckx was the road captain and could see the writing on the wall. The team was disbanded by fall. He's made a nice transition as team director for development teams. It doesn't hurt to have a good last name as well. I saw him again about a year later and he remembered me by name.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nooneline (Post 2245859)

But, just a month prior, he left the band. It had been his full time job for 7 years, and they were getting big, and he decided he was done: "I guess I realized that you don't 'make it' and achieve a new level - I realized that 'making it' is a constant process of grinding, living in a van, playing seven shows a week and being on the road for who knows, six months at a time. And I stopped wanting that."

Big snippage.

I know that world. "Kinda big" is the worst. Home town heroes can sleep in their own bed and kiss their wife. Regional and lower level trying to make it nationally is a van with a trailer for the gear. The worst for a lot of guys is that "making it" still means more years of living on the road, just with better accommodations. Sounds like where your friend was when he got off the bus.

Hanging out after cross races you see pro's load the gear into a van or car and head out. Same crap. God bless these poor struggling schmucks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronsonic (Post 2246742)

Hanging out after cross races you see pro's load the gear into a van or car and head out. Same crap. God bless these poor struggling schmucks.

I did something similar in my early twenties and I look back at that being a very good time in my life despite the daily struggles. It would be much too hard with a family back home, but, the traveling all over on a shoestring was a fun time. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.