Over the years, I have subscribed to a number of bicycle magazines, including a very long running subscription to Cycle Sport which I finally allowed to lapse this year. (Cycle Sport is a fine magazine, but I am feeling a little bit too much pro cycling fatigue to renew right now). Maybe every new cyclist should subscribe to Bicycling for a while, although I think they have published the same issue every month for the past 25 years. One of the cover stories is always a variation of "How to Get Fit and Fast". (Answer: ride your bicycle).
Of all the cycling related publications available, one is head and shoulders above the competition: VeloNews. In my experience, it is the single best source for information about professional racing, amateur racing, training, nutrition, technical info & reviews, and bike culture. Print journalism in every form (newspapers, magazines, etc.) is struggling. There is abundant free quality content available at any time on the internet. I have often referenced velonews.com and cyclingnews.com, arguably the two best online providers of cycling content, in this blog. VeloNews is fighting that trend and I hope they can be successful. In addition to the race results and daily news available on velonews.com, a large quantity of premium content is reserved exclusively for the print version of the magazine. The current issue contains analysis of a trend (that I have commented on in this blog) of fondos replacing racing in the U.S. Among other topics, it tells about the quiet retirement of the pro cyclists of the epo generation, and contains a feature about 10 epic "Rides of Passage" including the Leadville 100. The depth and quality of its technical coverage, including features by long-time contributor Lennard Zinn, and the science-based product reviews are unparalleled.
Thanks for the info Dave! I have a news feed for velonews on my phone that I check very regularly and I agree that they are the best source I've seen as well. I follow bicycling magazine on twitter and they still post decent reviews on new bikes and have a few interesting articles here and there. But I let my subscription to bicycling laps as well due to a lack of variety. I really cool site that Tate told me about the other day is cxhairs.com. it covers cyclocross races in Europe and the site admin adds commentary /coaching to the video of various races. I think it's worth anyone's time to check out.
ReplyDeleteI'd second the recommendation for VeloNews, and for those so inclined there's an option to sign up for both the digital and print versions. As much as I like a print version in my hands, it's nice to have access to the magazine via Zinio virtually anywhere.
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