Review of podcasts: The Guardian’s ‘the bike podcast’

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The Guardian’s The Bike Podcast really isn’t for me. It clearly tries very hard to come across as accessible and suitable for all, particularly leisure riders and commuters.

However, patronising is not too strong a word to use in relation to this podcast. Explaining what a cyclocross race is can perhaps be excused- it is after all a slightly obscure discipline, one that your average bike rider might not have heard of. I am being generous there. Other low points were: “What do you do when you are cycling? I sing, imagine I am in a movie, think about what I am going to do that day, compose poetry…”

The iRide bike speakers were recently recommended- whoops. The product reviews- including winter jackets and road bikes- sound like people who don’t ride bikes describing the product. Fail. And in December, the top 5 things to make cold wet roads more bearable were: 1- fit mudguards, 2- clean and lube your bike, 3- winter clothing, 4- service brakes, 5- grips, pedals and tyres (basically a description of what grips, pedals and tyres do).

“Make sure your grips are not worn. If they are, you’ll need new grips.”

The most recent edition was saved slightly by some good insight from Guardian writer Richard Williams reviewing and recommending a few cycling books. He covered ground that I didn’t anticipate (I expected the Chris Hoy autobiography for example) and I added a few bikes to my to-read list: The Rider by Tim Krabbe, Matt Seaton’s The Escape Artist, and books about the Tour by Geoffrey Wheatcroft and Geoffrey Nicholson, and Jean Bobet’s Tomorrow We Ride.

One of it’s redeeming features is that it is short. If you’re into urban riding or leisure rides, you might get something out of it but I really can’t see how anyone who is in the slightest way a bike enthusiast could bear to listen to it. They should change the name to The Beginner’s Guide to Cycling Podcast.

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  • http://monkeyphotomcr.blogspot.com/ John_the_Monkey

    Freudian typo there, should be “added a few books”, shorely :)

    If you've not heard the Bike Show's Books special, do give it a listen, some superb stuff came up on there. And you NEED to read “The Rider”, one of my favourite books.

  • michaelshires

    The Guardian podcast is a reflection, and a pale one at that, of the newspaper, with its attention to inclusiveness. As a result it neither informs the neophyte, or satisfies the appetite of the afficionado. As cycling podcasts proliferate, I find you have to be more selective. As a result I've given up on the Guardian. I'm also afraid that most of the American podcasts are about to be deleted from my iTunes library, as they tell me nothing I don't already know, and in a generally frustrating manner..
    CyclingNews is a curate's egg. It should be good given their access to race and news coverage, but it's let down by it's amateurish and somewhat juvenile presentation.
    The Velocast should, in reality, be no better than its US counterparts, but it is, and this is down to John and Scott, who “make” the show.
    I have to say, though, that my favourite is the RealPeloton. Episode 4 was an absolute classic. The way in which Boulting and Rendell play off each other is excellent. I'm glad to see that they've listened to requests to lengthen them. 30-40 minutes is just right.
    Going back to The Guardian for a moment, Richard Williams' selection of books was good, with the exception of Geoffrey Wheatcroft's Le Tour, which says little new, even if the descriptive passages on rural France, break up the narrative monotony.
    The first book I remember reading about the Tour was Geoffrey Nicholson's Great Bike Race (1978) about the '77 Tour. Le Tour is also good.
    Jean Bobet's Tomorrow we Ride is an evocative and moving description of racing in the '50s. Much of his other writing is unknown in the UK, but a search on Amazon.fr reveals a number of titles still in print, perhaps the best of which is A Velo et Ailleurs.

  • http://www.atomicecho.com Alex Murray

    I agree. I listen to it more in hope than expectation of anything interesting these days.

    They neglected to mention that Richard Moore, Will Fotheringham and Matt Seaton are all employed by The Guardian.

    They also got the timeline of the Robert Millar/Daily Mail story wrong. They might have re-run it after Richard Moore's book but it originally appeared before Richard Moore wrote his book.

  • owen_p

    @leguape / Alex – I too have been listening to the Guardian one in case of anything decent but the last two have been so awful it's time to unsubscribe. Might dip back in from time to time.

    Thanks everyone for the comments.

  • owen_p

    @pmshires / michael – freudian typo, yup that must have been it!

    You hit the nail on the head with your comments about the various podcasts and pre-empt me somewhat as I am planning to review all the podcasts I have listened to so far, but haven't got round to it.

    Plus my creative writing skills (ie reviewing) don't come as easily as my gathering-together-a-useful-list-of-facts-and-links skills. Took me a couple of weeks to get the book review and the podcast review half way decent.

  • owen_p

    @johnthemonkey – freudian typo, yup that's about right! Think I will leave it in.

  • owen_p

    @pmshires / michael- thanks. You hit the nail on the head with your comments about the various podcasts and pre-empt me somewhat as I am planning to review all the podcasts I have listened to so far, but haven't got round to it.

    Plus my creative writing skills (ie reviewing) don't come as easily as my gathering-together-a-useful-list-of-facts-and-links skills. Took me a couple of weeks to get the book review and the podcast review half way decent.

  • http://veloclubdonlogan.blogspot.com bmfw

    Couldn't agree more (copyright Velocast) about the Cycling News podcast – it is incredibly frustrating. As you say, they are bang in the centre of the sport with access that most “amateur” podcasts would kill for, but the delivery is very, very poor. Stilted, giggling interaction between the presenters spoils what should be a gem. With their access, they should be producing something much more akin to Ned & Matt which really is proving to be the rising star of cycling podcasts – although the crass sharp-fade editing does my head in. But I can easily forgive that given the quality of the content.

  • cowspassage

    The Guardian (print) cycling column was good when Matt Seaton wrote it, but he has since been promoted and only occasionally dabbles in writing bike pieces. It's the standard industrial model – wait til someone gets good at their job and then promote them the hell out of there.

  • http://veloclubdonlogan.blogspot.com StumpyRider

    Realpeloton has the potential of becoming cycling's “authority” podcast. Matt Rendell's knowledge and understanding of cycling seems encyclopeedic and, combined with Ned's caustic wit, it's a formula that really works. Haven't noticed the editing to be honest, although the quality of sound varies. Best not let on that you're an audiophile, BMFW – there'll be gangs of locals bearing burning torches and “Oddofils Out” banners round your way shortly!!

    CyclingNews – yep. Just finished the latest one and am already thinking it'll be the last for me.

    The Two Johns are good when they're on their game, as it were. Sometimes they teeter on the brink of disappearing up their own arses but I do like their banter. Somehow the format of basically abusing their listeners for an hour or so seems to work! Sound quality lets it down and no other podcasts seem to suffer from the static issues and the fact that one of them nearly always broadcasts from behind a closed door ;-)

    Have to admit that Velocast is my cycling podcast of choice tho'. Not just because John and Scott are from just down the road. They just have “something” that engages with me and maybe it's just their ethos of sounding like 2 blokes in the pub chatting about cycling. Maybe Matt and Ned are ripping them off by being 2 blokes in an ACTUAL pub? :-)

  • http://veloclubdonlogan.blogspot.com bmfw

    Matt & Ned – the Derek & Clive of cycling podcasting. I'm just waiting for, “this cyclist came up to me the other day & he said, you………”

  • http://veloclubdonlogan.blogspot.com StumpyRider

    Velo Club Don Logan. Causing offence on other peoples' blogs since 2008… ;-)

  • owen_p

    I am chuffed by all the comments, but guys, could you not hold back a bit? I have weeks of Podcast reviews in the pipeline… Might just copy and paste your comments or type a couple of lines and say 'refer to previous podcasts, I mean blogposts'.

  • owen_p

    thanks, cows- shame we don't see more of Seaton in print- but Richard Williams is pretty good I think. He comes up with some genuine insights in his pieces, where other broadsheets just rehash a race report and don't tell you anything a cycling enthusiast couldn't pick up online.

  • http://veloclubdonlogan.blogspot.com bmfw

    Don't worry, Owen – one thing we're not short of is opinions. I'm really looking forward to your future Podcast reviews & I'm sure you'll still receive plenty of comments.

  • http://www.atomicecho.com Alex Murray

    Bluntly, cyclingnews is let down by journalists who have seemingly never has to listen back to themselves in a broadcast format. It also seems to be astoundingly lacking in original content given their access.

    It's why realpeloton works for me: because Matt and Ned appreciate that good broadcasting is about delivery as much as anything.

  • Pingback: Review of podcasts: Cyclingnews « The Drum-Up

  • owen_p

    Lots of audio clips and interviews from Belgian races this week on Cyclingnews and some good in-depth analysis – I think they value the feedback, so thanks for commenting folks.

    Cyclingnews podcast review here: http://www.owenphilipson.com/blog/2010/02/19/re…