2009
- Riders are tested very fequently.
- Riders do not know when they will be tested.
- The testing is inconvenient and a challenge for the athlete to accommodate.
Bartender Bricker.
Tulips.
My first deep dish pizza on the Big Green Egg.
Mazie making pizza!
Dozen cars in line at the drive-thru at Caribou Coffee this morning. GET OUT OF YOUR CAR AND SAVE 15 MINUTES!
Entrepreneurship Class at Carlson
About a month ago I spoke at an entrepreneurship class at the Carlson School of Management. Nice group with a lot of good questions.
Chase
I just submitted my very first photo to JPG Magazine in their “Shoot Your Pet!” theme. Crossing my fingers that they will publish it.
Jim Bernard and Mike Black at Dusty’s after B-Squad game.
Why do Cyclists Tweet?
I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from the release of VeloTweets. Thank you everyone for that, and please help spread the word about the site. These projects are about creating something that people love. There is no business behind it. The more people that like it, the more likely we are to make further improvements to it.
There is a secondary question that people have asked about extending something like VeloTweets into other sports. I think it is possible that could work, but I think that cycling has some unique characteristics that make it particularly well suited for Twitter. Through Twitter the peloton can send two really clear messages.
Doping
Anyone who even casually watches cycling knows that doping is a huge problem. I’ve written before about doping in cycling, and sadly the sport continues to be plagued with this. Cycling is an endurance sport that is won by fractions of percentages. The slightest advantage, no matter how small, can be the difference between winning and losing. Sadly, some cyclists turn to illegal measures to get that last 0.1% performance edge.
Lance Armstrong does something very interesting in his Twitter stream. Most times when he is randomly tested, he sends a message about it.
Sorry, I meant #27. I'm losing count. And I'm tired.
— Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstrong) May 13, 2009
Surpise doping control. #26 for those counting.
— Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstrong) May 13, 2009
Good morning from Jesolo (outside of Venice). UCI blood control this am prior to the start of the Giro.
— Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstrong) May 7, 2009
UCI anti-doping control. #25. Been awhile. Thought they forgot about me.
— Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstrong) April 30, 2009
The themes here are pretty simple and powerful.
In the past riders have sent messages about the negative effects of the anti-doping controls on their performance, most notably by stopping in the middle of a race, or waiting several minutes to start at the beginning. Sleep is critical for endurance athletes, and having that disturbed with hours of testing in the middle of a Grand Tour is understandably frustrating.
Riding Constantly
The other message that you see when you look at the messages from riders in the professional peloton seems obvious, but it’s worth noting.
They ride their bikes all the time!
The pictures that cyclists post, the messages they send clearly show how much effort and time is put in on the bike. This is the secondary message to the doping message, and says strongly “I have earned this!”.
Messaging via Social Media
I think these two messages are great for cycling and I think that the message comes through directly and indirectly. As such, I would not be surprised to hear of riders really encouraging other riders to take up Twitter. It is an amazingly simple and easy way for them to directly reach the fans and rebuild the image of the sport.
This is a great social media marketing plan and it will be really interesting to see how well it works.
Having said all this, I’m sure there are many reasons why cyclists have found Twitter useful. For example, being a professional cyclists is a life on the road and Twitter is very mobile friendly. Living out of a suitcase on a team bus works with Twitter.
The Typographic Desk Reference
A couple of weeks ago I was reading one of my favorite typography websites, I Love Typography, and saw their article about Theodore Rosendorf’s The Typographic Desk Reference. I was intrigued right away.
In recent years I’ve become much more interested in typography. In fact, on my own website I always push for layouts that focus on typography over graphics. I’ve been practically giddy recently when discussing the potential of @font-face in web design with Garrick Van Buren (stay tuned to his Kernest project by the way). I’m not a student of type, as I’m not a student of art. However, that doesn’t keep me from admiring beautiful type and appreciating the subtle elegance of a great type.
The Typographic Desk Reference looked interesting to me as a way to understand the terms and anatomy of type and it delivers wonderfully. This is a great book if you want to cut to the chase and get familiar with terminology and style quickly. Rosendorf has put together a very useful book. Here is an example of the depth offered in this book. You probably assume you know what a serif font is, well…
serif A small stroke at the end of an arm, stem, or tail of a character. Serifs are either reflexive or transitive. Reflexive strokes are either unilateral or bilateral. Additionally, reflexive strokes can be abrupt, or adnate. Typically unilateral, transitive serifs - as with italics - flow smoothly out of the main stroke.
Additionally, I have to comment that this book was obviously put together with amazing care and thought. The placement of information, the structure of it, the binding, the paper and of course the type were chosen with care. Flipping through the pages reminded me of the obsessive focus that Tufte must put into his books. The effort is recognized and appreciated.
If you like type, I recommend this book. While your at it, how about ordering it straight from the publisher Oak Knoll, rather than Amazon.