Outspokencyclist – 5/11/2019

With the beginning of the Amgen – which is arguably the United States’ most popular spring stage race, as backdrop, my first guests are Joe Harris and Steve Maxwell of the Outer Line blog.

According to their blog, “the outer line is the path often taken by cyclists who are unable to break into the lead-out train, but whose strength, resolve and tactical cunning can lead them to victory.

We provide an independent perspective on the challenges facing the sport – and offer an objective forum for analyzing its key structural, economic, governance and ethical aspects. It’s time to listen to new ideas and change direction. It’s time to take The Outer Line…”
With those words as background, I wanted to explore a new project they are working on.

Neither Joe nor Steve comes from a cycling background and both hold full time jobs outside of the bike industry. BUT, both of them have an abiding interest in the sport, especially when it comes to the economics of racing and what it might take to bring cycling into the national spotlight.

It seems Rapha had some of the same questions and tasked Joe and Steve to look into the issues that might be preventing cycling from growing and thriving and come up with a plan.

What Joe and Steve have discovered and learned is being published in the Rapha Roadmap Report – a 10 part series that looks at what is lacking in cycling and what other pro sports have done that might work for our sport.

When we spoke with Denise back in January of 2017, Denise and her driver Shea Holbrook had just broken the broke the women’s paced land speed record at 143 mph.

With the urging of her coach, retired pro cyclist John Howard, Denise realized that resting on those laurels wasn’t enough, and last September, she and Shea set out to break the world record. The record stood for over 60 years!

But, they didn’t just break it – they smashed it! We learn what it took to do that and whether there are other goals out there for her.