GCN does bikepacking

[Gregsie]

Anyone else seen the Top of Gear of cycling, GCN's latest offering.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03RAuEc3xdE

At least they mention leave no trace.

[composite]

EPIC!!!

[wriggles]

Why are GCN presenters always white men?

(I know I am so "woke" )
(Short stints by Pooley & Graham noted)

[Taylor]

Why are GCN presenters always white men?

(I know I am so "woke" )
(Short stints by Pooley & Graham noted)

Please don't, I'm bored with everything related to racism, sexism, covid-19, Brexit and interfering Russians.

[BigdummySteve]

Why are GCN presenters always white men?

(I know I am so "woke" )
(Short stints by Pooley & Graham noted)

Please don't, I'm bored with everything related to racism, sexism, covid-19, Brexit and interfering Russians.

[UnderTheRadars]

Ah let’s stop trying to make the world a better place, someone is bored with hearing how others are treated as second class citizens

[Taylor]

Ah let’s stop trying to make the world a better place, someone is bored with hearing how others are treated as second class citizens

It isn't singletrackworld.

[Cheeky Monkey]

Quick, somebody warm up the panda-cannon

[Taylor]

Quick, somebody warm up the panda-cannon

[jameso]

Ah let’s stop trying to make the world a better place, someone is bored with hearing how others are treated as second class citizens

It isn't singletrackworld.

What it doesn't do on here, that I'm grateful for, is descend into point-making oneupmanship as many forums do. And I don't think BB (or anywhere) needs to be free of points along those lines? As I saw posted up somewhere the other day - "please take responsibility for the energy you bring into this place" - a sign in a public place and a good rule online. I expect we're all finding the state of the world hard to manage. Having a place where the discussions don't get instantly polarised helps.

Anyway / sorry ... is the video any good? tbh I don't tend to watch anything on GCN but I'm probably missing some interesting stuff among the, well, 'Top Gear' content is a good way to put it. They're good at what they do but it didn't really grab my attention when there's so much other stuff fighting for it. And I have so little span of it : )

[Bearbonesnorm]

Why are GCN presenters always white men?

Is it because it was started by a group of white men and a larger group of whitemen are their target market? Personally, I'd like to know why 87.3% of Pro basketball players are young, tall black men. As a 5'7" middleaged white man, there isn't a hope of me ever joing the ABA, which is obviously heightest, racist and ageist. Now, let's just get over ourselves for a minute, crack ont' with day and talk some sh1te about pushbikes.

[Cheeky Monkey]

I have the cannon loaded, Sir.

Just say the word

[whitestone]

Hmm, stood within ten metres of a stream and declares "in remote areas like this food food and water are few and far between"!

[Cheeky Monkey]

I just watched a little, without sound I wish he'd adjusted the camera angle to include a bit more of his lower body. I find the way his hands flash in and out of frame really rather off-putting.

It's just me isn't it

[wriggles]

Really sorry guys wasn't meant as a troll, just wanted to call out that website for a particular aspect of their approach and culture where there is clear evidence. In the same way I question directly how some social influencers ALWAYS have to have a fire going in their media posts. Appreciate we are all sick of whats happening right now, so a throw away comment was perhaps a bit insensitive in current times. Obvs wont comment again on this thread so not to make it worse.

[Scud]

GCN have Manon Lloyd who is good on the road side and Katherine Moore on the off road side, Katherine does the Unpaved gravel/bikepacking podcast too, they used to have Jess (forgot her surname?)

Very GCN video, lots of "enthusiasm", easy to knock, but without GCN or Red Bull, there would be no cycling coverage really in UK outside of pro-racing i guess, so they have to package it in a way that appeals to the masses to find the sponsors.

[Lazarus]

I'm bored with everything related to racism, sexism

Is this a game of spot the white man ?
Luckily you just need to be bored by it rather than affected by it- that is boring , tedious as well as oppressive

, I'd like to know why 87.3% of Pro basketball players are young, tall black men

Presumably because they are the best at basketball- are you saying the reason most top positions are held by white men at the same % ore for the same reason- white men just hapen to be disroportionately better than BAME and females - is this what you want to argue?

Bit stunned so many of you dont care about equaility - a very easy position to take as a white male considerably harder if you are not one.

No need for the Panda its my one comment but sad to see a Bunch of middle aged white men insisting its boring and not real - as if basketball woudl prove systemic/institutionalised racism like stops and search policies are not real-not really surprising and definetly part of the problem
I suspect if you had to deal with the racismand sexism in youro life I think you would both speak differently and care a lot more.
I agree its boring but the oppressed wont stop till they get equality
you can help them or you can be bored or you can talk about basketball.

[jameso]

they have to package it in a way that appeals to the masses to find the sponsors.

Exactly, and like any other media site or commercial site's blog the topics are primarily driven by SEO. Content will have titles '10 best' and 'bikepacking' as those terms will be coming up on googletrends and the topics are mostly about traffic rather than information or content - though to be longterm credible that needs to be good too. And no matter what some say about influencers, people like Katherine Moore have a following as they're often good at discussing topics like equality or periods on a trip alongside 'what tyres for bikepacking' , so the presenters on GCN may well have blogs with less mainstream content that re-enforces a following - or not, depends on your POV. Internet .. it's a minefield : )

Really sorry guys wasn't meant as a troll, just wanted to call out that website for a particular aspect of their approach and culture where there is clear evidence. In the same way I question directly how some social influencers ALWAYS have to have a fire going in their media posts. Appreciate we are all sick of whats happening right now, so a throw away comment was perhaps a bit insensitive in current times. Obvs wont comment again on this thread so not to make it worse.

Only speaking for myself here and it's not my place to moderate anything but wasn't read as a troll or throwaway comment at all. Fair Q. Given how anything can happily go off on a tangent here I can't why a valid Q like that should be seen as unreasonable, like it or not they're fair discussion points (or should be imho). A new thread maybe, if it goes that way. eg, there's a valid point about

, I'd like to know why 87.3% of Pro basketball players are young, tall black men

that relates to cycling (and it's more like ~75% - I didn't know that before, just wondered).

[faustus]

I've not seen the video yet, but it doubtless conforms to their formula - and i don't men that in a bad way necessarily. I've watched a fair few of their videos and I enjoy them to a point, their approach and conclusions are fairly predictable and wooly, but i'm comfortable with that. Their videos are aimed at mass audience and a middle-ish ground, so some elements might not appeal to seasoned riders in certain groups (i.e. experienced bikepackers).

On the panda issue - it's a very valid point, and my baseline position is equality. My privilege is not having had to deal with all those issues, so the least I can do is support those who want that privilege for all. Sorry if that comes across as virtue signalling

[Cheeky Monkey]

I'm bored with everything related to racism, sexism

Is this a game of spot the white man ?
Luckily you just need to be bored by it rather than affected by it- that is boring , tedious as well as oppressive

, I'd like to know why 87.3% of Pro basketball players are young, tall black men

Presumably because they are the best at basketball- are you saying the reason most top positions are held by white men at the same % ore for the same reason- white men just hapen to be disroportionately better than BAME and females - is this what you want to argue?

Bit stunned so many of you dont care about equaility - a very easy position to take as a white male considerably harder if you are not one.

No need for the Panda its my one comment but sad to see a Bunch of middle aged white men insisting its boring and not real - as if basketball woudl prove systemic/institutionalised racism like stops and search policies are not real-not really surprising and definetly part of the problem
I suspect if you had to deal with the racismand sexism in youro life I think you would both speak differently and care a lot more.
I agree its boring but the oppressed wont stop till they get equality
you can help them or you can be bored or you can talk about basketball.

Oh dear sweet lord

I wonder if the panda-ICBM development has been completed. It's looking like it might be needed

[Bearbonesnorm]

I suspect if you had to deal with the racismand sexism in youro life I think you would both speak differently and care a lot more.

I think people genuinely do care Jon and I'd bet a penny to a pound that 99% of people here are neither racist or sexist and will happily take people as they find them regardless of race, creed or sex. At some point, every single one of us will have to face some degree of prejudice - fat, thin, tall short, age and even hair colour but sometimes, it's nice just to forget it all for a bit.

[Taylor]

I suspect if you had to deal with the racismand sexism in youro life I think you would both speak differently and care a lot more.

I think people genuinely do care Jon and I'd bet a penny to a pound that 99% of people here are neither racist or sexist and will happily take people as they find them regardless of race, creed or sex. At some point, every single one of us will have to face some degree of prejudice - fat, thin, tall short, age and even hair colour but sometimes, it's nice just to forget it all for a bit.

Hit the nail squarely on the head there.

[FLV]

Do they talk about WATTS though, I'm not even starting it unless they talk about WATTS.

And Komoot, fingers crossed for some Komoot action

[Gregsie]

Do they talk about WATTS though, I'm not even starting it unless they talk about WATTS.

And Komoot, fingers crossed for some Komoot action

Plenty of Komootage. Disappointed no mention of power meters. But hey - one out of two aint bad.

[wriggles]

Sorry just to add, the reason why I picked up on GCN is they are a particularly bad example. Out of the 13 presenters, all are white and only one is female. Manon Lloyd. Katherine Moore left the site 8 months ago quite unexpectedly as Emma Pooley did before. They are the mamil top gear. I think they could do so much better/ so much more to encourage diversity in our past time, and I worry they will turn bikepacking into another Top Gear style lads on tour just having a laugh.

(Edit: this is not about the individual presenters, i bet they have no sex or race bias and would be horrified if they thought they did, this is about how the organisation promotes diversity through its choice of presenter cultural and gender mix)

Its because they are such a bad example of gender bias that I made the comment that started this. As said previously I think they need to be called out for this just like the people who need to post pictures of camp fires all the time on social media.
Otherwise we might as well all just join the 3 hour queue for Macdonalds and Bournemouth beach this weekend. Apologies again for upsetting people.