Wcm

[Charlotte Berry]

So what happened to Women's Cycling Mag, as in print, and as in Dot Com?

Thanks,
CB

[Eden]

They ran out of money.

[Charlotte Berry]

Ok, ran out of money.

I suspected that the guy who started it didn't really have his heart in it to stick it out. I met him once at a big classic. Was this adventure ill planned and conceived? The site seemed heavily bloated with junk ads, and sometimes it crashed my browser so I didn't go back often until they removed some of that stuff. It was heavily bloated with graphic animations and the type. However, it doesn't take much money to keep a site going just by bottom line expenses of the server costs. You can always be creative to keep a site going just with hard work and writing articles. Photos can be bought or borrowed, etc, as long as you get out to the races once in a while, and i can't believe they couldn't scrap together the cash to do that. For crying out loud, I probably spend that much just on going to Fisherman’s Wharf or a trip to Santa Barbara.

I assuming they were not true bike fans to lose interest that quickly. True bike fans would find a way, or even try to keep it marginally afloat?

Any more thoughts on why it died so quickly? I know the other guy who started the magazine of road racing called Ladies Cycling Mag and he was a true fan and probably would of keep that mag going so he was even so keen to use the best quality paper for printing the mag. However I gather he fell in love a UCI pro rider, and I guess either got married or is getting married. I haven't heard anything for a long time, but I guess that mag is dead too now. Two women's cycling mags dead, which neither lasted a year. Doesn't bode well for women's cycling. Not sure how long She Pedals will last. I had read somewhere that person invested a lot of their own money into it, but print mags are a hard sell when you can get everything for free on the internet. Everybody is wired in these days.

[gnat23]

Wow, interesting assumptions, but I fear you're putting too much drama into it.

Before they put out their first issue, they tried desperately to get ad sales. Most of the companies said "No, you'll never last." And then they couldn't last because they couldn't get ads, kind of a catch-22.

They dumped a bunch of their own money into it and moved back in with parents to get the first issue out. Not sure what happened after that.

But it wasn't because they didn't love cycling. I know both folks involved, and they tried *because* they loved cycling. I was bummed it didn't get the foothold it needed and make them both fabulously successful.

-- gnat!

[Charlotte Berry]

Wow, interesting assumptions, but I fear you're putting too much drama into it.

Before they put out their first issue, they tried desperately to get ad sales. Most of the companies said "No, you'll never last." And then they couldn't last because they couldn't get ads, kind of a catch-22.

They dumped a bunch of their own money into it and moved back in with parents to get the first issue out. Not sure what happened after that.

But it wasn't because they didn't love cycling. I know both folks involved, and they tried *because* they loved cycling. I was bummed it didn't get the foothold it needed and make them both fabulously successful.

-- gnat!

So I got it partially right. It was ill concieved and thought out. I could of told them it won't fly for a few years until it stands on its own legs. Then investors or companies would get onboard gradually. For starters, they should of figured to have a lot more cash behind this project to take it at least through two years. Personally I wouldn't start a project with only enough cash to back it for one year. However, they could of dropped the Mag and still kept the website going, and maybe just turned it into an online mag like most sites are. I talked to a lot of people in women's cycling, people who work for major teams and they said a women's cycling mag would never fly unless you want to do it as a charity mag without proper returns. The numbers bear this out. The niche is very small indeed, but a fun one for those who can survive on their own. As for being sucessful, I never thought about it that way. I don't think you need to be successful if you enjoy doing this kind of work, but I would rather the sport move forward and being successful and not me. I never really thought I counted much personally, but as long as the sport gets attention, I guess I count that as success.

[Charlotte Berry]

Very good, clip a tiny piece of what i said and paint the whole thing as negative while ignoring the rest. I'm not into fluff talk, but I had wondered why there isn't one word about their demise on Google. Almost like a secret or something. I had to come here to find out, very odd. Nobody is talking about it and I just find that very odd.

[circlegirl]

I am the Editor/Owner of shePedals.

Yes I put my own money into it. How else does one start a business? Borrow from the bank and owe interest? I have been a cyclist for over 20 years and wanted to try to create something for a very large population of women who are as 'addicted' to two wheels as I am.

WCM and LCM, were primarily focused on racing. The pro peloton (female) cannot be more than several hundred around the world, and even the big races in the US only draw 120 women at a time at the most. We are working on a race oriented site, but its goal is to give sponsors of our pro teams publicity so that that population with its great and up and coming riders may flourish. But providing full coverage of the peloton is not our primary goal.

We at shePedals love women's racing, but there are many more interesting stories behind the faces in the peloton as well as in the stories and achievements of women who commute, tour and run bike related businesses to name a few. Think about it: Lance wouldn't be "Lance" if he didn't have his story to tell. He would most likely be a great cyclist, but that would be it.

And for the naysayers out there. We are working on ISSUE 4! Our national distribution has increased 400% over the past 2 issues and the Barnes and Noble chain is beginning to carry the magazine. We have had some advertising and are working on some mutually beneficial relationships with several large companies!

The only way women's cycling, in all forms, will grow is for all of you to support it!

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