Women's Cycling magazine

[Kalidurga]

Got the word from urbanvelo.org (seriously, anyone who's not following that blog should) about a new women's cycling magazine called, appropriately, Womens Cycling. Apparently their blog is already active.

[smurfalicious]

Wow I wish them luck. Now seems like a really tough time for print media as is, much less something this specialized. I'd love to see it though, and I hope they don't fall victim to the siren song of marketers and only review WSD bikes, cuz ya know, we all need um (can you feeeel my sarcasm). So here's hoping for coverage that caters to women, not coverage that panders us, for reviews of saddles that rock, not just saddles with cut outs and pretty pink embroidery, for encouraging articles that motivate that hardcore recreational cyclist to try her first race. Seems like a woman is editing it, so here goes $15 I may or may not regret.

[Bron]

Well I like the cover photo.

[LadyDian]

Thanks Kali, I linked the blog on my blog and bought a subscription to boot!
- Danielle

[runningteach]

Thanks for the info. I will susbscribe to the magazine. I bookmarked the blog too.

[Jiffer]

Cool! I'm going to subscribe. Thanks for the info.

Speaking of the races in Redlands (per the blog) ... I live close Redlands and just went to a women's cycling clinic Monday night, where there were about 7 or 8 pro women cyclists, who were all competing at Redlands this weekend. They answered questions about cycling. It was interesting.

My LBS owner says that there has been a big boost in women customers lately. He can't believe how many women have come in the past few months buying bikes! Woo hoo! He mentioned something about maybe having a women's cycling event at his shop (different shop than where the clinic was).

So ... GO WOMEN CYCLISTS!!!!! We're getting noticed.

[Irulan]

Does it have anything on mountain biking, or is it all road?

[Zen]

I couldn't really tell what it was about either

[Jiffer]

Does it have anything on mountain biking, or is it all road?

Well, I'm trying to figure out the picture on the front cover. It looks like their mountain biking in severe mud ... on road bikes! What do you guys see???

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I see that at the top it lists all the stuff it's supposed to be about, in grey text above the red banner.

But they left out 'grade school'.
Guess they are leaving their possible subjects pretty varied.

They mention "city spotlight" (?) and road/track/cross/mountain riding...but not country biking or even touring.
Those are cross bikes on the cover, am I correct?

well it is good that someone is putting out a women's biking mag. (Helluva time to start a paper magazine in this economy, though.)

[Eden]

That's cyclocross on the cover

From their cover and their blog I'd guess their emphasis will be on women's racing, but they have left it pretty open by listing "lifestyle" in their topics - I'd bet that could cover touring. Not to mention "Road" usually isn't exclusive to road racing - it can indicate anything done on a road bike, like charity rides, touring, etc.
It looks like its structured like Velo News to me. Covering competitive riding/training primarily with some articles on other topics.

[grey]

Call me a snob but the cover doesn't make me want to pick it up and page through it. I've been designing magazines for 10 years, and a glance at their homepage fails to impress.

Further, the content is too scattered - trying too hard to cover everything, which means nothing will be covered very well. There should be two editions: Women's Cycling: Road, which would include touring, and Women's Cycling: Mountain which would include cyclocross. Riders interested in one are rarely interested in the other, and by trying to cover all of it in one book, we might see one page article on each. Not really enough to satisfy anybody.

High school and college? Ummmm.... who cares? They can't afford subscriptions. I was DIRT POOR in college, my ride was 8 years old and I loved my little greybeast to death, but I couldn't even afford new brakes when I needed them. Riders in those age groups probably want to know the same things the rest of us do: what performs, what doesn't, what events are coming up. You can have a feature article about each once a year or so, but a section devoted to both is excessive.

It IS a bad time to be starting a mag - which means it is SO MUCH more important to make sure your best work is out there, to be sure that you will satisfy your readers and make them want to pay $15 for 3 issues, which will ensure advertisers (who pay the bills!) are willing to part with money to put this magazine in the hands of those readers. They need to be able to see a return on investment - I don't see that happening here. I see this as a doctor's office magazine special: Keeps you occupied for 10 minutes, and completely not worth stealing the subscription info for.

I'd love to see cycling magazines devoted to women - but this is not it.

[ehirsch83]

Call me a snob but the cover doesn't make me want to pick it up and page through it. I've been designing magazines for 10 years, and a glance at their homepage fails to impress.

really? the cover is of a Pro Vella Bella cross racer, I think it looks pretty awesome!!

Further, the content is too scattered - trying too hard to cover everything, which means nothing will be covered very well. There should be two editions: Women's Cycling: Road, which would include touring, and Women's Cycling: Mountain which would include cyclocross. Riders interested in one are rarely interested in the other, and by trying to cover all of it in one book, we might see one page article on each. Not really enough to satisfy anybody.
1st) By putting cross in a mtb magazine you would be losing over half of your racers, b/c a vast majority of cross racers are road racers that race cross in their off season. 2nd) like Eden mentioned, it is looking like a similar version of VeloNews. VeloNews is GREAT!(www.velonews.com) and they cover a little of everything, picking up on the highlights of each genre.

High school and college? Ummmm.... who cares? They can't afford subscriptions. I was DIRT POOR in college, my ride was 8 years old and I loved my little greybeast to death, but I couldn't even afford new brakes when I needed them. Riders in those age groups probably want to know the same things the rest of us do: what performs, what doesn't, what events are coming up. You can have a feature article about each once a year or so, but a section devoted to both is excessive.
Again, close minded. Collegiate and high school level racing has a good following. And a lot of those kids have parents who would pay for the magazine. The U23 is the future of cycling, you can't not show some light on the up and coming stars!

It IS a bad time to be starting a mag - which means it is SO MUCH more important to make sure your best work is out there, to be sure that you will satisfy your readers and make them want to pay $15 for 3 issues, which will ensure advertisers (who pay the bills!) are willing to part with money to put this magazine in the hands of those readers. They need to be able to see a return on investment - I don't see that happening here. I see this as a doctor's office magazine special: Keeps you occupied for 10 minutes, and completely not worth stealing the subscription info for.

I'd love to see cycling magazines devoted to women - but this is not it.

For some reason, I am curious as to your involvment in the cycling world. I find this magazine to "maybe" be refreshing to all of the others out there. The blog and the cover show some following to the race scene, which makes me excited to see! I hope it works!

[Irulan]

Call me a snob ...

High school and college? Ummmm.... who cares? They can't afford subscriptions. I was DIRT POOR in college, my ride was 8 years old and I loved my little greybeast to death, but I couldn't even afford new brakes when I needed them. Riders in those age groups probably want to know the same things the rest of us do: what performs, what doesn't, what events are coming up. You can have a feature article about each once a year or so, but a section devoted to both is excessive.

I care, high school and college age women athletes need all the help and support they can get, even if they themselves don't have big bucks to pour into a sport. This is the time in life when women are both developing lifelong habits, and pulled in many different directions. Why not give them all the support and encouragement that they can afford to give?

[lunacycles]

It's a MAGAZINE FOR WOMEN CYCLISTS. This is a small miracle. Forgive its flaws. Support it if you can.