The picture in our 'back room', next to some other er...artwork...

Many of you will of course recognise this as the cover for Rouler Cycling Magazine, Issue #16 which features the Z Team graphics. The Z team of course featured Greg Lemond as team leader during the  1989 edition of the Tour de Freance. Richard also created a graphical story of the 1989 Tour de France for this issue as well, which is also absolutely brilliant.

I have print no. 4 from 10 (sorry it's not in focus...the light was bad *cough*).

So now finally (it’s been a busy summer, 3 kids to occupy my spare time blah blah) it is up on the wall and I promised Richard, some time ago that I would post up a couple of pictures to it in situ. So here it is!

From the start we find out that he is an established rider in the peloton complete with festering rivalries and insecurities amongst his place in the bunch. He is rider of some note, all though not a winner, who has come to the sport late. As the race unfolds his mind drifts off to previous races as he recounts his career to date. We learn his thoughts on his rivals and more so how their abilities effect his strategy throughout the day. We ride with him as his mind turns over. It reflects the metronomic peace, rhythm, solitude and space the road cycling gives you as you cut through countryside and continue to convince your body that it can give a little bit more as you ascend each climb.

Woven in to each of his thoughts are references to true or partially true accounts of real professional riders. The book does well to pick out cycling culture and the detail of the racing scene in the 1970s. It also touches upon classic climbs like Mont Ventoux and the owner of summit cafe who hands out newspapers to riders to stuff down their jersey to keep them warm as they descend.  It looks at the nerve of the fast descent and the fear of the nervous rider who finds himself fearing each corner, the bike seemingly drawn to the ditch running alongside the road.

For a short book (only 148 pages) it was a story that I initially found hard to get into and I found myself completing another book before returning to the second half of this one. As the race develops the need for the reader to find out what happens grows stronger and this is the book’s strength. As the race unfolds we are in Krabbe’s head willing him to keep going and overcome his own insecurities and for me it became a real page turner.

Prior to reading it, whilst not being totally naive, I had pretty much assumed that because of the apparently fewer positive tests in the last two seasons and since the dark days of the Festina affair, Operacion Puerto and the 2006/7 Tours (Landis, Rasmussen), that perhaps the sport was a lot cleaner. Now, whilst the book was written in 2008 it doesn’t cover the past 2 or 3 seasons. But what he is basically saying, is that most pro-riders are at it and they have to be to remain competitive. It’s quite a depressing thought, but also quite an eye opener.

The core thread of the book is Whittle’s relationship with Lance Armstrong. Once a friendly co-operative relationship it became apparent to Whittle that he had to start questioning what was going on inside Armstrong’s mind and how strong and influential he had become within cycling as a whole. He starts to question whether he is man to be trusted and is this because he had become bigger than the sport itself and did the sport need him as a result?

Consequently the relationship breaks down, as does Armstrong’s relationship with other journalists, most notable David Walsh and Paul Kimmage. Whittle examines why this happened and talks about what he has heard directly from ex-dopers and other riders who have witnessed doping from their time in the sport. He concludes that, at the time, the sport needs to cover up and preserve a clean image to continue to grow and attract the bigger and more lucrative sponsors. It’s a catch-22. The sport can’t grow if people no longer believe it’s clean, but it can’t get clean if it is to grow.

It’s really quite interesting, and also looks at why Armstrong defends dopers. It looks at the omerta with in the sport. How riders should not break ranks. When ex-dopers speak out, Armstrong accuses them of bringing down the sport. He goes after them, he prevents them from winning races to prevent them from getting valuable media attention.

In the light of the recent Landis allegations it is a very interesting read. It also joins up a lot of the points that Matt Rendell and Ned Boulting discuss in the Real Peloton podcast #18. It looks in to the minds of the pro-cyclist and what might motivate them to dope, the guilt and deception they have to deal with and what eventually happens if and when they get caught.

It’s worth a read. It’s well written and well researched by well informed guy who used to love the sport and now just shakes his head in disbelief as what was once his passion is now something he sees as a bit of a scam. Something that has deceived him in a very big way.

One of things about watching cycling races, is that basically you are way better off watching it on the telly. Eurosport have decent coverage, but don’t trust their scheduling, other than for the Tour, because even the Giro gets moved around the schedules. So my expectation wasn’t all that high given that we have three kids to keep occupied, but it really was worth it.

So we found ourselves a nice little spot with some open green space on the corner of Avenue du General Lemonnier & Rue de Rivoli (nearest Metro: Opera) which gave us some space for the kids (3 boys under 8 years old) to go mental in whilst we hung around and waited. To be honest we got there too early. But it was worth it. Whilst we would have loved to have been on the Champs Elysee itself, we figured it wouldn’t work for the kids and besides this was a corner so at least we has the chance to see them doing a bit of turning as a bunch.

On the corner of Avenue du General Lemonnier & Rue de Rivoli

At this point I had seen from Twitter that Radio Shack were messing about with their jerseys and despite the short length of the run in they weren’t gonna get in to town until around 4:15pm. But it was fine. The corporate floats and promotional stuff went by and things were generally happening. Horns were being let off. The Norweigen contingent were giving it some on the corner where they had camped out way before we got there. So there was lots to look at, and three hours went by pretty effortlessly. Well it’s Paris right? You just can’t go wrong.

The thing that really surprised me was that it was such a laid back atmosphere. Really buzzy, lots of chilled out people hanging out. There was no argie-bargie at the fences and it was easy to get kids to the front to get a better view. There were of course the usual ‘people hanging off lampposts’ as well.

Then after a while the team buses start arriving and you knew that it wouldn’t be all that long before the helicopter was overhead and the riders were gliding through.

Lampre Team Coach

That’s the thing, these guys must have to ride with the constant buzz of the helicopter above them. Can you imagine that? I think having that riding up Ditchling Beacon every weekend would start to irritate me a little bit.

Anyway, so eventually the riders were there. The crowds further back around the lap, of which there were ten, started cheering and then all of a sudden they appear from the bridge that runs under the Tuileries. First the commissaires, and then the riders, followed by the team cars stacked with spare bikes.

Official cars in the caravan

The riders appears from tunnel...

More riders...

Then the main bunch appear...

...and off they go round for another lap

...and some more...

Finally the team cars glide through behind the peloton

It was a great afternoon. My eldest was telling me how colorful it was. The main thing that struck me, other than the speed of the bikes was the familiar noise of a bunch coasting by, the air vibrating as the spokes broke the air as spun around. The checking for position as the riders cornered, and then off again. Then the excitement disperses and then builds up as the helicopter creeps it’s way back overhead and away we go again. Each time they passed by, you are trying to catch the rider numbers, or spot one of the key jerseys, or just shouting “Go on WIGGO!”

Marvellous.

Next time I think it has to be a key mountain stage. I hear it’s meant to be quite party, before and after the riders go through.

The final ride before next Sunday’s 68 mile mid-route Duncton Sportive was a 30 mile round trip from Brighton to Henfield, via Ditchling and Poynings. The overall aim was to taper the distance down from last Wednesday’s 50 mile ride and concentrate on speed a little bit more.

The stats:

• Distance: 31.27 miles
• Time: 2 hrs 10 mins
• Average Speed: 14.3mph

It seems we have been waiting for this moment for long time. Low interest rates and booming house prices in the UK have fueled the consumer bonanza of the recent times. But now it is time to start paying some of the borrowing back.

Now the hangover begins.

The CBI, back in December 2007, revised their prediction for economic growth from 2.2% to 2%. So technically we are not currently falling in to a recession. But one thing is clear now. We are in for a period of belt tightening. Whilst the government has continued to put pressure on its public spending ratio, along with the continuing saga of Northern Rock, it has a limited capability to manage this downturn using fiscal policy. Alasdair Darling’s first budget in March will be interesting.

So what does it mean for those of us in agency land?

For the most part we move in the larger marketing world. This means we will be under pressure to provide value for money. We need to make sure we are in a position to deliver the goods in an efficient manner. This, as for many agencies, will be a test of in house tools and platforms. We need to be able to provide value added services. As Will McInnes has rightly pointed out we need to provide a stronger, more convincing argument in order to persuade clients to buy our products and services. We need to be able to convince brands, more than ever, the internet can deliver a measurable impact on their bottom line.

For those involved in social software and the development of social and community platforms we may find ourselves in a good position. Social software can provide a more effective means of customer acquisition than advertising. It engages the consumer with the brand directly. Whilst advertising budgets are bound to be cut, turning towards social platforms provides brands with a more meaningful way of engaging with their potential and current customers. Of course successful marketing is based upon a combination of actions, but perhaps some are more effective than others?

To me, it has consolidated my desire that we as a company become product focused rather than service focused. We need to be able to dictate our own agenda and use our products to show how we can cut costs and deliver sales. That is our first challenge for 2008.

There will be a number of companies out there who have relied upon advertising revenue as their main source of income. Interestingly Drama 2.0 points out the obvious. Those that rely on providing free services in the hope of achieving ad revenues are subject to diminishing returns when the chips are down. The problem with scale, as it were, is that it really proves whether a business model is viable.

Our second challenge for 2008 is to try and generate renewable income. Whether for the end user or by selling business tools. Again this means providing quality, but it also means we can scale up in accordance to our business requirement. On the consumer side the trick is, of course, that while consumers will be busy paying off their household debt, we need to convince them to spend the ‘price of a pint’ on a monthly basis for their work-time entertainment. On the business side, we need to convince businesses that our platforms provide the tools they require to do business online.

So Twitter…well where do you start?

Well, there isn’t much to it. But that is the beauty. Its simplicity is its main feature. It is entertaining and informative. It provides me with nice little snippet of news, coding stuff or just plain amusement. I have even start having conversations on it. It seems many twitterers use it for direct communication, rather than just micro-blogging. It’s more subtle than a Facebook feed and more personal, people actually took time (all be it a modicum) to compose something.

What I really like about it, is it fills in the gaps on peoples thoughts. You can find out what makes people tick. Of course what is wrong with face to face conversation? But it is a great ice-breaker.

It has got me thinking long term what Twitter might be used for, and how we might use it the future. People have announced the launch of their blogs on there. It’s great way to get some (quick) feedback on a web app. What I think it could be really good at is extending web communities outside their normal environment. Enhancing the community experience. Whilst users are out an about, they can get a quick ‘fix’ of what is going on.

For effeffelle I am thinking we could use it as a results service as well as a means of keeping people in touch with their teams. As people sign up they could opt in to updates via Twitter and using the API we could feed results, or transfer requests or bids for players in to their feeds. Conversely we could have a generic effeffelle feed broadcasting general site activity to whoever (presumably our users) is interested.

Now I wouldn’t use it for mission critical purposes. But all this got me thinking. On a commercial basis there is not reason why we can’t integrate it with our auction system. I haven’t given this too much thought, but other than perhaps privacy issues, there is perhaps good reason for alerting to people to when they have been outbid on lot items. Or could we alert them when new auctions are put on line?

I think for the time being Twitter is going be confined to the more Geekier amongst us. It will take time to penetrate more general use. But I have heard some good stories on its usage.

We have also had an encouraging number of new registrations since we put the site back up in dormant mode in November ‘07. It has also been good to see the forums come back to life as well. Community, community, community. You can’t beat it.

I think we may be able to get matches up and running this week, with the proviso that we will tackle the remaining bugs as they come up, along with the remaining graphics and user interface issues.

We do have a lot of new stuff on the back burner. Some features will be added to the game soon in an alpha state, where as other bits will take a while longer. However, look out for more on Project Colditz. The new transfer market will add another dimension to the game. The new coaching module has worked well and the new game engine should - fingers crossed - be the final piece of the jigsaw (well certainly in this round of development). But we have a way to go before we get that done.

We aim to get friendlies up this week and will then hopefully let that run in to a new league season.

If you are reading this and wondering what the hell I am talking about, then take a look here

So since we’ve returned from Christmas holidays we have made a small bit of progress with it.

It’s by no means complete, but it should augment an existing web app development we have been doing on the side for a long time. When there is something to show I will comment on it here.

I am really pleased with it. I mean really, really pleased with it.

But it hasn’t quite been all plain sailing…I am sat here now, typing away, happily importing CDs to iTunes, nonchalantly switching between apps and generally wondering why I have put up with PCs for so long. I can hear the mutter of those hard-nosed Mac users in the background offering words of “I told you so”…and of course you are right. You did tell me… and I just didn’t listen, I didn’t want to stump up the extra cash at the time, or I argued that there wasn’t enough software out there to satisfy my needs.

Well, I tell you - I was wrong!

Apple have got this thing absolutely right. Even the bit they got wrong was put right by those nice people over at Apple Care. Through these rose tinted glasses everything is great. Yes siree Bob.

But it didn’t really start all that well at all. There was me, on Boxing Day, waxing lyrical to my partner, Abi, in partial justification that this was something we needed ‘as a family’,  ”This is the real deal.  It is so intuitive, I mean look at the packaging, even the box has an opening at the top…”. 

But then again this ‘late 2007 model’ does ship with Leopard.

I eagerly unpacked the box, removed the [heavy] plastic packaging and set the iMac up on the desk. I sat in awe as the splash screen played, welcoming me in several different languages. “Wow, a multiligual computer, what will they think of next?” I followed the set up assistant, and eventually we were ready to go.

But no. We weren’t.

I entered my final registration details and was then prompted for my username and password. “Oooh, I thought, this is just like setting up Debian or Ubuntu, it will of course require a log in”. So I entered my username and password details previously and meticulously given to set up assistant and guess what. I must have mistyped them.

So I enter them again.And Again. And again…and again.

I must have locked myself out, I thought.

I texted a friend, also a Mac user. He suggested I use the utility disk to unlock myself. Of course I thought. That will work. So I set about unlocking myself. However, I thought, I had better check this out on the web. So I got out the trusty laptop (WinXP - meh!) and having read about Leopard’s infamous launch I thought should find out if I am the only person to run in to this problem. Sure enough, there were others who had had similar issues. One of the suggested solutions was to make an “Archive and Install”.

I got this process underway and went out to a friend’s house trying not to feel like that moment at the end of a hard day’s programming when a bug beats you for time.

On my return I realised this had not worked out and I had to leave it until the next morning.

The next day I rang Apple. I went through a few things with the really helpful Elenor. After a while she conferred with her supervisor and suggested I will have to carry out a complete “Erase and Install”.

The problem, as I had seen for myself, once in single user mode, was while I was setting up accounts with the ’set up assistant’, they were not getting written to disk. The /Users directory was completely empty.

A bemused Elenor advised me this course of action would solve all my problem. So I happily set about the installation. We parted with her reminding me, “don’t forget to back-up, sir.”

I set the process off, it all went smoothly and hey presto, it worked and here we are doing the Mac thang…*cough* as a family.

It’s great. I really can see a time when we will be ditching the TV, downgrading our HiFi to just an amplifier with speakers and streaming content all over the house.

My current favourite features so far are Front Row and the remote control. It is how users and technology should interact. It all just makes sense. I am now already behind on Podcasts - BBC Radio 4’s ‘From our own correspondent’ was particularly interesting this week. The simplicity of stuff being there and easy to get to is so refreshing.

Why oh why as it taken me till the brink of 2008 to do this!