[HAMR] Current thoughts on the record attempt?

[Exit Stage Left]

It's an interesting case study. A lot of the YACF sentiment seems to be that Steve should be free of pressure, to do what he can. Target-based management is a bad thing, and the more freedom workers have, the better they will perform. In the extreme case there's a basic denial that there is any competition at all. The target of the record appears as a platonic ideal, and not caring whether Steve gets there is a sign of innate virtue in his backers.

More attention has been paid to the fact that a village has the word 'Gibbon' in it, than to the physiological and psychological demands of what is largely uncharted territory. As long as Steve has a Brooks saddle and a Carradice bag, he'll be alright.

This would be just an interesting diversion if Steve wasn't principally backed by YACF. There's bound to be a tension between the YACF view of the attempt, and the outside world. If you're trying to secure general interest, it's hard to integrate a video of bell-ringing in Marsh Gibbon, in the absence of Steve. A video of Steve visiting a sports scientist to judge the effects of the ride so far would be more comprehensible. I've got a lot of sympathy with his team for having to balance the range of perceptions about what Steve is doing.

[danridesbikes]

i wonder if the comments on Strava could be disabled, its the most public place his rides are, yet when he does a low a mileage day, the comments are full of negativity, with lots of uniformed people posting and commenting, Steve's from here of course, were more informed that a lot of the public, i have posted updates on his Strava rides before,

[TimC]

Whether we like it or not, this is an endeavour carried out in the public eye. Therefore the public will, when it's given an opportunity, comment upon it. Strava is such an opportunity and, just like any other part of the Internet, some of the commentary will be unpleasant or even abusive. Sadly, that's the way it is. Strava is unmoderated, as far as I can tell, so there's no filter for the bad stuff. Nevertheless, most of the comments are positive.

ESL makes the point that this is largely a YACF-backed venture. Certainly, it started as such, but I think it went well beyond that quite rapidly. I've no idea what proportion of Steve's financial support comes from YACF regulars now, but the early days of the attempt got quite a lot of publicity which alerted the wider public to the venture and hopefully resulted in a wider source of income. That in itself is a good reason for upping the game re publicity, unless Steve feels that he'd rather the whole thing remained an in-house YACF project. I'd be surprised if that were the case.

[Exit Stage Left]

This is YACF, where there's an Elephant in every room. The first step in any debate is to dispute whether the Elephant is there or not. The outside world is less nuanced.

[TimC]

Probably a straw man or two as well! All we're missing is a few Grauniad links.

[TheRedEyeJedi]

i wonder if the comments on Strava could be disabled, its the most public place his rides are, yet when he does a low a mileage day, the comments are full of negativity, with lots of uniformed people posting and commenting, Steve's from here of course, were more informed that a lot of the public, i have posted updates on his Strava rides before,

Or just edit the title of the ride to make it clear what it is trying to be achieved... and mention the restart date?   The negative comments will be worse if people who do not come on this site or donate have no idea what the plan is.   Most people on strava would understand the ride more if it was titled; "Recovery ride pending 8th Aug Restart" ...that takes seconds to do.

I personally would love to see more videos, facebook updates, interviews and general updates from the team through the day, for no other reason than I find Steve a pretty interesting and compelling person.    While I do not want PR and press to infringe on his bike hours - a bit more involvement of the public (and his own community) would be a big plus in my opinion and I actually think it would help Steves moral.

Surely some people riding with him would help - I am not talking strangers, but people he could get used to riding with who could carry his carradice and provide some shelter and support?   Maybe a carbon Raleigh could be provided and one of the support crew could occasionally drive or cycle the carbon bike out to Steve for a few fast loops within a ride or a swift sprint home ?     You could even have someone riding with him with a faster, more aggressive bike and they could swap bikes with 50 miles left and let Steve sprint home?   I think this record is very hard to beat unless Steve is prepared to get more creative ...his average speed has to increase even if he slightly strays from Godwins method and uses more modern techniques .... like Tarzan has.   If Steve just wanted to do the ride as a tribute to Godwin then fair enough, but I understand from Steves comments that he wants to beat the record and the other competitors.   If he wants to do that then I think he needs more than the incredible levels of grit and stamina he posseses.   He needs to look at his routes and equipment rather than focusing on cutting out fuss at the start and end of day.    There is no way on earth that the way he has done things this year is the fastest way to ride.   Maybe Steve does not want to make certain concessions that would help him?   That is admirable but I fear it will make a record beating year very hard.

[Ben T]

the trouble is for the media it now isn't news. It was news when he started, and it'll be news when he finishes it, but the fact that something is still going on the same as it was yesterday and probably the same as it will be tomorrow, is not news, therefore the media will not be interested.
In a similar way to how the greek debt crisis is not news any more, and why things like "newsflash! the earth has gone round the sun yet again!" do not generally tend to appear in the media.

[TheRedEyeJedi]

I wasnt really talking about getting updates into the media.   I was simply referring to putting stuff out from the team on facebook, strava, twitter, youtube ect.    Just a short weekly update detailing where he has been, what his problems have been, what his successes have been ect.  Maybe ask his hosts and riding partners to submit journals and write ups and post them up on facebook ect.   There is clearly an interest from a lot of people.

There are so many stats, maps and details to be discussed here -that is why we are all so interested on top of the simple human interest story.   I would just like to see more a fuss and buzz being created by Steves team.    Facebook is so quick and easy to use and you can reach most people who are interested in him - It was great when the attempt first started and updates were posted.  I was sharing these and people with no interst in cycling followed steves page.   Then it all just stopped?  Just seems a shame?

I would love to see someone recruited to edit and publish coverage of Steves attempt, then present it in a media savvy way.

[Canardly]

Of huge interest to the cycling fraternity (and dare I say sponsors) will be how elements of the kit Steve is using has performed, what works, what doesnt, and what had to be changed etc. Nothing being said atm.

[TimC]

the trouble is for the media it now isn't news. It was news when he started, and it'll be news when he finishes it, but the fact that something is still going on the same as it was yesterday and probably the same as it will be tomorrow, is not news, therefore the media will not be interested.
In a similar way to how the greek debt crisis is not news any more, and why things like "newsflash! the earth has gone round the sun yet again!" do not generally tend to appear in the media.

Actually, I think there's been quite a lot of interest from mainstream media - more than I expected. But I don't think that's the issue (although I'm sure the sponsors would like more!). For me, it's the more personal stuff. Steve doesn't have an Alycia to take ad-hoc movies, but his team sees him often enough that authoritative updates could easily and frequently be placed on FB, Strava, AUK, and here. Jo does an amazing job collating all the ride info on the various riders, and we have all come to rely on that. We've had two updates from Steve's team in the last month or so - once it became obvious that the current attempt was no longer on track - but I think we'd all appreciate a bit more, and Steve would reap the benefit in more donations at the very least.

[Exit Stage Left]

There's been some response.
http://www.icebike.org/steven-abraham-and-the-one-year-time-trial/

[TimC]

I saw that just a few minutes ago, having caught a link on Strava - definitely a step in the right direction, but I wondered a little at the choice of site to carry it. Is Icebike a well-known site? I'd never heard of it before today.

[Ben T]

Need to get him on celeb BB, I think relatively he'd be one of the most famous ones on there 

[Jaded]

What the sponsors want from Steve is between him and them. There may be an agreement, there may not. Raleigh are still getting mentions from Tommy Gowdwin, I believe. That's not bad for a sponsorship deal.

What the funders want is different. I'm a funder and a host and I never had expectations that I'd be treated differently in terms of information. This is a tough undertaking, both physically and mentally. Making it more challenging by piling on 'me me me' pressure may not be particularly helpful.

Yeah, you're right. The sponsors are in it for charity, and Steve should keep everything as secret as possible. Don't want the competitors knowing how he's getting on, after all!

You've turned "what the sponsors want from Steve" into charity. Well done. Gold star.

[TimC]

What the sponsors want from Steve is between him and them. There may be an agreement, there may not. Raleigh are still getting mentions from Tommy Gowdwin, I believe. That's not bad for a sponsorship deal.

What the funders want is different. I'm a funder and a host and I never had expectations that I'd be treated differently in terms of information. This is a tough undertaking, both physically and mentally. Making it more challenging by piling on 'me me me' pressure may not be particularly helpful.

Yeah, you're right. The sponsors are in it for charity, and Steve should keep everything as secret as possible. Don't want the competitors knowing how he's getting on, after all!

You've turned "what the sponsors want from Steve" into charity. Well done. Gold star.

j
Well, it's simple really. If a sponsor wants no return for their investment, that is effectively charity. That's the position you and I and many others who've financially contributed to Steve's effort are in. All we ask in return is information - which is the point of the current discussion. The commercial organisations will, no doubt, require a little more. How much more will depend on the individual organisation, but it's probably pretty safe to assume that Raleigh, Schwalbe and Chain Reaction will want some publicity that puts them in a good light with potential customers. If I were one of those businesses, I would be hoping for (and probably arranging) coverage during the event so that the potential benefits are maximised - waiting for the end of the event, with the possibility of failure very real, would risk losing much of that potential benefit. Whether the sponsors are happy with the coverage they've had so far obviously I can't say, but my observation is that, so far at least, they haven't had a great deal. Maybe they're ok with that.

[Jaded]

All I am saying is that we don't know what the sponsors want from Steve, and that the benefit from the 1YTT potentially goes on years afterwards. To give Steve three bikes represents a cost of maybe £1,000, maybe 50% more. That's less than the cost of one full page advert in a cycling magazine.

[TimC]

Yes, I agre they're not likely to have invested very much. From that point of view it's probably good value, although I'm surprised they haven't capitalised on it more. But, really, that's an aside from the issue of keeping the supporters informed a little more effectively than has been the case hitherto. But I fear the length of this conversation makes this appear to be a bigger issue than it is. It's simply a case of some of us wishing for a bit more info than we've had, really.

[Jaded]

Let's see what comes out after the re-launch, it has been a bit of a phoney war over the last four months.

[Jacamo]

Yes, I agre they're not likely to have invested very much. From that point of view it's probably good value, although I'm surprised they haven't capitalised on it more.

They will capitalize on it- but only if and when the attempt is successful.

[RichForrest]

Rode with Steve today for a bit, he's in good spirits, looking good and starting to get faster again from a few days recovery mileage.
He would like a camera but wouldn't have the time to edit or upload stuff.
I left him heading for the flatlands again and came home as I had to collect the kids 

[DaveE128]

I have an idea why Steve has recently had some fatigue problems. Clearly not visiting Marsh Gibbon has unexpected consequences!

I think the idea of editing the title of the ride on the Strava upload with a one line summary of the day's ride would be a good way to improve audience connection.

[simonp]

Well, backing off for a week or so has improved Steve's speed significantly, it seems:

https://www.strava.com/activities/356931909

310kms, and barely 11h on the bike.

[mattc]

the trouble is for the media it now isn't news. It was news when he started, and it'll be news when he finishes it, but the fact that something is still going on the same as it was yesterday and probably the same as it will be tomorrow, is not news, therefore the media will not be interested.
In a similar way to how the greek debt crisis is not news any more, and why things like "newsflash! the earth has gone round the sun yet again!" do not generally tend to appear in the media.

Well put. we're pretty much seeing as much "buzz" around Steve at this stage as I would expect.


So (@Timc et al), about these Sponsors: what do they want?* Publicity! Are they getting it? Yup.
Period.

And let's review the much-praised publicity from Team Kurt. If it wasnt for one person (Alicia) who is in a position unique to all the competing teams, we would have maybe 1% of the coverage. Likewise, for those not on Facebook - and this may be a hard concept for Facebookers - there is very little out there.

So I'm quite happy that Steve's team are giving us what we need. It was always in the nature of his attempt that things would be crowd-sourced; jo's graphs and other stuff on YACF are emblematic of that, and a big positive 

We don't need weekly repetitive vlogs of flat roads

*_{(Maybe they're bugging Team Steve behind the scenes for weekly blogs, or a webcam in his bathroom ... we just don't know. )}

[ramchip]

the trouble is for the media it now isn't news. It was news when he started, and it'll be news when he finishes it, but the fact that something is still going on the same as it was yesterday and probably the same as it will be tomorrow, is not news, therefore the media will not be interested.
In a similar way to how the greek debt crisis is not news any more, and why things like "newsflash! the earth has gone round the sun yet again!" do not generally tend to appear in the media.

Well put. we're pretty much seeing as much "buzz" around Steve at this stage as I would expect.




So (@Timc et al), about these Sponsors: what do they want?* Publicity! Are they getting it? Yup.
Period.

And let's review the much-praised publicity from Team Kurt. If it wasnt for one person (Alicia) who is in a position unique to all the competing teams, we would have maybe 1% of the coverage. Likewise, for those not on Facebook - and this may be a hard concept for Facebookers - there is very little out there.

So I'm quite happy that Steve's team are giving us what we need. It was always in the nature of his attempt that things would be crowd-sourced; jo's graphs and other stuff on YACF are emblematic of that, and a big positive 

We don't need weekly repetitive vlogs of flat roads

*_{(Maybe they're bugging Team Steve behind the scenes for weekly blogs, or a webcam in his bathroom ... we just don't know. )}

[mattc]

Heh, you're funny!

You'll be pleased to hear I have about as much respect for your posts.