About this time in early 2002, I pressed the “go” button to launch the website you’re reading now… Back then I could never have imagined that 22 years and almost 20,000 articles later PEZCycling would have grown into a respected source for road cycling news, info and entertainment that so many of you have enjoyed, and be one of the last remaining proper road cycling media sites left in North America.
This month marks a pretty special day here at PEZ. It’s 22 years since I hit the “go” button on a long forgotten computer in a second bedroom / my office in a small townhouse I had just moved into with the then future Mrs. Pez. The actual launch date remains a mystery, but here’s what I can still remember…
It All Started…
In the Fall of 2001, I was in transition between jobs, had been looking for work for a few months, and the only offers I’d received were so terrible that I finally figured that if I was going to get paid nothing to do something, then I should at least do something I enjoyed.
Actual PEZ screen from Waybackmachine.com – c. Sep. 2002
I’d been to the Tour (’86 & ’90) and the ’94 Giro, and was disappointed that the cycling media of the day just didn’t cover the fan experience the way I’d actually “lived” it. It was so much fun to be there, but no one was writing about this. So I dreamed up the idea to be the guy who brought that side of the world’s biggest and best races to fans. And PEZCyclingNews was born.
Back in the day… At the 2003 Tour de France riding over the Tourmalet. Covering my first Tour when only dial-up internet was available in France… I took my old mtb, lost my sunglasses on Alpe d’Huez, and cut a hole in the top of that Saeco cap to battle the 40C+ heatwave that was sweeping Europe.
Things in cycling were a lot different back then. The whole cycling industry was surfing a wave, and millions of sports fans discovered a cool bike race called the Tour de France – carbon fiber molding was the new emerging technology, the internet was still young and slow, Google was just one of several search engines, and social media didn’t even exist. And cycling brands were clamouring to support the few fledgling cycling websites of the day.
We joined the small but energetic fray, and PEZ pioneered “roadside reporting” as the first site to cover the highest level pro bike racing from the fans perspective, and our brand of story-telling resonated with readers far and wide.
The cartoon in the upper right has been on my board since the ’90’s, and was a point of inspiration when launching PEZ. The photo is climbing the Passo Gavia at the 2006 Giro.
That first year we were granted credentials to the Vuelta – our now daily editor Alastair Hamilton paid his own way, and my only assignment for him was to send back pictures of podium girls (remember those?). Then I was contacted by Charles Manantan who wanted to cover Tech (and paid his own way to Interbike), and Dr. Stephen Cheung who championed our Toolbox training section (the only free source for cycling-relevant training articles vetted by a PhD in the field). Later came (to name just a few) great storytellers like Leslie Reissner who single-handedly created a library of cycling book and film reviews that Rotten Tomatoes would envy, Chuck Pena and his uniquely detailed yet readable tech reviews, and more recently ex-pro racer Jordan Cheyne with a skill & passion to write about road cycling that few from his younger generation possess.
Losing A Friend
Another great storyteller and mad-for-cycling journo-wannabe reached out in the early days with a suggestion he could cover the Tour of Britain – that’s how I met Ed Hood . Sadly though, it’s been a year since we lost our dear friend and colleague to a severe stroke. Ed was one of the irreplaceable unicorn’s who helped make PEZ such a fun and entertaining place to visit. I wish I had better news about his recovery… Ed has moved into a long term care facility and continues to work with his care givers, and the support of his loving wife and friends, but we don’t expect he’ll return to our little peloton.
My only in person meeting with the great man Ed Hood, as I passed the PEZ baton to him during our coverage of the 2010 Giro.
Last year we started a GoFundMe page to appeal to, and ask you readers a chance to support Ed with a small donation. Every dollar is very much appreciated by Ed & his family, and will go a long way to making his life little more comfortable, and paying his care expenses. We’ll continue running stories from Ed’s huge 2300+ catalog of work, because his stories are so timeless, and entertaining. If you’ve ever enjoyed one ofr Ed’s articles, please consider donating to his GoFundMe page.
Over the years PEZ has been a platform for dozens of other entertaining and unique writers – Chris Selden, Gord Camshron, Matt Conn, Darrel Parks, and Jered Gruber – , and I consider my self lucky to count so many talented story-tellers / photographers / cycling fans as contributors. Many have moved on to successful careers in cycling media and other forms of greatness, but I feel a certain amount of pride saying they helped build PEZ into one of North America’s longest running and most respected cycling media sites.
In today’s media landscape of youtubers, grammers, influencers, we are one of the few remaining one-stop sites where readers can find coverage of the full range of road cycling topics that well, we, at least, think are worth covering – and something new every day.
Ah… good times.
And through it all I managed to work the negroni into some sort of relevant component of the PEZ ethos.
And Then The Challenges
But today I’m looking out at a very different scene in cycling and cycling media, one that sadly looks very different from what our first decade looked like. By now you know the story – the cycling business in general is in the tank, thanks to a year’s long series of unfortunate events and even more unfortunate decisions about how to handle them.
Job cuts & rising living costs have reduced consumers’ appetite and ability to buy bike gear, even if when everything is on sale. Too bad those sale prices mean that manufacturers won’t make any profits until it’s all sold through – and all sources indicate that’s gonna take another year.
When I started PEZ, my business plan was to fund this venture with sponsors’ advertising dollars. Allowing sponsors access to a key audience of valuable customers, as a trusted and credible voice in the road cycling market. And it worked for a long time. I always ran a tight ship, watched costs and kept overhead low to allow us to survive while most others have disappeared.
But as the internet, and the cycling business grew and changed, a number of challenges to this business model emerged. The growth of Google and Facebook eroded the advertising dollars that kept the media business… a business. Marketing managers began to choose relationships with an algorithm over the actual people who’s work drove customer support for the cycling industry and helped consumers choose which products to buy. And all of our attention spans grew shorter as our choices of things to look at on screens large and small grew exponentially. It’s a sad fact that the sponsor dollars needed to run PEZ have been harder and harder to find and all signs point to 2024 being the leanest year I’ve seen in this business.
Looking Ahead
But there are some points of light twinkling in the darkness. I’m grateful that we’ve survived this long, and that along the way I’ve been rewarded with a lifetime’s worth of amazing riding opportunities, and chances to get inside the velvet rope at cycling’s biggest races and events. I’ve met, shared meals and beers with, and ridden with some of the sports biggest riders. I’ve developed lasting friendships with colleagues from around the world, and we’ve helped establish and build up some of cycling’s best brands.
But probably the best part of this ride has been the response and connection we created with nobody famous, but ultimately more important to the success of this venture – you readers – without whom none of this would ever have happened.
So I tip my hat to you readers, and thank you again for supporting us all of these years. I know your time and attention are more precious now than ever, so any of it that you choose to share with us is greatly appreciated.
In the meantime – thank you for reading and being a part of the PEZ community who have made us a memorable part of road cycling culture since 2002.
– Richard Pestes
Publisher
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