It’s rare
It’s rare that any assessment of mine is spot on!
There is an opportunity out there – especially if one considers road cycling from the widest possible angle (i.e. not just road racing). RCUK is an example of a site that has developed its own identity (albeit as part of the winder Bikemagic brand), but even then it did not translate to print: SHIFT magazine was pitiful, and really failed to capitalise on an opportunity to pitch itself at the market in a slightly different way.
To my mind, there is definitely an opportunity for a print magazine that fills that space between the advertorial of C+, and the reverence of Rouleur.
Where ST mag does well is in its assumption that its readership are not idiots, and the fact that it creates a sense of inclusiveness for those who read it. That’s what Road.cc needs to do – it can happen, but as with STW (and Gofar before that), it takes time.
For me, the zeitgeist is on our side: cycling is popular again in a way that it hasn’t been since the car took over in the ’50s and ’60s. If any magazine or website is to be considered a success beyond simply being a carrier for advertising, it needs to become part of and inform that zeitgeist. ST has done that, albeit in a rather English way; Rouleur and The Ride have – in part – transcended normal magazine publishing to become collector’s items in their own right. For me, this is where the zeitgeist of print publishing is, and this is what I would like Road.cc to do, both online and in print.