What has Team Sky ever done for you?

mogrim wrote:

They've turned my favourite summer sport on TV into a snorefest, the sooner they lose their overwhelming funding the better.

There's always a team that dominates, usually because of funding. In the past it's been Banesto, US Postel, Mapei, now it's Sky. 

No one moans about Quickstep despite the fact that they dominated everything last year that wasn't a grand tour and had 30 more wins than Sky. 

alansmurphy wrote:

I'm a commuter inspired by Team Sky.

 

I don't drive, never have done. I have used my bike to do a mile or two either side of the train station, perhas 6-8 miles to a pub. The cycling boom, the bug, the fact that it could replace contact sport (which was killing me) inspired me to travel further and faster. After building up to around 3k miles a year, I deliberately moved further away from work into a more rural location and commute in. So yes, meet... me!

 

Bill H, I think it has made the wider leap, in fact:

 

"Made Britain a cycling nation in the eyes of the world" think of the depart from Yorkshire, now the TdY and I believe it was the first to offer equal prize money to ladies and will now host World Championships. The tourist industry up there has boomed massively from cycling and ToB has gone mad in attracting fans, host towns etc. At Mansfield last year the Team Sky bus stayed way beyond any other teams and big Dave, Gee and Froomey all wowed the crowd!

 

This has also had a knock on affect into bike shops and people talking about bikes, kit and cycling. There maybe a MAMIL element to it but we find lots of people out in the village tea (or pub) stops are interested how far we've come, whether we've took the infamous local climb and they'll share stories of "doing it on a 3 gear shopper as a kid" or knowing someone who knew such and such...

 

If you're not seeing some of the positives that have come via BC, Sky, the Olympics, lottery funding, Boardman, Brad et al. then maybe you're riding with your eyes shut!

This ^

To Bill H's comment, whilst there might not be that many commuters who have swung a leg over a bike to get to work purely because they are inspired by Team Sky or any pro cyclist or pro team for that matter, it is just the gradual increase in the public profile of cycling as a sport and leisure  activity in the UK that will be Team Sky's legacy. If that gets some more people commuting by bike then great, thats a bonus.

Though I've never been a particularly big fan of Sky or its owners as a brand, I can't argue with what their invesment has done for cycling in the UK. Whether that be due to the Sky Rides to dominance of the grand tours at pro level it has had a massively positive impact on cycling in the UK. Yes, the ball started rolling with Olympic/Track success with Boardman and Obree, then guys like Wiggins and Cavendish who moved from track to road but Sky capitalised on that and took it a step further with road Grand Tour success.

I know of many successful UK cyclists long before Chris Boardman's time but would the average person in the street be able to name them? I doubt it. Once the sport had created 'celebrities' like Cav and Wiggins you saw the increase in the popularity of the Tour of Britain, and now the Tour de Yorkshire also. In the Milk Race days you would never see the crowds you do now.

For me it is all the primary school age kids who line the UK roadsides during the ToB/TdY who will be most positively impacted by Sky's legacy. They will be the ones who (unlike me) will have grown up with British cycling success on the global stage as the 'norm' and have male and female cycling 'heros' on their bedroom walls.

Of course the media also likes to focus on the negative aspects of pro cycling like jiffy bags but I think that overwhelmingly the positives will outweigh those negatives. 

Bill H wrote:

Has anyone met a commuter inspired by a pro cyclist? A shopper loading panniers outside Tesco's wearing a KoM jersey?

I have met skint commuters saving money, folk getting fit during their commute, even club cyclists getting in some junk miles Monday to Friday, but I have never been told by someone that any pro inspired them to throw a leg over a top tube. Maybe I have led a sheltered life?

Sky has been wonderful for headlines and great for athletes but it has not made the wider impact asserted by this article.

Fingers crossed the team finds a new sponsor but let's not get carried away.

All this.

Despite SKY and the success in the Olympics etc, modal share of everyday cycling has remained static and cycling trips has gone nowhere in 10 years, yes a few more miles on average but this indicates that those who have stuck it are doing more miles.

Clearly as many people are jacking it in as are starting and with an increase in population that's not static, that's going backwards and all with an increased rate of cycle KSIs since the mid 00s and we know what happened at that juncture re certain cycling attire!

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

Bill H wrote:

Has anyone met a commuter inspired by a pro cyclist? A shopper loading panniers outside Tesco's wearing a KoM jersey?

I have met skint commuters saving money, folk getting fit during their commute, even club cyclists getting in some junk miles Monday to Friday, but I have never been told by someone that any pro inspired them to throw a leg over a top tube. Maybe I have led a sheltered life?

Sky has been wonderful for headlines and great for athletes but it has not made the wider impact asserted by this article.

Fingers crossed the team finds a new sponsor but let's not get carried away.

All this.

Despite SKY and the success in the Olympics etc, modal share of everyday cycling has remained static and cycling trips has gone nowhere in 10 years, yes a few more miles on average but this indicates that those who have stuck it are doing more miles.

Clearly as many people are jacking it in as are starting and with an increase in population that's not static, that's going backwards and all with an increased rate of cycle KSIs since the mid 00s and we know what happened at that juncture re certain cycling attire!

You're picking a choosing stats to suit your viewpoint. The fact of the matter is that cycling in the UK has boomed since 2012, Team GB with Sky funding and Team Sky's winning ways. 

We might not all be commuters and that might not fit your view of what being a cyclist is, but recreationally there's no denying the increase. Do the 'new club members I speak to watch pro-cycling' no, most of them do not but that doesn't mean that team sky has not influenced them in some way, be that a mate who's influenced them to get on a bike or the annual sky installer vans driving around with cycling plastered all over them to the BC Go-Ride events encouraging families to get on their bikes for a mass participation few miles around a city center.. all of which has been pushed with sky money.