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Sat, Mar 08, 2014 09:52
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John wrote about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day’s work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
He worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John also wrote for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site’s main audience. He joined road.cc in 2013.
John died from cancer in 2025, changing his name to John Abbott Valentine in the months before his death.
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Latest Comments
eburtthebike 1 hour ago
@No Reply I had the same problem, but it seems to be sorted now.
eburtthebike 1 hour ago
@No Reply I had the same problem, but it seems to be sorted now.
tomlew 6 hours ago
@JMcWatt This may well be true. Nothing drives me crazy more than cosmetic updates and facelifts that don't really bring any new value about. Maybe they do attract new customers, but also discourage existing ones. I was never a regular customer of CRC, but if I had been, I would surely have been mad seeing confusing changes. If I don't understand the website and have to re-learn the process anyway, why not switch to another shop?
JMcWatt 6 hours ago
It was such a small things that brought about the ruination of CRC, one decision made by the owners and management. In 2013 the decision was made to redesign the website, this change was the beginning of the end for CRC. They replaced a proven platform that had helped turn a Northern Irish bike shop into the world’s biggest online cycling retailer with a more complex system that never delivered the same growth. Sales momentum stalled, Wiggle overtook them, and within three years CRC was being bought by the rival it had once outperformed. This was very much the strategic mistake that broke the growth engine.
Sriracha 11 hours ago
@Smoggysteve "I normally wouldn’t condone buying a cheap Chinese copy..." Actually, I think I'd go with the Seconda strap line here: "Beware of expensive imitations."
No Reply 11 hours ago
The survey is shite. I have got to a point where it will not let me continue because I have done everything correctly so far.
belugabob 14 hours ago
Yes, it uses the same technology that is used to prevent that behaviour by motorists...🙄
Barraob1 14 hours ago
@SecretSam yeah, the same one you find in cars
Barraob1 14 hours ago
@SecretSam yeah, the same one you find in cars
mdavidford 16 hours ago
I have an idea who it might have been.