96. The future of cycling, from economics to Lost Dot racing

To start 2024 off with a bang, James and Emma are joined by not one but two guests.First up is Mark Sutton, editor of Cycling Electric and all-round cycling industry news specialist who explains the current state of the cycling industry, looking at the past few turbulent years and what the future might hold.Mark shares his views on the industry landscape, discusses value vs volume brands, the boom of subscription models and whether 2023 was the bike industry’s worst year ever.Second on the podcast is Andrew Phillips, race director of Lost Dot, the organisation which runs the Transcontinental Race, Trans Pyrenees Race and now it’s latest race the Accursed.Launching this year, Andrew shares the ins and outs of the Accursed, how he first came to ride in the beautiful Balkans and why the race is the first ever no-fly ultra cycling event.It’s a whopper of a podcast, and you even get some chat from James and Emma too.Does anyone have a leap year birthday? Drop us a note if you do.Chat starts with Mark at: 06:16Chat starts with Andrew at: 40:21--This episode is brought to you by JOIN, the training platform that sets you up with training plans that adapt on the go. Listeners of the podcast can get a 6 month subscription for the price of 4. At a monthly price of £8.49 GBP you now pay £33.96. So head to https://join.cc/promo/cyclist-magazine-podcast/ and start training with JOIN’s adaptive and flexible training plans now. ---Did you know Cyclist is also stunning monthly magazine? Subscribe now at store.cyclist.co.uk/cycpod and get every issue for less than in the shops, delivered straight to your door. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.