PYSO, ep. 49: Former Giro boss on cycling's past, present, and future

Michele Acquarone ran the Giro d'Italia and RCS' other races for years, and pushed for revolutionary change such as teams sharing in TV revenue and all races having men's and women's events. On this episode of Put Your Socks On, Michele talks with Bobby and Gus about where the sport of cycling should be headed. Michele argues that all pro races should include women's and men's events. "It's so easy to do combined events, that it's crazy that all the pro cycling movement is not doing that," he says. "It should be a must if you want to have a first level race. You have the TV production, you have the operations already in place. For the organizer, it's easy. You have the streets closed, you have the helicopters and the airplanes in the sky. Everything is in place. You just need to invest a little extra money to have a great show with the two races at the same time." And what about esports in cycling? "Esports are not the future but the present of the sport, and you cannot ignore it," Michele says. Before talking with Michele, Bobby shares some indoor training tricks from TrainingPeaks' guru Tim Cusick, such as the importance of investing in a quality trainer with a flywheel for mimicking inertia, using your own power meter if you have one instead of the power from the trainer, and cooling your environment as best you can. "At the end of these indoor rides, you often end up looking like a salt lick," Bobby says.