Is the pro peloton run by mastermind geniuses, or just fragile egos and cheap sponsors? In this chapter deep dive, we analyze Chapter 8 of Striking the Sun, dissecting the banality of capital, corporate incompetence, and why the hardest part of the pro dream is paying your own baggage fees.
Browsing: Essays
The grand, heroic narrative of elite professional cycling is a heavily mediated corporate lie. In our latest deep dive into Chapters 6 and 7 of Striking the Sun, we strip away the romantic illusions of the peloton to expose the brutal, unglamorous reality of physical degradation, corporate hazing, and penny-pinching team management.
Dismantling the fragile performance of “becoming.” We dive deep into Chapter 5 of Striking the Sun to analyze the striking structural parallels between an amateur indie filmmaker playing the auteur and Dominic’s shaky early steps toward a professional cycling career.
This conclusion examines how English-language media constructs the very meaning of professional cycling. From Anglo-Saxon bias to historical romanticism, we explore how narratives are shaped—and how fans still find ways to resist them.
From the “legend” of the Ballon d’Alsace to the sepia-toned filters of modern broadcasts, cycling media is obsessed with its own past. Discover how the industry “invents tradition” to give modern races historical weight and meaning.
From the grueling print era to the polished age of digital broadcasts, how has the way we watch cycling changed the sport itself? A deep dive into the production of cycling media, the role of the “expert” commentator, and the construction of the modern sports spectacle.
Cycling Time Trials Limited (CTT) recently made headlines by announcing a policy that excludes transgender women from competing in female…
Beyond the sweat and gears lies a complex system of representation. Part one of this series explores how the media translates the chaos of professional cycling into a consumable, narrativized myth for a global audience.