I enjoy the weekly GCN show and a few other bits of content, but they’re no worse than the rest of the bike media when it comes to promoting products. BikeRadar are far worse in my opinion. Ever notice how the bikes that get the best reviews have companies that advertise heavily on their site? I’m sure it’s just a coincidence…
Not sure what happen, but I know Emma really hates GCN now and doesnt even want to talk about it.
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uuuhh bike gossip. Perfect distraction for pandemic times! Her departure indeed seemed quite sudden and there was not much information then or after.
Also I think we can give an honorary award for most unfortunate timing to Chris Opie. Apparently he quit GCN to pursue pro-racing once again… a few weeks before all racing was cancelled indefinitely 
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This is the first I heard of it. What a shame if true. Her stint at GCN was really short and it seemed everyone respected her cycling chops. (I even remember one of the GMBN guys making a mention of that, something to the effect that she’d tear his legs off.)
I liked the (simple) science she wanted to bring to the show to leave her mark. But that didn’t seem to last long. Probably it is much more difficult to produce and perhaps off-putting to some. (Not to me, though.)
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They’re not a “3rd Party” anymore. They provide content for people who want it a decent price, right? Well free for you means “someone” is paying them for it. They got in trouble for not saying it was paid advertising before, so that’s why it’s so prominent now.
I no longer watch, I liked it when it was mostly Matt, Si and La-loyd.
I think for the most part cyclist know they’re not getting unbiased reviews from any cycling magazine or GCN or other YT shows…it’s all bought and paid for.
We get much better info/news/updates/reviews from @dcrainmaker and @GPLama and to be honest I also search out further information in addition to those two by double checking with all of you guys (fellow cyclists) as well.
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Ollie was the only good thing about Cycling Weekly. He seemed to be scripted to come off as a total idiot early on at GCN, but seems to be getting better. I’ve certainly been noticing the advertising more and more in their content.
Not sure you can blame her when they went and made cooking videos and quite stereotypically put a woman in a kitchen to do it, sort of demeaning if you ask me.
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Going through a base build programme is some commitment, unlikely to get that from many people.
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I miss the Top Gear style content they produced years ago.
Also they have quite a high turnover rate for presenters.
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I too really like GCN, Before I got TR I did loads of their video training sessions, mainly on rollers in the winter. Sis Zwift sessions were great, and motivated me to get up early, as they were 8 am UK time. Theres good variety of vids and some are so funny, not to be watched while on rollers! I wasn`t really aware of the Whoop advertising, though am now,through reading the posts on here. Jeremy is a great addition to the GCN team ,and I love his sense of humour! Sorry that Emma P left tho
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They are rather amusing aint they.
there was some good chemistry among Matt, Dan and Si. The addition of Emma was great… Can’t forget her “oat cuisine”
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And his new podcast as well is pretty good.
I don’t mind it, I definitely don’t tske it seriously in terms of reviews as they are undoubtedly biased opinions, but in terms of putting out regular bitesize content, filmed around the world, its hard to knock. I think the GCN Tech and then the GCN racing spinoffs were efforts to keep a bit more credibility albeit off the main site, the latter is obviously important for Dan Lloyd.
Talking of presenters, I cant argue with the Dan/Matt/Si combo, but I’m a fan of Olly, really liked his CW stuff, and comes from a non-pro angle. I like Jpow seems like a good addition too, seems quite an interesting guy
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GCN really helped me a lot when I first got into cycling several years ago and had absolutely no idea what I was doing when I had just started riding again at 30 something after not riding since a teenager. I really miss the dynamics of Si, Dan, and Matt, which really made learning more about cycling fun for me. I still check in on their videos every once in a while but with the time I have for YouTube/podcasts I’m much more likely now to watch VC, NorCal Jeff, TrainerRoad, Lantern, or Phil Gaimon. GCN has definitely changed on the advertising front but who can blame them, their channel is a business after all and they have grown a lot. The one thing that does bug me is the repetitive content but I get that also, they’re probably just looking to refresh things and the more recent videos are probably useful to new people as the old ones were to me.
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I dont think thats fair. Many of the male presenters have done cooking stuff as well.
That said i really liked Emma. Its not the same relative to a few years ago. There are still some worthwhile videos… but most of the new presenters afe garbage compared to the first 3 and emma.
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I meant 3rd party in the sense that they were independant of the manufacturers. So, a network you could once trust for its unbiased opinions is now largely a marketing platform dressed up as the former.
They were originally free because you can make a lot of money on Youtube without the need for sponsorships so that “someone” who used to pay their bills was advertisers on youtube, not channel specific sponsors
Even in this thread Tom Last is a forgotten man lol. I also think Emma was a great addition to the team. I’ve rewatched the Andulcia videos with her and Matt Stephens a few times. On GCN Tech I enjoyed watching Jon Cannings but he’s no longer on camera.
I’ve learned a lot from GCN videos over the years. I don’t watch every video now but I’m glad they’re still around.
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That pretty much my take now. There is still quality stuff…but loads of crap that needs to be softed through for it now
That YT money doesn’t scale beyond a few employees, though. GCN and their other channels now have a few hundred employees worldwide. Their need to grow (and being owned by Discovery) meant heavily sponsored content was inevitable. Victims of their own success, perhaps.
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GMBN > GCN
And I barely even ride mtb. Probably something to do with the personalities.
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