One year of Global Peloton!

An update...

Twelve months ago I made a decision. I decided to start up this newsletter and commit for one year to write one post per week, hoping that consistency would enable me to grow a community of people passionate about cycling beyond its traditional heartlands and share stories of cycling’s diversification.

I sit here now very thankful that I did it. I’m even more thankful for each one of you who have read, subscribed and shared any of these posts. It can be tough doing something a bit different, but it’s been great to see so many people join for the ride and put up with my ‘niche geekery’, as a friend described it.

I do this newsletter because I love cycling and I believe in equal opportunity. I think that wherever you’re born, whatever your ethnic, social or economic backgrounds, if you’re good enough there should be a pathway for you to become a professional cyclist. I’m also an optimist, and I honestly believe that cycling can become an inclusive, diverse sport.

That’s why I think it’s important to tell these stories and to share news from the global cycling world. The job is not finished. Cycling is not sufficiently diverse now just because we finally got a black African grand tour stage winner. There is still a long, long way to go. There are so many barriers in the way for talented young cyclists from Asia, Africa and most of Central and South America. Elsewhere too.

So what’s next? Transparency time.

I’m going to keep on writing. I’m going to keep on banging my drum. But I need your help.

The thing is, I work part-time in the international charity world, the rest of my livelihood comes from writing about cycling. That means to keep this thing going into the future I will need to add to my very-much-loved crew of paid subscribers. If I can’t meet a certain level this year, the newsletter just won’t be able to continue.

If you have enjoyed Global Peloton over the last year, I would be grateful if you would consider becoming a paid subscriber for less than a coffee and cake per month.

I realise that not everyone wants to get into a rolling subscription, so I’ve also set up a Buy Me a Coffee page

Having said that, this newsletter is about much more than supporting my livelihood, it exists to promote global cycling. I have no intention to ever paywall this newsletter in its entirety. As long as Global Peloton is around, I will always provide something for free to continue to promote global pro cycling. It is possible, however, that I will add paid-subscriber-only posts at some point this year.

It also makes a huge difference when you share about Global Peloton with your friends, especially given X’s ongoing suppression of Substack posts.

Thanks you so much again for reading. I’ll be back later this week with some riders to watch in Rwanda.

Dan

Here are some of my favourite posts from the last 12 months