off season thoughts
Whoops, this one slipped through the net.
I wrote this article in October, and it somehow got lost in my drafts. Since this article, I have signed my core equipment partners into 2025. There’s a few big changes. More on that soon.
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Off-season is finally here. I’m sitting outside La Fabrica cafe in Girona with a beer in front of me, enjoying an uncharacteristically hot October day.
October is always a strange time of year in Girona. Some riders are happy with their multi-year deals, some are relishing new contracts and pastures new, others are coming towards retirement and then there are the lost ones who don’t quite know what happens next.
Whatever the situation, one thing remains the same: off-season is in the air.
I’m heading to London this weekend for a few days, before flying out to Vancouver next week. It’s becoming somewhat of a tradition to spend a part of winter with Maggie’s family out in Vancover, and I’m very much looking forward to it.
There’s something quite nice about a change of seasons, and being on that side of the pond. I’m hoping to catch the last of their autumn and head out on a few hikes. We have a few days to New York City planned, and then we’re riding from Vancouver Island down to California.
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I was hoping that I’d have all my contracts signed before I went on holiday. That’s partially my roadie brain speaking, I’m still having to adjust to the fact that sponsor decisions aren’t made until a lot later when it comes to privateering.
For most privateers, there is still a lot of uncertainty. It’s no secret that the bike industry is in a rough place, and for a new discipline that requires a fair chunk of change to get to the start line, purse strings are tight.
In a lot of circumstances, brands haven’t quite decided what they want to do yet. Do they want to build a gravel team? Do they want privateers? Do they want to sponsor events? Do they want influencers? US? Europe? There’s a recognition that gravel needs to be a part of their strategy, but they're not quite sure how.
Gravel has grown up fast in the past few years, it now seems to be the annoying teenager in marketing budgets.
As things stand, I have one contract signed - I’m going into my second year with Pullwood Consulting. I’m pretty confident that a few of my other talks will come through, but at this moment, that’s the sole contract with my name scribbled on.
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The he-said, she-said part of sponsorship is a never-ending merry-go-round, especially here in Girona. It’s a gossip hub and people like to talk. One person will have heard that brand X wants to build project Y or pay rider Z whatever $. Then, the next person will have heard the complete opposite.
The beauty of privateering is that we don’t have to bow down to old-school team managers or conventions, but that also means we don’t have the old-school structures or finances. If you want it, you have to build it. Remember, it’s still the early days and who knows, maybe we’ll look back in ten years and say these were the glory days…
There’s a lot of talk about ‘market value’ floating around at the minute. Privateering is this weird middle ground of cycling performance that you need to perform results wise, but you’re not judged solely on performance. This makes it a touch complicated. If you win, you’ll maybe get sponsorship, but it’s not guaranteed. Your pay cheque is linked to a lot more.
To be clear, I’ve never been secretive about my goal to build a privateer project that pays me to train full-time and race with the world’s best. I don’t expect it to be handed to me. It’s just simple maths, if I want to compete at the top level, I can’t also be working full time. You wouldn’t expect a World Tour pro to also work four days a week.
This year, I’ve been working alongside racing. I work for the Aussie brand, Sync Ergonomics, and I also set-up and ran the now defunct Ribble Rebellion. Between the two of those, plus working freelance, it came out at around three to four days of work per week.
My British brain thinks it’s crude to talk about money, but maybe if we spoke about money we’d all be in a better place.
I digress.
I’m going full steam ahead with my planning for 2025. I have a calendar, I have a plan. When you’re planning it’s often a chicken or egg situation. You need the cash to plan the calendar, but you need the calendar and goals to get the partners.
The goals at the minute are simple. Rest. Get back to zero. Come back over winter. Train my butt off. Win races. In the meantime, I’ll be writing away or searching for sponsorship dollars.
Until next time.
Joe
October 2024