Paved Magazine

While doing a little lunch time magazine stand surfing the other day, noticed this shiny new publication on the rack. I gave it the quick flip through and deemed it worthy of purchase for further inspection. Not a tough sell to bike fan and magazine nut me. I read a stupid amount of bike related tomfoolery - what's one more? Throw it on the pile.

Paved is brought you by the same folks the put out bike, the mountain bike publication. That's right bike, no capital. No capital letter means it's cool, everyone knows that. As you can see, paved contains no capital, so it also must be cool. Plus, the cover states (strangely enough in all caps) "Celebrating the raw passion of riding on the road". I'm not sure if my passion for road riding can be described as "raw", but I'd say it's at least medium rare - so I'm close.

Oh yeah - Lance is on the cover. By now, that seems to be some sort of federal law - Lance must be cover material for all bike related magazines - at least for a few issues a year. If not, you'll get a call from Lance's "people". And that means trouble.

After reading the entire premier issue, pretty good - especially for a first shot. All kidding aside, I've been the bike magazine fan for years, so cool to see a road version with their style - better then average photography and writing with just enough hipness to keep it fun.

This issue contained some nice photography and some decent articles. I enjoyed the story on Ben Serotta of Serotta bike fame and Gary Erickson of Clif Bar fame. I think Serotta has fallen off the radar a bit, though they make impressive frames. If I was going for the high end frame, a steel Serotta would be on my list for sure. Clif Bars? My family has eaten a few zillion boxes worth of Clif Bars over the years. It's also a cool company that gives back to the sport.

Back to the mag - one other interesting story on doping and the history of it all. Nothing earth shattering, but disgusting example of old school method of cheating the urine test spelled out for your enjoyment.

A glimpse at some of the articles.....

Does the world really need another bike magazine? Probably not. Then again, a good sign that the audience - or demographics in marketing speak - is big enough support yet another publication. And that means more people are riding. Well, hope so anyway.

In any case, a cool mag - check it out. I'm also betting it becomes even better with future issues.