Attentive Marketing

Today's stage in the Tour de France was one of the most exciting I've ever seen. They boys rode up a massive final peak in the Pyrenees with a screaming, twisting 20k downhill to the finish. I'll quench my inner sportswriter and not describe the entire thing and mention only a decisive event that determined the winner of the stage: When the leader of the Tour attacked near the top of the peak his chain popped off and his main rival sped past him and started the downhill with a 30-second lead, eventually displacing the unfortunate rider at the finish line as the new Tour leader.

Many of these very expensive bikes have a small accessory installed called a chain catcher that prevents chains from popping off the front rings (which happens rarely, anyway). But this rider's bike didn't have one installed (although I bet it will tomorrow).

I laughed when, about three hours after the race ended, a marketing email came through from Competitive Cyclist in Little Rock, Arkansas—a terrific seller of high-end road and mountain bike wares. They sell the best of EVERYTHING related to this sport, and I have gotten quite an education just from lurking about on their web site. The highlighted item in their marketing email? Chain catchers:

Selling on the news of the day. That's why they're the best in the biz.