Diamonds in the Rough
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Moldef |
Posted on 08-01-2019 02:00
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Junior Rider
Posts: 25
Joined: 05-07-2012
PCM$: 300.00
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Just finished the entire story in one sitting and I thoroughly and entirely enjoyed it! I especially like that you're keeping it realistic and that you're not making Marcus too strong early on.
Hope you'll keep your interest in the story for a long time so that me and many other readers can enjoy it
+1.5 Sprint
+0.5 Hills
+0.5 Acceleration
+0.5 Flat |
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Mresuperstar |
Posted on 11-01-2019 08:22
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8059
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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2019 Football Offseason (Part 1): Premier League Recap
The top flight of English football draws all the crowds and all the money. For the 21st time, The Red Devils are back on top. Led by Italian Andrea Belotti with 21 league goals, Manchester United topped Liverpool by a point for the title.
Long break: Marcus Diamond is in the process of moving to Scotland to join Limerick FC in January for the 2020 season. Different soccer updates to come over the offseason. No training grounds this time, the early part of the offseason will be used to rest up and focus on cycling.
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jandal7 |
Posted on 11-01-2019 08:33
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World Champion
Posts: 11392
Joined: 17-12-2014
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Manchester United topped Liverpool by a point for the title.
Mre you've tampered with your save too much because I refuse to accept this.
Also, Marcus might want to recheck his plane ticket - not even going to the right island to join Limerick
I am loving Chris Wood's form though
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
5x x5
2x x2
2x x2
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Aquarius97 |
Posted on 11-01-2019 08:36
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Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 4191
Joined: 13-09-2015
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jandal7 wrote:
Manchester United topped Liverpool by a point for the title.
Mre you've tampered with your save too much because I refuse to accept this.
Also, Marcus might want to recheck his plane ticket - not even going to the right island to join Limerick
I am loving Chris Wood's form though
If he wants to live in Scotland and then travel to Ireland every day for training and games, who are you to go against it?
Also, Atletico beating Real in UCL? Come on, let's be serious
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Mresuperstar |
Posted on 11-01-2019 17:34
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8059
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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jandal7 wrote:
Also, Marcus might want to recheck his plane ticket - not even going to the right island to join Limerick
That's what I get for writing a report at 2 a.m.
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Mresuperstar |
Posted on 25-01-2019 20:44
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8059
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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@All: I'd just like to take a moment and say thank you for the PCM.Daily One-Rider Story of the Year award. Crazy to think I've picked up that honor three times now. I appreciate the support, it has helped me become the writer that I am today and for me to actually make a living.
Sadly, that's also the reason updates on this story have been infrequent the past couple of months. My IRL work schedule gets very hectic from like September to May.
Like I said before, I still like the concept of the story so I plan to keep it going at a grinding pace for now. Hopefully, come summer time, I can get back to regular updates.
Thanks for reading! - Mre
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Tamijo |
Posted on 26-01-2019 07:18
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Team Leader
Posts: 7406
Joined: 14-07-2015
PCM$: 599.00
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Keep it up - in your one pace off course
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Raziz |
Posted on 26-01-2019 12:35
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Domestique
Posts: 552
Joined: 22-12-2016
PCM$: 200.00
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This is an insanely good story. I commend you for your efforts and can assure you I'll be waiting with baited-breath for the next steps of Marcus' journey. |
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Ad Bot |
Posted on 23-11-2024 13:25
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Bot Agent
Posts: Countless
Joined: 23.11.09
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IP: None |
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DavidCorperial |
Posted on 10-03-2019 19:29
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Free Agent
Posts: 102
Joined: 13-06-2013
PCM$: 5600.00
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Have just read through all of it myself, a great read. |
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Mresuperstar |
Posted on 09-04-2019 03:45
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8059
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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August equals cobbles. Time to test out my northern classic skills on the paved streets. Probably my specialty early in my career, but got to be careful.
After all the contract talk and the football season coming to a close, it feels like I haven't ridden a bike in a few months. Hopefully I'm not too rusty.
Race Day #27 at Hansa Bygg Kalmar RR Target on my back, I'm one of the top favourites for once.
Spoiler
Summary: Crashes were frequent. The rain was unrelenting. A miserable, intense day for everybody involved.
A crash in the roundabout with 75kms to go causes some chaos. 58 cyclists were left in the peloton to chase the four-man breakaway.
15kms to go, the final cobble sectors. The breakaway is 30 seconds up the road, and Marcus Diamond decides to up the tempo. Those left in the peloton need to react. Diamond has shown before that he can ride away from the field.
Diamond catches the breakaway. Has the remaining peloton made a huge mistake in letting Diamond slip away here or are they playing him as fool to beat him in a bunch sprint?
Looking over his shoulder, Diamond gives in and allows the peloton to make the catch with 10kms to go. That at least gives him a chance to recover for a good sprint result.
Forget the sprint, Diamond is going again. 6.2 kms to go. Is this the winning move?
Gotta give it to this kid, he has a lot of heart.
No... Caught with 2.3kms to go.
Result: 8th - I tried. I probably could have got a Top 5 if I didn't attack, but I'd rather win with a gutsy attack than settle for a slightly better result. We will get them next time.
1 | Aljaz Jarc | Adria Mobil | 4h40'42 | 2 | Matt Zoricich | Minsk Cycling Club | s.t. | 3 | Anders Skaarseth | Uno-X Norwegian Dev. Team | s.t. | 4 | Dennis Van Winden | Monkey Town | s.t. | 5 | Franklin Six | Sovac - Natura4Ever | s.t. |
Race Day #28-32 at Baltic Chain Tour I'm fighting a little cold, but that shouldn't slow me down.
Spoiler
Summary: What should have been a boring sprint stage gets ripped to pieces on the speed bumps coming to the line. The peloton fractures and unprepared cyclists are thrown off the back. Chaos ensues as those in the rears tried to catch up.
Most couldn't. The damage had been done.
Result: 73rd - So much for taking an easy day to save some energy. I got caught on the wrong side of the split, losing 1'54." I might have to consider just pulling myself out of this race if I don't feel any better tomorrow. I could easily race the whole tour, but it might be wiser to just rest up and get ready for the big one: the Tour of Britain.
1 | André Looij | Monkey Town CT | 4h41'46 | 2 | Simon Sellier | La Plage Le Club | s.t. | 3 | Arvid De Kleijn | Metec - TKH Cyclingteam p/b Mantel | s.t. | 4 | Daniel López | Burgos - BH | s.t. | 5 | Youcef Reguigui | UnitedHealthcare | s.t. |
Spoiler
Summary: Early breakaway started by Marcus Diamond doesn't last, sprint finish won by local Estonian Laas Martin.
Result: Withdrawn - Following team orders, I put all my energy into making the morning breakaway. Six of us got away. I lasted until the only KoM climb. My legs gave out and it was a struggle to just take in oxygen, then it started to rain. That was the final straw. I dropped back through the peloton and hoped into the team car.
Team manager John Herety wasn't pleased, but I got nothing to prove here. I'm leaving at the end of the season and I need to regroup to be ready for my home tour through Great Britain in a week and an half.
Sorry, not sorry. *cough*
1 | Martin Laas | Sovac - Natura4Ever | 4h23'58 | 2 | Christoffer Lisson | Riwal CeramicSpeed Cycling Team | s.t. | 3 | Simon Sellier | La Plage Le Club | s.t. | 4 | Anders Skaarseth | Uno-X Norwegian Dev. Team | s.t. | 5 | Alexander Geuens | Sovac - Natura4Ever | s.t. |
Spoiler Date | Race | Winner | 1-Aug | PostNord Danmark Rundt | Maciej Bodnar | 1-Aug | Volta a Portugal | Georg Preidler | 4-Aug | Hansa Bygg Kalmar Road Race | Aljaz Jarc | 4-Aug | Tour de Pologne | Bob Jungels | 4-Aug | Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian | Julian Alaphilippe | 5-Aug | La Poly Normande | Damien Touze | 6-Aug | The Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah | Alexandre Geniez | 7-Aug | Vuelta a Burgos | Rigoberto Urán | 9-Aug | Czech Cycling Tour | Alexey Lutsenko | 11-Aug | KOGA Slag om Norg | Kenny Dehaes | 13-Aug | BinckBank Tour | Oliver Naesen | 15-Aug | Tour du Limousin - Nouvelle Aquitaine | David Gaudu | 16-Aug | Arctic Race of Norway | Ivan Sosa | 16-Aug | Colorado Pro Classic | Brandon McNulty | 19-Aug | EuroEyes Cyclassics Hamburg | Mikel Aristi | 21-Aug | Baltic Chain Tour | André Looij | 21-Aug | GP Stad Zottegem | Kristoffer Halvorsen | 22-Aug | Arnhem-Veenendaal Classic | Pim Ligthart | 23-Aug | Deutschland Tour | Simone Petilli | 25-Aug | Vuelta a España | | 25-Aug | Omloop Mandel-Leie-Schelde | Christophe Noppe | 25-Aug | Bretagne Classic-Ouest France | Arnaud Démare | 26-Aug | Ronde van Midden Nederland | Evaldas Siskevicius | 26-Aug | Croatia-Slovenia | André Cardoso | 29-Aug | Druivenkoers - Overijse | Owain Doull | 1-Sep | Brussels Cycling Classic | | 2-Sep | OVO Energy Tour of Britain | Marcus Diamond In | 2-Sep | Schaal Sels | | 2-Sep | Circuit de Fourmies | | 5-Sep | Tour of South Bohemia | | 7-Sep | Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec | | 8-Sep | De Kustpijl | | 9-Sep | Chrono Champenois | | 9-Sep | Tour du Doubs | | 9-Sep | Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal | | 12-Sep | Grand Prix de Wallonie | | 14-Sep | Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen | | 15-Sep | Coppa Agostoni - Giro delle Brianze | | 15-Sep | Primus Classic | | 16-Sep | GP Jef Scherens - Rondom Leuven | | 16-Sep | Coppa Bernocchi | | 16-Sep | GP Judendorf-Strassengel | Marcus Diamond In | 18-Sep | Industria e Commercio di Prato | | 18-Sep | Giro della Toscana | | 20-Sep | Coppa Sabatini | | 21-Sep | Omloop van de Westhoek | | 22-Sep | Memorial Marco Pantani | | 22-Sep | Tour de l'Eurométropole | | 23-Sep | Gooikse Pijl | Marcus Diamond In | 23-Sep | Grand Prix d'Isberques - Pas-de-Calais | | 23-Sep | Trofeo Matteotti | | 26-Sep | World Championships ITT | | 27-Sep | Famenne Ardennes Classic | | 30-Sep | World Championships | |
Training Ride
*Community Growth Development*
Spoiler - Each member gets 3.0 points to spread however they like over the 13 attributes listed above. One post per member.
- Stats work on a decimal system starting at 55.0.
- Stats are bumped up in PCM when they hit that number, ex. 55.9 = 55 in-game, and 61.4 = 61 stat in-game.
- The decimal numbers will remain hidden.
- There is a threshold for each stat when more points are needed to increase that stat. It's start off on a 1-to-1 scale where 1 point equals 1 stat upgrade. However, the scales get exponentially further and further apart the closer that stat gets to the maximum of 85. The increasing scale will also remain a mystery.
- Comment below to provide stat upgrades
Anonymous Text Message: "Nice job quitting on the team again today. Always doing everything you can to do the least amount of work. I'm sure your new teammates next year will enjoy that as much as I have."
What should Marcus Diamond do?
(A) Replay back trying to figure out who this came from.
(B) Replay back with a photo giving the middle finger and holding Tylenol in the other hand. Then send out a passive aggressive tweet about it.
(C) Ignore it.
(D) Get management and human resources involved.
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jandal7 |
Posted on 09-04-2019 05:14
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World Champion
Posts: 11392
Joined: 17-12-2014
PCM$: 1020.00
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Yay, it's back Option B sounds fun, but I'll go for A. Think that Marcus shouldn't have quit the race but that's a bit unwarranted as he hasn't done it before or gone way against team orders. C is fine too and D is unnecessary really.
+3 RES for the Tour of Britain coming up, he'll need it in a HC field.
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
5x x5
2x x2
2x x2
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DavidCorperial |
Posted on 09-04-2019 15:55
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Free Agent
Posts: 102
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I'll go for D and +3 Recovery |
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Scatmaster111 |
Posted on 10-04-2019 06:43
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Domestique
Posts: 409
Joined: 07-11-2014
PCM$: 200.00
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I know I'm kind of curious what would happen if he did B, but I'm actually going to choose A, as I think that's the best option. B and D would just exacerbate the conflict with whomever this is even more, and it might not be a good idea to just leave it sitting and just not even address it, who knows what might happen as a result shrug
+2 Cobblestones
+1 Stamina
I read through every page of this and I'm loving it so far! I look forward to following more.
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Mresuperstar |
Posted on 12-04-2019 19:17
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 8059
Joined: 22-06-2009
PCM$: 650.00
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2019 Football Offseason (Part 2): La Liga Recap
The top flight of Spanish football holds the highest reputation in the world, yet there have only three different winners of the league since the 2004-05 season.
That trend continued this season with Lionel Messi and FC Barcelona getting back on top for the first time in three seasons. While doing so, they only lost one game in the league (only lost two games all season).
Training Ground
*Community Growth Development*
Spoiler - Each member gets 5.0 points to spread however they like over the 36 attributes listed above. One post per member.
- Stats work on a decimal system starting at 1.0.
- Stats are bumped up in FM when they hit that number, ex. 2.9 = 2 in-game, and 13.4 = 13 stat in-game.
- The decimal numbers will remain hidden.
- There is a threshold for each stat when more points are needed to increase that stat. It's start off on a 1-to-1 scale where 1 point equals 1 stat upgrade. However, the scales get exponentially further and further apart the closer that stat gets to the maximum of 20. The increasing scale will also remain a mystery and is different from the cycling progression scale.
-Comment below to provide stat upgrades.
Text Reply: After receiving an unsolicited text about his work ethic, Marcus Diamond sent a text back, "And who is coward hiding behind their phone? If you got something to say, say it to my face."
No response back.
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jandal7 |
Posted on 12-04-2019 22:17
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World Champion
Posts: 11392
Joined: 17-12-2014
PCM$: 1020.00
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+2 Work Rate
+2 Flair
+1 Technique
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant."
[ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
5x x5
2x x2
2x x2
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DavidCorperial |
Posted on 13-04-2019 16:40
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Free Agent
Posts: 102
Joined: 13-06-2013
PCM$: 5600.00
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+5 Determination |
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Raziz |
Posted on 18-04-2019 12:01
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Domestique
Posts: 552
Joined: 22-12-2016
PCM$: 200.00
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+5 Dribbling |
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Tamijo |
Posted on 18-04-2019 15:23
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Team Leader
Posts: 7406
Joined: 14-07-2015
PCM$: 599.00
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Technique +5
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sammyt93 |
Posted on 18-04-2019 16:34
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Classics Specialist
Posts: 3634
Joined: 03-07-2012
PCM$: 300.00
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+2 Work Rate
+2 Decisions
+1 Concentration
Nice to see this back btw.
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jseadog1 |
Posted on 18-04-2019 17:53
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Grand Tour Champion
Posts: 9595
Joined: 18-07-2010
PCM$: 13552.00
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Haven't been posting but wanted to give a heads up that I am still here and really enjoy the direction this has been going.
+5 Leadership
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