In case you weren't aware, applications are currently open to join PCM.daily's long running Management Game. In short, the MG involves managing a team by deciding on goals and a race calendar, constructing a team during the transfer season, then deciding race linups, and following the race reports all season.

We had 77 users involved this year, most of whom were active all season, and can attest to how fun the game is!

Check out the Applications Thread for more info. Everyone is welcome to apply, and the number of people accepted will depend on the quality of the applications received.

Making Weekly News like it's nothing. - baseballlover312 (Weekly News #192)

Message From The DB Team

Dear members of PCM.daily,

Behind the scenes we've been busy with the preparations for the 2016DB. First of all, we've been busy finding a good replacement for Jesleyh to do the stats of our databases and after a while, we've found our ideal member: Tafiolmo. Also MARSUPILAMI and Clamel have agreed to help us develop the database. MARS will be working on 2016 graphics, while clamel will be implementing his own XML files.

After recruiting was complete, we made our plans for the 2016DB. We chose to completely redo the .cdb, trying to eliminate as many bugs as possible. Before we will release the database, we will test it more than we did with previous versions and thus solving most bugs before release. We will contact a few ex DB team members and well-known PCM.daily members if they would like to test the beta version of the 2016DB.

As always, we won't announce an estimated release date, especially since we want to take more time testing it. Posts asking for release dates won't get any responses from the DB Team.

haasje33
Leader of PCM.daily's Database Team

PCM.Daily Fantasy Cycling Season 2016

As you probably saw we are launching a new game here on PCM.Daily. You can find the news article here (or just below). But here's a quick summary and a reiteration of the link. Teams will be Drafted in a serpentine fashion. Almost any rider in the world will be eligible to take part. The rankings will be entirely based upon the CQ ranking, so any CQ counting race matters. The Admin team will be running the game.

For more information go to this thread which has a lot more detailed information about all the aspects of the game. If you want to take part then you will need to send a PM to roturn, and do it as soon as possible as we will be kicking off very very soon.

Man-Game Madness

It is the World Championships. We've crowned a number of winners already in the B Road Race, Team Time Trial, U23 Time Trial, Elite Time Trial and U23 Road Race. Just the big one still to be run down in South Africa. It's going to be a monsterous showdown of the games very elite climbers. Guaranteed action.

Alongside this is the continuing discussions about the 2016 season, links in last weeks news. Plus SN is still accepting applications to join the game. Very worth while sending in an application and submitting to the all consuming entity that is the Management Game.

Woody's Round-up

CX:AND is just about to start it's 3rd season, 2016-17. The calendar has been confirmed, including the World Championships course. The season was previewed in style by Ian Butler, whos commitment to the game is extraordinary. The racing is about to begin in the next few days and it will be incredible.

Tangofoxx took his second win of the season in the rFactor league. He took a commanding win in Melbourne whilst Paul23 keeps his champinoships lead very much intact. Next up, Montreal in 2 weeks time.

Finally the Daily Song Contest is back! The 4th edition is coming and sign-ups are still just about open for the moment. Antwerp hosts what promises to be the best competition yet. EwanWilson continues to do an excellent organising job.

PCM.Daily is getting bigger and bigger and while we already have community games such as the Man Game, Fantasy Betting or a couple of member led games, we thought about a new fantasy game for some time now. 
As already mentioned in the latest Weekly News, here is the announcement of what is going to start with the upcoming cycling season: A Fantasy Cycling Game based on real life results.

Game Idea

The idea behind the game is quite basic. After the manager selection process, we will organize a quick draft to create the teams. This will happen in a serpentine draft system to make it as fair as possible. Draftable are basically all riders of the CQ ranking. So lots of tactical decisions can be made in this part. Team sizes also depend on shown interest by members but it is planned to see team sizes of at least 20.
Afterwards the game stays quite simple for the rest of the year. All races no matter the category are going to count as long as they go into the CQ Ranking as those will be the base for the game ranking. The admin team is going to send out ranking updates throughout the year to keep a nice discussion in between the managers. 

Draft Rules

There will be some rules for the draft of course as this is the part of the game, where we want to create a good balance. This includes for example the cutting of the very best top riders to avoid some overpowered teams, that got lucky to get a top draft position.
The draft itself will be done via big boards. So all managers would send in a long list for a couple of draft rounds. We admins then quickly go through those and always pick the highest non-picked rider according to the draft order. Every couple of days we would ask for a new updated big board until we have finished the complete draft, which obviously has at least 20 rounds to get the needed team size.

What next?

We are looking for members (50+ posts), that want to take part in this game first. This process is expected to be quite quick. If interested, just send me a PM. Take care you will have enough time for the initial draft, that is supposed to happen within the first 3 December weeks to avoid the Christmas Days and before January, where the first races already take part.

If you have any questions, feel free to post them in this thread.

Wait, your name isn't Ian Butler? WAT? - baseballlover312 (Café Pedro)

Wider Community News

This will be of particular interest to those of you that are French, and the rest should still find it useful to know. PCM France, creators of the FDB (which is not the Focus DB), has changed in a big way! They have merged themselves with a big general cycling forum in France, Le Gruppetto.

Le Gruppetto was founded by ex-Cyanide forumers and has grown into a real hub for cycling discussion in French. So if you are looking for PCM France you can now find them at Le Gruppetto, as well as a bucket load of general cycling chat and many other cool things. If you want a link, then here's one. Best of luck PCM France by Le Gruppetto. Thanks to Médé33 for letting the community know

Man-Game Madness

I was worried this issue would be 99% Man-Game, so thank you PCM France! We'll begin with the divisional news updates. We've finished the regular season now and in dramatic style across the board. Ponzi, Good Energy, might have won in Lombardia but that was overshadowed as Festina, managed by SotD, stormed to a late PT Title! In the PCT McCarthy, BoI, was victorius in Japan as Aegon held onto their lead to take the PCT crown. Finally in the CT De Maar, Carlsberg, shocked in Zurich as Novatek came from behind to win the CT division. Congrats to all thre champion teams.

I won't go through all the rankings in detail here, just visit: Final CT Rankings 2015, Final PCT Rankings 2015, Final PT Rankings 2015 yourselves for the details and discussion as we digest a fantastic and close fought season.

Now onto some more news. Want to join the Management Game? 2016 Season well now you can! Sign-ups are officially open so visit the thread for details. Come one, come all and join this amazing adventure we call the Management Game!

More news! Lots of Man-Game stuff this week. Give us your opinions on various topics about what you want for the 2016 season! Rider Form, Crash Frequency, Time Bonsues and General Ideas. Give us your thoughts on a wide range of subjects. Plus it's not too late to suggest New Riders either.

That's pretty much all the Man-Game news. Now it's time for the World Championships and National Championships! Post-Season means plenty of things are happening.

Story Games Summary

The ICL is on the verge of beginning it's new season. The Grand Tour routes were revealed recently and the final team planning stages are well underway. Precise kick-off time unknown but keep an eye out for he opening races certainly this side of Christmas.

The big game is CX: A New Dawn. The off-season is in full flow! New riders are appearing, saying hello and finding their teams. New teams are forming and old ones disbanding. The initial calendar is confirmed, just the minor details and dates to be confirmed. The Worlds rumors begin in ernest as well at this time of year. Plenty of action, and this is the time to sign-up and join one of the best initiatives this site has ever had, courtesy of Ian Butler.

Notes From Admin(s)

I apologise for a recent lack of Weekly News's. Not going to go into details but they will be back now and consistently posted on Sundays/Mondays as we run towards the end of the year. Now it's up to you lot to keep giving me things that are news worthy every week.

Finally, we've got a nice little extra announcement coming very soon that i'm certain you'll all enjoy. A real colaborative effort i think is pretty neat. #spoilers

The PCM.Daily Fantasy Betting Season 2015 has come to an end after the last open bet just got paid out. It was a very exciting season with more than 200 bets and a fight closer than ever. Actually the tension was very high until the end as the first three in the rankings were within 20 points. Everyone, who at least once played our Fantasy Betting knows, how quick you can lose those 20 PCM$!

The waiting for the last bet deadline though was more exciting than the outcome. All three podium candidates lost that bet and no other could close the gap to them. So here the top5 of the 2015 season.

The winner of the 2015 Fantasy Betting is SportingNonsense. Our Super Administrator showed his knowledge of the sport but also showed how to win by betting only on a very small amount of bets in comparison to most others. 21 bets in total delivered him the title. Winning 1/3 of them was enough as he had a couple of big time wins. Most impressive surely the 80 PCM$ bet in the Tour de France Stage 12 on Rodriguez, which delivered him a win of 2000 PCM$. And while the odds were probably pretty well, only 4/54 had the money on him that day. With wins in the GP Wallonie and Paris-Tours he defended the lead late in the season. Congrats to SN for the Betting Title in 2015!

Runner up in 2015 is Strydz with just 3 PCM$ off. His biggest gains probably were during the Tour de France, where he had won important "Another Rider" bets on Stages 4, 11, 14, 16 & 17. Though he also gambled at times by spending 1000 PCM$ on a 1.10 odded Dowsett in the British ITT Nationals. Having lots of late season success since the Vuelta KoM and up to the last Autumn classics, he entered the podium and did defend it until the end. 

The last step on the podium and as mentioned only 20 PCM$ behind is Elch, who started with some small wins in Marseille, Murcia, Oman or the early cobbles already. The big money though was also earned in one bet. Spending 550 PCM$ on the Vuelta KoM delivered him almost 2000 PCM$ in the end. Since then though he only won 3/11 bets and couldn`t pass the other two. 

Last two mentions go to the next in the ranking. acac as 4th had some very high odd bets but lacked the success in most. Though he had one of the biggest wins of the season when he got 1444 PCM$ back when he had Valverde in Liege Bastogne Liege. Similar amount of PCM$ was won by Ohmmermer when he betted Contador as Giro winner and Greipel as winner on the Champs Elysses. But both were too far off in the end to attack the podium but also proved that missing the first part of the season can still move you very high in the end.

Thanks to all for participating in the PCM.Daily Fantasy Betting Game 2015 and hopefully we will see you back in 2016 for the next season.