"It's a world record; it's supposed to be hard." - Sarah Storey

Admin Applications Still Open

As announced last week, applications are still open to become an administrator on the website.

Given the departure of two admins, we are currently considering whether there is need to appoint one or more new admins to help out with the site.

If you are interested in this position, please feel free to send a PM to SportingNonsense, explaining why you would make a good admin for the site, perhaps including ideas of how you would aim to contribute. - written by SN

New Patch Released

As covered on Wednesday Cyanide have released a new patch for PCM14. The big fixes were to online gameplay. Primarily this was fixing stability and crash issues, but aslo adding in custom tour and stage features as well as some Amada housekeeping.

On the single player side they added the ability to force your riders trajectory on the road. This opens up some great opportunities on windy stages and for avoiding those pesky blocking breaks. Cyandie also made changes to TTT AI to change their difficulty.

Man-Game Madness

The final month continues to ratchet up the pressure across the game. The PT title fight refuses to be decided, same for the CT title. Both of those look set to go to the last day of racing. Similarly close for various relegation and promotion battles in all three divisions. Frankly almost anything can still happen.

This week has seen a spike in action off the road. The closing of the season has signalled a rush in Team HQ updates. New sponsors, old sponsors, new jerseys, stat changes and just general chit chat between managers. Worth reading for both existing managers and those hoping to join up in the future.

Story Games Summary

EPIC exploded! The TDU concluded with Katusha and Kristoff on top of the opening WT event. EBH and Sky sealed Qatar. Stybar reigned on the cobbles in KBK. Garate brokeaway to win in Marseillaise. Von Triesenburg brokeaway to win Strade Bianche. And then San Luis and Oman are mid-race as well. Tons and tons of action!

The ICL keeps up though. Cancellara won MSR after Paris-Nice and Vuelta Tachira concluded. Nibali, for Air China, won Tachira in style. Costa, for LA Aluminios, won Paris-Nice just ahead of teammate Velits. But there's always more racing to see in the ICL, very very active.

Thread of the Week

A close call this week. However a dramatic finish to IWS and Dekkers Hour attempt almost were considered for the top sport. The Cycling News thread has been buzzing, not for exactly the right reasons, also coming close. But it's Thread of the Week for the Belgium opening weekend 2015 thread, still to be very active tomorrow as well.

Patch 1.4.0.1 Released

As surprising as it might sound Cyanide has delivered us a brand new PCM14 patch! The focus of the patch is the Online game modes, claiming to fix up a lot of instabilities and crashes brought about through the new hosting system. Interestingly there' also some Single Player changes including the ability to manually alter a riders trajectory using the keyboard.

You can download the patch from here, but note that it's not available through Steam at this time. You will need to alter the install directory accordingly.

Details can be found by clicking Read More. It will soon be available in our own Downloads section. And thanks to emmea for alerting us to it.

"Often the best guys are just those that can suffer longer, who don't give up." - David Millar

Alakagom & Rin Step Aside

I'll begin with the big news that Alakagom and Rin have stepped down from their Admin positions this week. Alakagom has been a big part of the Daily DB and Fantasy Betting sections in his time, whilst Rin has been a big driver of the Downloads section and Cyclist Interviews initiative. Fine examples of Admins they will be missed from their positions, but hopefully will still be around the site. Thanks guys!

Given the departure of two admins, we are currently considering whether there is need to appoint one or more new admins to help out with the site.

If you are interested in this position, please feel free to send a PM to SportingNonsense, explaining why you would make a good admin for the site, perhaps including ideas of how you would aim to contribute. - written by SN

Downloads Updated

This week has seen us catch up a bit in the Downloads section. Mentioned last week the PCM Spain Graphic Pack has been added alongside sgdannys The Next Generation DB and most recently the JESGD 2015 DB. We will continue to look for new things to add the section.

The Downloads section can be for almost anything but don't forget we also have the Shirt Database and Tips and Tricks section to enhance your PCM playing experiences. If you think your DB or Graphics Pack should be in the Downloads section send a PM to Jesleyh (or another Admin) and he'll take a look.

Man-Game Madness

I don't know where to focus this update. It's October, the final month of the season, and things are reaching a thrilling conclusion across the entire game. In the PT Vesuvio leads Wikipedia by 59 points for the title! Rothaus is still trying to claw back to Volkswagen for safety.

Quickstep have pretty much sealed the PCT title. Also the guaranteed promotion spots are basically set as well, but the fight for the Top10 and the un-confirmed promotion places is tight with Gazelle in the driving seat going to back-to-back promotions. At the bottom of the PCT Boeing are pushing hard to survive just 81 points behind Hornbach. But Project: Africa chases as well, whilst Allianz must keep an eye over their shoulder.

For the CT Bonsucro are almost champions but ONCE are pushing very very hard. Risa are keeping Euskaltel moving in the chase for 5th place and the final confirmed promotion place. The battle for the Top10 is also incredibly tight with many teams knowing that could see them move up a division. The Wooden Spoon however looks destined for Live Nation at the bottom.

Story Game Summary

Let's start with the ICL. Trucking through the races puts it lightly. Already into March(!) the opening races have seen a variety of expected and surprise winners across the divisions. Currently Tachira holds focus and is an epic battle of the climbers.

Speaking of EPIC the game picked up some serious speed this week. Villella, Cannondale, leads the TDU following a well timed breakaway. Marc de Maar leads San Luis after a well timed breakaway. Edvald Boasson Hagen leads the Tour of Qatar after a blistering ITT. Lots of racing action to enjoy!

Thread of the Week

Rather than give it to one thread for the second time i'll give it to a whole sub-forum. Games has been thriving in the quiet time of the season, as it so often does. Like CycloCross? We've got a game for that. Like Eurovision? We've got a game for that. Like Chess? We've got a game for that. Like Motorsport? We've got a game for that. Like trash reality TV? We've got a game for that.

"It was eleven more than necessary." - Jacques Anquetil

First Tour de France 2015 News

Cyanides console Tour de France series might not be the most popular game of theirs but to us it matters. superider2010 came across the first pieces of game related news this week. As yet unconfirmed early signs show the game will be available on PS3, PS4 and X1 (note the absence of an X360 at this time) from 17th June. Currently the information is only available from panvision.com but it's time to start keeping eyes open.

Big Brother Is Watching Us

Not some Orwellian nightmare but the return of the game hosted by jseadog1. Sign-ups are still very much open to take part in Season 2 of the game. Changes have been made to speed up the game and it looks promising. The podium finishers of Season 1 are back along with a host of other regular, and non-regular, game players. It will certainly be interesting to watch even if you don't want to take part. Check out the thread here.

Man-Game Madness

The ProTour has headed to the Tour of Northern Europe, a race misxed with hills, cobbles, time trials and sprints. A winner has to be a true all-rounder. Three days in and Marcus Burghardt leads for Lotto-Australia Post by a healthy margin, but this race loves to mess things around! The promotion fight is muted but this race is key for those battling relegation.

The Candian double-header was this week. Quebec gather the best PCT talent and Carlos Betancourt winning for FCB. Montreal was for the best CT talent and this time Kirill Pozdnyakov of Ameriabank came away with the win. We also witnessed Mikhail Ignatiev claiming a comfortable Tour of Britain victory for Metinvest as well.

Story Game Summary

EPIC kick started it's season in Gabon. Heimdal Haag of NetApp defended an early breakaway lead to claim a surprise GC victory. Fan favorite Delfi Cervero managed an impressive 4th place on GC, while neo-pro Weschenbach claimed 5th and the Points jersey for Sky. Next up is a stacked San Luis and a high level Tour Down Under.

ICL also began it's Season 2 this week! Kwiatkowski and Gazprom jumo out to an early Rankings lead after a strong January. Cataldo and Saeco lead the CT division, whilst Bauhaus and FC Porto lead the Development league. Very early days though and plenty of racing to go.

Thread of the Week

Spoiled for choices this week. Qatar has kept the Other Races Thread somewhat busy, along with the other early season events. Malaysia/China races keep the rFactor league buzzing over. There's also been an increase in DB and Stage threads/activity this week with various new projects and updates coming out. My Thread of the Week goes to the PCM Spain Graphic Pack by MARSUPILAMI. The collection of 249 jersey packs might not be the busiest thread but the effort and convenience has to be rewarded!

"If it hurts me, it must hurt the other ones twice as much" - Jens Voigt

You Can Do It To!

As known for a while now we have a number of very active and serious cyclists ni our community. Strydz is often out doing insane distances and numbers, Everesting or just making himself hurt. The Stava group this week has clocked in thousands of kilometers yet again. But huge shoutout and congratulations to aidanvn13 for competing in the South African National Championships at the Junior level.

His exploits have been clsoely followed in the 2015 National Championships thread with adianvn finishing 3rd in the ITT and 9th in the RR. A terrific result for him and we all eaglery await the next step for him.

Tour of America

The Man-Game PCT/CT Grand Tour has been happening for the past week or so. The race has provided shocks and surprises in it's opening 11 stages. Three of the PCT relegation battle teams, BelarusBank, Boeing-Bulgaria and Mobil-Aeropostal, are attending as are several of the promotion fighting CT teams like Bonsucro. Ryan Eastman of Heineken leads the race at the moment but with 10 stages to go anything can happen in this event.

In conjuction with this tsmoha has been announcing his own Tour of America variant. In his thread tsmoha has been giving us some great screenshots and information on the route for the race. Only two stages are currently available to download but i know i can't wait for the rest!

Man-Game Madness

The PT Title fight cranked up a level at the Deutschland Tour this week. Taylor Phinney dominated the GC fight to pick up big points for second in the rankings Wikipedia. But currently leading Vesuvio placed Frank Schleck in third to battle hard. The chase for the title is so close between the two teams it looks like it's going to go all the way to the final day.

Bottom of the PCT Compal-Merida stole some glory this week by winning Zagreb-Ljubljana with Yousef Mirza Banihammad from a surprise breakaway. Compal are having a horrid season and it's great to see them getting some success. The CT teams were in action at the Herald Sun Tour were Jose Mendes reigned victorious for promotion chasing Bank of Ireland.

This week also saw Lotto-Australia Post and manager Rin announce that the team will disband at the end of the season. Lotto are having a great season and Rin has been an outstanding manager for a number of years. It's sad to see him leave but great to see him go out on top!

Story Game Summary

The ICL has kicked into gear again with teams currently undergoing race planning and racing expected to start sometime in the coming week, hopefully. EPIC is one step ahead and is on the verge of beginning Season 2 in Gabon. The year will kick off with the Tropicale Amissa Bongo but until then there's been some great previews from Brewers90 and The Tracker that are worth reading.

Mre's H2H League is getting close to Play-Offs. The battles are hotting up and it's holding up to the high expectations Mre now has to live with. Ian Butlers CycloCross game is also back on track having fixed some rankings issues that slowed it down this week.

Thread of the Week

The National Championships thread comes close this week. Also the Womens Cycling thread has been active due to action in Qatar. The Other Races thread has been buzzing thanks to the Dubai Tour. Really it's been a good week for real cycling threads, all worth a read. IWS has also come back to life this week. But my Thread of the Week is, well it's more Sub-Forum of the Week, Other Sports. Plenty of F1 talk, NFL talk, NHL talk, NBA talk and now Rugby talk it's a buzzing place right now!