Richard Moore

One of the things that helped me get through the pandemic was professional cycling.  I really got back into it when it came back in 2020 and one of my favorite parts of that was finding The Cycling Podcast.  It has been around since 2013, but for some reason I had never found it.  I had tried a few other cycling podcasts, but just missed it over the years.  Anyhow I found it and it immediately became my favorite source for cycling conversation.  Mostly because of the host of the show Richard Moore.  I like to look for people who talk about a sport in the same way I think about a sport.  They enjoy it, they want to better understand it, and mostly they just like to talk to other people about it as a way to create a community.  That is how Richard Moore approached talking about the sport of cycling and why I think people were so drawn to the podcast.  It's the only sporting podcast I've listened to that is the standard for the sport.  All the athletes listen, they are happy to be on it.  Journalist who cover the sport from all around come on and over time they have created multiple shows that run through the month.  You can hear interviews with riders, you can hear discussions on races, discussions on the sport as a whole.  They have a special show for women's pro cycling, and during the grand tours they have riders who keep diaries for the show.  It's quite simply the most brilliant podcast I've heard in how it brings all this together with all of these different contributors, but all carries that same tone of enjoyment for a sport they love and care about and want to share with others.  

Anyhow I was surprised when Wednesday got here this week and we still didn't have a new podcast, so I hopped on their website to see what was causing the delay when I saw that they were announcing Richard Moore's death.  At age 49 he had died and oddly it was a real punch in the gut.  I don't know Richard Moore, never read his work, and had only been listening to his show for a few years, but it felt like this wonderful voice that I so looked forward to hearing every week was suddenly just gone and I found that to be so sad.  He has a young family back in Scotland where he is from and it makes me heartbroken to think of their loss.  

There are a lot of wonderful words written about Moore.  I found this piece from Kate Wagner to be a very good one.  https://derailleur.substack.com/p/on-richard-moore?s=w  Maybe because I listened to all those episodes with her and it's funny to realize that what I assumed was happening was actually what was happening and it makes me happy to think this person you listen to that seems so nice, really is that person.  

Radio, TV,  podcasts, sports, they are all interesting ways for people to connect.  When you find someone who has a voice that you can really relate to there is an emotional connection there that is very interesting.  It's funny how much you enjoy hearing that voice, hearing their thoughts, getting their take on something.  When John Madden died there was a lot said about his impact on the sport.  But at the heart of it the reason we all loved Madden so much was because he enjoyed the sport in a way that we could all connect with.  Luckily with Madden we had a long time, sadly with Richard Moore it was so short.