GCN Plus is a cycling streaming service, offering European races and exquisite films that expand the world of the rider.  Yesterday Warner Brothers, the parent company, cancelled the service.  (Sigh)  No more races or films, and apparently no access to ones in the library of content.

I’m sad. 

I love the flow of the peleton racing through gorgeous landscapes, the thrill of a small breakaway group trying to make it to the finish line before being swallowed by the mass of cyclists.

And the films!  Stories of inspiring riders, really ordinary folks like you and me … but so alive!

My favourite GCN Plus film is Westfjords: Riding Iceland. Jenny Graham is a solo rider exploring the big, wide world, smiling through rainstorms and encounters with all sorts of people.

This time it was the fjords of Iceland. Meet Gunnar – a snowplow driver:

His job was to keep the hilly winter roads open so local folks can get out and get back home again. He worried about being swept off the road by an avalanche … but he had a job to do – serving his neighbours. Gunnar’s conversation with Jenny included lots of smiles at both ends.

And then there’s Frida:

She’s in Grade Five with four other kids in her isolated town. She loves hanging out with her friends, riding her horse … and biking.

“It’s hard in the winter. It’s so dark.” Jenny brings out the best in the happy young one.

GCN Plus shows me thrills and spills and the tenderness of people being themselves.

Amid the sorrow is the need to act. I wrote this on a cycling website:

I hope that some wealthy, cycling-loving person is reading these comments and sees the gap that has been created by Warner Brothers. May your company recognize the opportunity to serve cyclists around the world and to display your product or service for all to see.

Please jump in.

I will also be writing Warner Brothers

I have faith that all will be well in the end