Hi Ben Hobbs, or should I say The Real Starky? For the few readers who don’t know you, could you talk about yourself, your parody twitter account, your new website and your podcast?
Ben Hobbs is the preferred nomenclature. I host a podcast called TRS Radio along with a fella named “Dark Mark”. After the release of the Chris McCormack interview last week, we blew past 200,000 downloads in just 39 episodes. It’s a highly irreverent comedy and interview show that’s meant to be both humorous and entertaining. I also publish a website, trstriathlon.com, that is probably best known for its unique articles, extremely lively forum and fantasy triathlon games that pay out very nice prize purses (fantasy triathlon is not gambling – it’s a completely legal game of skill).
When and why did you choose to tell everyone your real identity?
To be honest, I don’t really remember the details. At first, the mystery and intrigue generated interest. Speculation added to the fun. Plus, I didn’t really have the desire to become personally “internet famous”. The joy was in the stunt itself. It was my own little private joke for a long time. That was enough. That said, when I showed up in Lake Placid for the 7th place check presentation, I wasn’t about to introduce myself as “The Real Starky”. That would have been really odd.
The other thing that weighed on me was the cowardice inherent in criticizing others anonymously. It feels better to criticize and also have my name in the bio. Would the twitter account have amounted to anything if I made the same jokes and wrote the same rants as Ben Hobbs? I doubt it. Is it more fun to out of the closet? Yes. It’s been quite interesting to get to know a lot of the pros and industry folks. I’ve actually made some friends which you can’t do when you’re in hiding.
Why did you choose do a parody twitter account of Andrew Starykowicz instead of any other triathlete? Even though, he’s well known in the USA, he’s not the most popular triathlete.
This was not something I gave a lot of thought to. He struck me as a Kenny Powers type of athlete, he was in the news and I was arrogant enough to believe that I could make people laugh. I created the account and started tweeting. There was no plan. I didn’t envision any of this.
When you created this account, did you talk to Andrew Starykowicz? What was his reaction?
He messaged me and asked if I would remove his image. I was happy to comply. That’s when the “cock” image began. I posted a tweet asking for help drawing or creating an image. Someone tweeted a rooster. I thought it was funny and went with it.
How long did it take to become a popular twitter account and when did you get more followers than the real twitter account?
I don’t really remember. It feels like it happened pretty quickly. Back then, I just tried to write jokes that were funny enough to get retweeted. That’s how it grew. I am far less focused today on joke writing. During this transition, I realized the importance of hiring an editor for your freelance projects. This allowed me to refine my work and maintain a high standard of quality. Now, I’ve allowed Dark Mark to be the funny one, so I can focus on being the best publisher in the business.
What we like about your triathlon website and your podcast is that it is really different from other triathlon resources. Instead of interviewing bicycles companies to talk about the different components of the bike, you prefer to let triathletes talk about funny stories and anecdotes. What is your opinion about the other triathlon resources (websites, podcasts, magazines…)? Do you think there’s too much emphasis on equipment and training advices and not enough on the personality of the Pro triathletes?
Actually, I think the publisher of Trimes strongly dislikes me and what I do, but I’m glad you like my website and podcast. Thank you. Personally, I’m interested in athletes as humans with personalities and relationships and stories to tell. That’s why I talk about those things on the podcast. If I cared about gear or tech or bikes, I would probably talk about that stuff, but I don’t.
I don’t have any opinions about what other websites or magazines or podcasts should emphasize. I’m very focused on being the best at everything I choose to do. I think I have the most professionally produced and most interesting podcast in the sport, and I don’t think that any serious person could argue that we DON’T have the best race recaps. Not only is the writing much better, but we also offer a multimedia experience in terms of embedded audio clips and the occasional video. Our forum experience is both technologically and socially superior to the blue and gray dinosaur. Are you seeing a pattern here? The pattern is that we will beat Slowtwitch in everything we do. Why? Because I’m smarter, more interesting more creative and more tenacious than Herb and Stan combined. Let me be fair and pay them a compliment, however. They’re very good at age grouper interviews and adverpictorials of bicycles. I will give them that. I don’t personally enjoy them, but other people must. Otherwise, Stan wouldn’t publish them every week.
You have a few sponsors for your website and your podcast but it is still really hard to make money with a website and a podcast, why do you think it is difficult for a triathlon resource to make money? Is it because the sport is too small or because there’s too much small triathlon websites and podcasts?
First of all, the small niche sites are often more interesting than the big 3. I like what Witsup, First Off the Bike and others are doing. As far as economics, tt would be easy to make money if I had the time to sell advertisements. We get really good traffic already and we’re growing rapidly. Forum traffic in particular is blowing up. However, because I have a full time job that remains a priority, I simply don’t have time to market my product to potential advertising partners. With the few hours a day I can spend on this hobby, I am focused on creating and sourcing interesting and unique content every single day. If I do that, the rest will take care of itself. Advertisers will call me. Yes, the sport is small and there is a probably a ceiling for a blogger/podcaster like me. Believe me, sometimes I wish I had started a LeBron James parody account instead.
How do you think triathlon could become a bigger sport? What should organizations like Challenge and Ironman, journalists and Pro triathletes do to make the sport more popular?
Of course the sport can get bigger. Event organizers should put on great events, journalists should tell great stories and pro athletes should compete hard and put on a good show. The biggest inhibitor or increased popularity is probably the high cost of participation. I don’t think that a person like my father could or would participate in triathlon today. We didn’t have money. He was a teacher and my mom stayed home with 4 kids. Back then, he wasn’t totally out of place with a $200 road bike with 4 bananas taped to the top tube. Today, someone would probably take a pic and he’d be ridiculed online. It’s become an elitist sport for white rich clowns wanting to one-up their neighbor who just ran a marathon.
When you hear about Challenge Family removing the price money for the races in America and Ironman not wanting to have equal spots for Men and Women in Kona do you think the sport is going in the wrong direction? Do you think events organizations want to make too much money at the expense of the Pro triathletes and the sport in general?
The desire to earn money isn’t the issue. Ironman’s problem is that their outlook is strictly short term. If their desire was to maximize profits for the long term, they would make better decisions. Instead they look only to maximize the proceeds of their rapidly approaching exit. Challenge doesn’t seem to be able to figure out how to run profitable events in the United States. I hope they can turn it around because we all benefit if Ironman has some competition.
Now, lets talk about you! How do you find time to have a job, a family, a parody twitter account, a website and a podcast? Do you have time to sleep!?
This has become a pet peeve. I don’t have a parody twitter account. If I were writing jokes in the voice of Andrew Starykowics, that would make me a parody. I haven’t done that in over a year. Moving along, I will admit that there is too much on my plate and I’m very stressed out at times. This results in the occasional angry outburst on twitter. I know that I need to either remove some commitments or learn to better cope with stress and anxiety.
When you started doing triathlons, you right away registered for an Ironman, like so many people do, why do you think so many people feel the need to register for an Ironman before even doing a Sprint distance triathlon, or in some cases, before even learning out to swim?
I don’t know why other people feel the way they do. I was into cycling at the time, I was living in Downtown Denver, I was extremely unattached and my best friend and I were drawn to it as a ridiculous one-and-done challenge. We weren’t attracted to the lifestyle of triathlon. We were simply up for an adventure. I certainly don’t regret it. In fact, it was a blast. However, it’s not something I would advise other people to try.
What do you like about triathlon and what made you want to do a triathlon when you first started?
What do you dislike about triathlon and/or triathletes?
I was attracted to the challenge. Plus, my dad was into the sport when I was a kid. It always seemed pretty cool. I don’t dislike anything about triathlon except for the lack of inclusivity that I addressed earlier. From a personal participation perspective, I simply don’t have time to train for it. I enjoy professional triathlon racing as a fan and critic only.
Who is the most interesting triathlete to interview and who is the most boring?
The most interesting person I’ve ever interviewed is Conrad Stoltz. I love hearing about where he comes from, his life outside of triathlon, and his perspective on the sport. Plus, he’s got great stories like the one about killing a baboon with his bare hands after it attacked his dog. Now you want most boring? No one else on the planet would actually answer that question, but I will even though it will make some people mad and hurt someone’s feelings. I couldn’t think of anybody at first, so I opened up a browser and looked at all of my previous guests. One interview stood out because I couldn’t remember anything that we talked about. It may or may not have been boring, but if I can’t remember anything that we talked about it might have been. I do recall that he was a really nice guy, and I’m already sorry for what I’m about to say. My answer is Brent McMahon. Sorry Brent.
Finally, what is your top 3 Men and Women for Kona?
Rinny, Ryf and Swallow. Frodeno, Kienle and Van Lierde.
http://trstriathlon.com/radio/
Thanks for the time Antoine!