How Fausto, a print cycling magazine, got six press yeses in ten hours

A PressWhisper case study: we didn't pitch one cycling magazine, and the people who write about print and design said yes.

Steven Heller asked Brad Roe about the rumour that print is dead. Brad's answer ran in PRINT on 16 September: "We've heard some rumblings about that but it isn't true at all."

Heller spent more than three decades as an art director and writer at The New York Times. He'd said yes to writing about Fausto just over six hours after we pitched it.

Fausto is a 148-page, print-first cycling magazine from Albany, California, made by the three people who created 111 issues of Peloton magazine. On 2 September 2026 we pitched it through White Glove, the done-for-you side of PressWhisper, the PR platform I co-founded. It went to design, media and sport desks and to podcasts. Not one cycling magazine. Six said yes inside ten hours.

Who makes Fausto?

Brad Roe, Tim Schamber and Adam Reek made Peloton magazine for 111 issues. Heller's first sentence calls them "111 beautiful issues". Outside Media bought the title and the print edition stopped.

In 2025 they started again with Fausto: print first, 148-page magazines, and the North American rights to the Official Tour de France Guide through 2028. "Once Peloton stopped … there was a void, not just in the industry, but for me personally," Brad told Heller. "Fausto is the answer to that void."

Why we didn't pitch a single cycling magazine

The obvious list for a cycling magazine is every other cycling magazine. We left them all off: no cycling titles, sites or newsletters. Podcasts were allowed.

The story wasn't the racing. It was three people who sold their magazine, saw it stop printing, and went back to print anyway, with a 148-page object you'd keep. That's a story for the people who cover print and the buisness of media, so it went to them, and to sport and travel desks and a run of podcasts.

The yeses

Every pitch opened on something the journalist had already made. Heller's opened on his USE CASE interview, the one that went straight to paper stocks, inks and typography. Brian Morrissey's opened on his own "revenge of analog" piece at The Rebooting.

Then the replies came in: • Bike Talk, a cycling podcast, said yes to an interview after 13 minutes.

• The Athletic asked for a copy after 24 minutes.

• The Rebooting replied after an hour and 28 minutes, wanting Brad or Adam on the show to talk about the business model.

• Heller replied after six hours and 15 minutes: "I'd like to write Fausto up for PRINTmag.com / The Daily Heller."

• Monocle's The Stack said yes after eight hours and 26 minutes and asked for the latest issue.

• One more came in before the ten hours were up.

Magazines saying yes to a magazine

PRINT writes about design, and Monocle's The Stack is a radio show about magazines. The Rebooting covers the reinvention of media. People who cover magazines for a living said yes to one.

What's happened since

PRINT published "The Daily Heller: Cycling Through the Digital and Back to Print" on 16 September, 14 days after the pitch. Before he sent a single question, Heller asked for a PDF of the first issue and eight images of spreads and the cover.

Brad's line on print: "Print is back, maybe a bit smaller and more focused, but it's back."

The Rebooting booked Brad and Adam to record on 28 September. Monocle and Bike Talk run on their own calendars. Brad's verdict, on LinkedIn: "It works! We've had an incredible week at Fausto Magazine thanks to Jim Edmondson and PressWhisper. I'm a believer, but to be honest, I believed in Jim after five minutes on our first call." You can read Fausto's press kit.

What other founders can take from this

1. Pitch outside your own trade. Fausto never went to a cycling magazine, and design and media desks said yes.
2. Offer the thing itself. Three of the five outlets named here asked for the magazine or its pages before anything else.
3. Lead with the history. "Peloton's founders went back to print. The Tour de France signed them" was the subject line The Rebooting said yes to.
4. Keep the offer small and real. Every pitch offered two things: an interview with Brad and a copy of Issue 009.

If you're making something beautiful that's worth talking about, it will get press. Send me a copy.

FAQ

What is Fausto?

Fausto is a print-first cycling magazine from Albany, California, founded in 2025 by Brad Roe (co-founder and editor-in-chief), Tim Schamber (creative director) and Adam Reek (advertising director), who previously created 111 issues of Peloton magazine. Its magazines run to 148 pages, and it holds the North American rights to the Official Tour de France Guide through 2028.

What press coverage did Fausto get?

PressWhisper pitched Fausto on 2 September 2026 and had six yeses within ten hours. Steven Heller's piece, "The Daily Heller: Cycling Through the Digital and Back to Print", ran on printmag.com on 16 September 2026. Monocle's The Stack also said yes, Bike Talk asked to interview Brad Roe, The Rebooting booked Brad Roe and Adam Reek to record, and The Athletic asked for a copy.

Why didn't PressWhisper pitch cycling magazines?

Because the story was print, design and the people who make magazines. The campaign left out every cycling title, site and newsletter and went to design, media, sport and travel desks and to podcasts.

How do you get press coverage for a magazine or a physical product?

Start with the people who cover what your product says about the world. For Fausto that meant print, design and media. Open each pitch on something that journalist has already made, and offer the object itself: three of the five outlets named here (PRINT, Monocle's The Stack and The Athletic) asked for a copy of the magazine or its pages.

Is print dead?

Not according to Fausto. Asked about it by Steven Heller in PRINT, Fausto co-founder Brad Roe said: "We've heard some rumblings about that but it isn't true at all," adding, "Print is back, maybe a bit smaller and more focused, but it's back."

What is PressWhisper?

PressWhisper is a UK PR platform co-founded by Jim Edmondson and Jay Abbott. It builds a press kit from your website and matches the story to up to 20 of the 65,000+ journalists it maps, with a personal pitch for each. It's free to start, and White Glove is the done-for-you version, which is how Fausto's campaign ran.