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Just to add some fuel to the fire, it's long been my opinion that nobody should feel entitled to make a living from sport. If you happen to be very good at a sport that also happens to be very popular, you stand to make a lot of money, and bully for you! But that's not a right. If, however, you're very good at an unpopular sport, just enjoy being good at something. If the sport is also dangerous, you also have a risk/reward equation to balance in your head before competing. But nobody's forcing you to take those risks.

I'll add something to this discussion. I'm too dumb for electronic drivetrains. I've been lucky enough to own them on a road bike and a mountain bike, and on both bikes I had to constantly think (hard) about how to use the shifter. Months into riding them, I would still shift the wrong way because I forgot which direction the shifter went. I have so much muscle memory into physical cable-operated shifting that my brain struggles to learn a new shifting habit. It doesn't help that there's absolutely zero kinesthetic feedback for your thumb in an electronic shift beyond an...

Yeah Sam never really had much of a reputation for anything other than being really ridiculously fast and being quite a nice guy. Where other riders get kind of pigeonholed for different aspects of their career e.g. Minnaar is known for his methodical approach and racecraft, Gwin for developing products for relatively niche brands, Peaty for his big personality. It is testament to how good Hill was in his prime that he was only ever known as being really fast on a bike and amazing to watch because of that.

Welcome to 2024, when one of a sponsored rider’s attributes is being a giant corporate automaker “ambassador.” “Check out my cool retro off-road vehicle with nostalgia points, and optional catastrophic engine failure.”

Gwin's latest insta post

I would love to see a larger focus on domestic racing and get more involvement nationally as well as more American riders at the world cup. I think Aaron is in a great position for that, especially with his coaching sessions that he's been advertising. There's a lot soon to come from America and I am super excited to see it happen.

The admittedly unclear implication was that “we” derailed the thread and I neither endorsed unsanctioned trails nor demonized them. I just gave us a new place to argue about it. I am keenly aware of and sensitive to the potential for unsanctioned trails to impact legal access. I more took issue with the term eco-crimes and the idea that these trails cause any more meaningful damage than legal trails which seemed a bit extreme in the grand scheme of the late capitalist human shitshow. I will say that the original sin of American MTB occurred in a place where to...

Such a good race there..great tracks. Logan Mullaly rode for our squad there last season at the ESC event.