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Just stopped over on Decline's site and I noticed they had a survey going about what people would like to see more of in the magazine. I voted, saw the results and I was encouraged by what I saw. The two leading topics were tied, and those were Racing/event coverage and trailriding/freeride, beating out a bunch of topics that were gear and bike related. The reason this is encouraging to me is that I have become completely burned out on much of the mountain bike media world. To go on most of the popular forums or read many of the popular publications, you would think that no one even rides bikes but rather everyone simply builds them, looks at them, and upgrades them as funds become available. After that they go argue about which crankset is the best on the internet. I understand to some extent, there was a time when I could dork out endlessly about some new bike part, but it seems to be completely out of hand.
I am curious as to how this came about and the way I see it there are two possibilities. One is that Mountain Bikers are more interested in their equipment than they are their sport, which paints a grim picture of us as a group. The other is that the competition between struggling manufacturers as well as between struggling media outlets has resulted in complete marketing overload. Common sense tells me it is more likely the latter. Don't get me wrong, I want bike companies to make money, there is no doubt that prosperity in the industry is good for the riders. But I think instead of the constant onslaught of product marketing, the sport and therefore the industry as a whole could be better served by promoting an image that gets people excited about riding or excited about being a fan of the sport. When more people want to ride, the product marketing will be easier and more effective. I just think there is a better way, of course I was wrong once, and my analysis of what is going on could be totally off base. Despite my bitching, I do see light at the end of the tunnel, the primary source of that light being this site and the huge amount of riding and racing content it features. Keep it up.