Biking while black
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Pinkbike also posted something: https://www.pinkbike.com/news/race-and-accessibility-in-the-mountain-bike-community.html
Good to see at least some effort being made.
For anyone interested in the history of racism in cycling, I highly recommend reading Andrew Ritchie's 1988 book about Major Taylor. An incredible athlete who broke through racial barriers in the late 1800's/early 1900's. He made a fortune and was world-famous but died pretty much penniless and in obscurity.
For anyone interested in the history of racism in cycling, I highly recommend reading Andrew Ritchie's 1988 book about Major Taylor. An incredible athlete who broke through racial barriers in the late 1800's/early 1900's. He made a fortune and was world-famous but died pretty much penniless and in obscurity.
Pretty sure this is because if black people started professionally racing bicycles, we'd get our asses stomped. The Kenyans and Jamaicans would fuck us UP. Usain Bolt on a bicycle? Jesus Christ.
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And our CSUs wouldn’t creak...
Seriously?
So I started looking into this and someone built a chrome extension that removes his comments.
TIL people actually visit and use pinkbike.
Pinkbike actually puts out some good content these days
And the Jugalos canceled their annual gathering out of concerns for the Coronavirus. Yeah...
They do. It’s a real mixed bag however. A pretty different animal from the days of old though and they seem to be headed in the right direction. Glad to see them addressing the tone of the comments... which has always been pretty atrocious.
Theradavist does a good job with their comment section. Jerks not welcome. It’s made clear and slapped down swiftly. It’s not that hard.
It’s not really my cup of tea, but you know what - their comments are civil and not full of racist bullshit... which was my point.
ok, cool. i just can't get past the content to get to the comments, i guess!
Yeah. Go to the comments section and scroll through the replies under the top comment. Waki told the mods to remove him. His profile and articles are now empty.
Pinkbike is the Facebook of mountainbiking. Creepy as hell, clickbaity moreso every day, and no amount of legitimately talented photographers will ever change that. You guys realize their reviews are paid for right? One of the guys from dirtrag got ahold of one of the contracts for favorable reviews a while back.
And all those fun "polls?" That's data mining they sell to advertisers to focus demographic marketing.
And all those fun "polls?" That's data mining they sell to advertisers to focus demographic marketing.
Yes Kidwoo, we know that. What do you think about Vitalmtb?
I can't even say it without crying. I remember when vital was dh and dirtjumping. Now it wants to be pinkbike.
But my stomach churned a bit reading that 'pinkbike has gotten pretty legit'
It's john's fault
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Bought this book today from the local book hole now that it's back open. Will report back. Or possibly die of teh Rona
Isn't that most of the Internet. Light entertainment with the purpose to get data out of you for advertisers. I have a feeling the poll trick is a much a way to lure money out of the advertisers promising more targeted ads but I would not be surprised if there was no correlation between polls and purchase behavior.
Legit, maybe in the entertainment category. I have not read reviews as more than that since I bought my first Mountain Bike Action in 1995.
at least vital posted multiple bits of content from the only dh race to yet take place this spring...
Rachel Olzer On Why Representation Matters in Mountain Biking | BIKE
Rachel Olzer, a Specialized Bicycles' ambassador and co-founder of Pedal 2 the People, speaks candidly about mountain biking's glaring lack of diversity.
www.bikemag.com
Good read.
Interview: Wesley Ferguson on Mountain Biking as a Black Man - Pinkbike
Wesley works at a non-profit bike shop in Minneapolis that's working to improve diversity in the cycling world, and he's recently gotten into mountain biking.
Used to give a friend crap about always wearing full matching spandex kit everytime he rode until he explained that if he didn't look as much like a cyclist as possible, people questioned "how he got the bike"
It’s one thing that also exists over here, hardly any non white or asian riders, and even the asian riders thing is newish. It sucks, but at least I hope we wouldn’t be quite so judgmental about people (other humans with different skin pigmentation) riding bikes. I think part of it is the barrier to entry of the cost of a good bike. There is more bike snobbery than any kind of actual racism — NZ riders tend to be richer, environmentally and socially aware liberals in my experience — but the end result is kind of the same, so sort of just as bad.
I wrenched for Nelson Vails for a while a few years back. He opened up my eyes to racism in cycling, it was honestly something I had never put much thought into before. It's kind of funny how that interaction changed the way I look at the world as a whole, not just the cycling industry.
What I find interesting is that he emphasizes how important it is to see others that "look like you" on the trail. But why? Why would you make your participation in an activity dependent on the looks of the others? Getting together and having a good time has nothing to do with gender, skin color, etc.. What I have experienced is that mountain bikers (and roadies as well) are in the same mindset, no matter which country you go to, so I think it is a truly multicultural sport.
Why certain groups of the population are not attracted to mountain biking has little to do with an unwelcoming environment but rather a lack of interest IMO. When I started I was really young and found mountain biking as a way to cover more ground than hiking to enjoy the outdoors. As a kid you also do not have tons of money to spend, so I made this my priority, earned money and saved it for getting a bike, later a better bike and so on. I wasn't exposed to the sport or it was presented to me, but rather found it myself. I faced the same issues funding my entry into it as he describes, but I really wanted it and made it happen.
Why certain groups of the population are not attracted to mountain biking has little to do with an unwelcoming environment but rather a lack of interest IMO. When I started I was really young and found mountain biking as a way to cover more ground than hiking to enjoy the outdoors. As a kid you also do not have tons of money to spend, so I made this my priority, earned money and saved it for getting a bike, later a better bike and so on. I wasn't exposed to the sport or it was presented to me, but rather found it myself. I faced the same issues funding my entry into it as he describes, but I really wanted it and made it happen.
Are you saying that the unwelcoming environment doesn't matter or that it doesn't exist? Or perhaps something else?
This is pretty much how I started as well. Everything I earned as a teenager went into bikes. I'm thankful for parents that were supportive of this, and thankful to live right next to the trails. So like you, I discovered it myself and also all the money I ever spent on bike parts/entry fees I earned. Also great were the two local bike shops who encouraged us little kids and put up with us coming round to chat/bs. It was little things like this that really made us feel welcome.
Fast forward a few years and I'm no longer a little kid and off to university. When I go into bike shops, I'm greeted abruptly and followed around the store. I get questions like, "oh, the university bike club gives out free bikes?" "what sports team do you play for?" ... or even better, getting stopped by the police while walking on campus. It was around this time that online shopping for bike stuff became a thing (supergo, go-ride, jenson) and I wouldn't have to put up with the hassle of these new LBSs.
I could tell many more stories, but I'll stop there.
I will say that my experience with mtb has been largely positive. It has taken a weird turn in the last 10 years with the price of things that leaves me wondering how kids could do something similar today.
We have significant barriers to entry. I sat in on a native-village zoom call last week where the topic was bringing recreation opportunities to villages. We thought it was also about outsiders passing through, like during winter races or for summer activities like river floats, etc., but it ended up being more about those looking to bring recreation activities. First, not many roads, let alone trails, in the summer for these kids, but much worse, you bring something like a bike to a village and it will die in a year or so, just becomes scrap metal. There's no way to keep it going, no one to keep it tuned, no one knows how to get new parts or install them, no one has the tools, etc. So it's incredibly difficult to expose some kids to nature, they end up driving 4-wheelers and snow-machines and one of the topic was the exceptionally high rate of injury and death due to these kids using motor vehicles because they have "no other options" for recreating. No perfect solutions, some of the bigger villages have gotten skiing (XC) programs going, which is a great way to travel in the winter, but the main point is too few opportunities. At least these kids live a lot outdoors though, the issues are compounded many times in the inner city with families that can never "get away" and just go up in into wilderness or real forest/outdoors.
One of the points that the above delved into is that you don't see many native Alaskan's doing outdoor rec as they grow up and into adulthood.
I'm trying to make the sport as unwelcoming as possible to......well.......whatever the hell this is
The only thing whiter than mountainbiking is snowmobiling and yachting as an activity.
The wittle matchy matchy uniforms....the return of oakley blades......the 'does this look fast?' photo posing......we need more steel and spray paint. If I was starting to get into mountainbiking in 2020, I'd have to get an anti nausea prescription.
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