Well, I have to disagree. While we definitely have changed and no longer fit the audience that was targeted in the 70's, I still agree with Paul's original post that today's target audience is 12 to 24, and I still maintain that in the 70's the readership was significantly older, though still young compared to the current ages of most CR members.
The second point, about Lance's roots in BMX (I don't remeber this in his book - I thought he started in triathilon.) raises the question of what the real purpose of cycling is and where the "heart" of the sport lies. To me, a sport which had no point except to produce Tour de France champions and other successful professional riders, be it road or MTB, would be contemptible beyond expression. The only reason I have any interest whatsoever in pro cyclists is that they practice extraordinarily well what many millions of people around the world, of all ages, male and female, practice regularly for health, recreation, transportation and friendly competition. Without the broad participation in cycling, or any sport, at the popular level, the professional sport would become trivial and irrelevant. It is the amateur participants that give meaning to the pros, not the other way around. Suppose in the future automobiles disappear as a significant mode of public transport? How much importance would professional auto racing then have? I'd say roughly as much as chuckwagon racing at rodeos has today.
Because BMX bikes are grossly impractical for adult commuting or touring, I think they only have real value if their users graduate to areas of the sport in which they can participate for life, and I mean the average BMXer, not just the elite few who might become professional road or MTB riders. I might feel differently if BMX racing were a participant sport that guys in their 40's would participate in on a Saturday morning as an alternative to, say golf. The reality is there is almost no adult participation in BMX that I've noticed. So unless these guys graduate to touring, commuting, and MTB trail riding, or maybe amateur road or MTB competition, the activities of youth become a dead end. Its not a matter of "them" against "us", but a matter of how to encourage "them" to grow up to join "us".
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Monkeyman wrote:
> >Of course, in the 70's, Bicycling! was also focused on a youthful
> >audience, but I think it was >probably more like a 16 to 35 age group they
> >were targeting then. Most of us old farts fit that >group back then. To
> >be honest, there was probably at least as much male bias then as now.
>
> This is an OT topic I think, but I need to make a little stand for youmger
> cyclists. I've got to say I agree 100% on your thinking here but woiuld
> like to add that the writers for Bicycling are close to the same age as
> they were in BICYCLING!. It's not that the magazine writersa or audience
> has changed it's that 99% of CR members are no longer part of their "target
> audience" as they once were. They haven't changed, you have.
>
> > It would be nice if we could find a way to transition more of those
> >BMXers into lifelong tourists and >ommuters, rather than see them discard
> >the bikes as soon as they get a car and a real job.
>
> Jerry's thought I'm rure reflect many others on the list but it's 100%
> wrong. There are other kinds of cycling than on roadbikes. Almost every
> young MTBer out there came from BMX. Also if you look at the resume of
> most professional cyclists today, including Lance, you'll see BMX roots.
> Don't get caught in the "us" vs. "them" battles in cycling. Insted of
> asking, "Why don't more of these kids get into "classic" bikes" ask "Why
> don't I got to the local BMX track or buy a MTB." As any teacher will tell
> you learning has to go two ways to work.
>
> enjoy,
> Brandon"monkeyman"Ives
>
> Brandon and Mitzi's-- "Wurld uv Wunder"
> http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/
>
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