On The Pedals:

Fall 2005

 

Mountain Bike Snails

 

I have to begin this column in a fashion that rarely inspires readers to jump on their bike and tackle the first mountain that comes to mind.. That is, with an apology. It has been several months since any of us here at MBT have had an opportunity to sit down and assemble a new issue due in part to the demands and requirements of full time jobs, bills in need of payment, and other non-riding related nonsense that the rest of society labels as "living".

 

That isn't to say our little MBT project hasn't earned its fair share of controversy during our absence in the form of our resident prankster Verdra Ciretop's column, Verdra's Corner which managed to capture the world's attention through endless Blog debates to the legitimacy of the bikes in his articles, resulting in huge influxes of visitors to our site (including a great deal of Spammers in case you haven't seen the forums yet). Ring tones anyone? There has got to be a law against this!

 

Anyway, by the time Rick Vosper of Specialized Bikes dropped a line explaining that people all over the world are flooding the company with information requests on the parody bikes from Verdra's articles, we were forced to label the column as a hoax (as requested of us).

 

Now then, as per the requests that make up a bulk of my emails, we are hoping to devote a little more attention to the editorial aspects of MBT (the T does stand for Tales after all). It turns out that sometimes it is impossible to lay a good concept to rest especially when that concept is a community of riders separated geographically but brought together by the boundless reach of the information super-highway. Once the decision was made to return to action, my role as editor was immediately transformed into recruiter, suddenly thrust into the task of locating all of our loyal contributors in effort to share the word that Mountain Bike Tales was coming back. Fortunately, we work with such a group of talented and devoted individuals that even after months of hiatus, are ready to pen some wonderful work at a moment's notice.

 

In addition I want to take a moment to welcome our newest staff member, Amy Golata to the team. Amy's personal expertise lies in the ever amazing act of marathon running (and accompanying preparation) so expect some informative and results driven reporting in the arena of preparation, technique, and proper nutrition when testing the limits of one's body.

 

As is often the case with this time of year in the Northeastern US, winter is slowly and steadily making its presence known with days of chilly Canadian winds racing in beneath a dome of threatening gray clouds. The off-season is well suited to bike modifications, indoor physical fitness, and (here's where we come in) loads of bike research both in print and online. We promise to deliver in that regard. With an emphasis on search engine optimization, we are hoping to welcome new readers to the existing community. Thanks to all of the readers who?ve eloquently kept the pressure on us for an update, your requests have been tucked aside long enough. So check back, updates will be frequent and please hit the forums hard (unless you're pushing ring tones, in which case no thanks).

 

Lastly, writers, photographers, amateur, professional, and everyone in between, speak and be heard at MBT. We are always on the look out for fresh talent, we want to hear from you, really.