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On The Pedals By Jason Giacchino My Humble Beginnings |
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I don’t know about you, but I’m not a big fan of parents who feel it necessary to tell you their child’s age in terms of months. You know the type: “Oh little Timmy just turned 17 months”. Since the entire conversation is usually the result of forced small talk anyway, lay it out in a unit of measurement that doesn’t require a calendar and a calculator people. I bring this up because this issue represents the 17 month birthday for Mountain Bike Tales (a year and 5 months to those of us without calculators). While it may seem odd to celebrate such an off beat anniversary, my reasoning is as sound as the day Mike Genovese and I founded this web-zine, in fact that actually has a lot to do with it.
Like all of Mike’s and my brain storms, the concept of MBT was hatched over coffee at our local spot where a caffeine buzz with a mild sugar high goes a long way in terms of aspirations and motivation. While we certainly weren’t pioneers of the concept “hey lets start a web based magazine based on our favorite hobby” we did pride ourselves on a few key concepts that would separate us from the competition. First, we wanted editorial content unlike any publications (print or web based) on the market today. It appears riders have a lot to say, and quite frankly (outside of message boards) the mountain bike press simply doesn’t offer many feasible creative outlets. From day one we had made the decision to lose the snobby air of being “greater than thou” so often associated with the editors of many of the top mountain bike publications. Our contributors are all real world riders, who pay for their equipment out of their pockets. Our bike tests are uninfluenced by the advertising dollar, as our next unique trait will further elaborate. Notice a lack of flashing banners, eye catching ads, or price slashing links? That is because at present MBT contains no advertisements, no sponsors, no favoritism. The idea was two-fold: Advertisers pay the bills and it is difficult to be honest when it involves biting the proverbial hand that feeds you. Also our goal wasn’t to become simply another online advertiser show-case. We figured the best way to get our point across was keep it pure, clean and simple. Mountain Bike Tales isn’t just another web-zine, it is a community of riders. This was the main priority of putting in the time, energy, and money required to launch, operate, and maintain an entirely ad free web site.
So what does all of this reiteration have to do with our 17 month birthday? Well there are some major changes in the air around here. It began in the middle of last month and continued to build into the first fully redesigned issue you see before you. Beginning with a new full-time contributor, Beth Trickett, associate editor of Hudson Valley Magazine and resulting in the acquisition of contributor/new web master, Rob Manning, we were able to triple the amount of monthly content while entertaining an entirely new look to the ‘zine in the process. Coupled with all of the wonderful contributors already on staff, this month represents a momentous occasion of growth and dedication from everyone involved in the effort. Sometimes I find myself in awe with the creative and motivated force everyone so cheerfully brings to the table: Meeting deadlines, researching material, formatting, photographing, collaborating, etc. Then it slowly dawns on me that these are exactly the individuals we had in mind when initially developing the concept of Mountain Bike Tales. Like I said in the beginning, we are not an egotistical publishing juggernaut, nor are we puppets to the advertising dollar. We are a community of riders with something to say. To all of you making this concept a reality, nothing proves this better than the excellent work you put in. To everyone else, get ready for an entirely upgraded Mountain Bike Tales complete with a fresh look and a bunch of new feature pieces. Who could have guessed turning 1 year and 5 months old would be so exciting? |
