New guide from Reframing MTB offers practical solutions to remove barriers within the mountain biking scene.
A report called “Why Aren’t You Mountain Biking?”, released today, primarily urging trail associations and community groups – but also relevant to individuals – to take steps towards making mountain biking more open and inclusive.
Funded by PayDirt and produced by Ride Sheffield and Mòr Diversity, this guide hopes to offer practical solutions to remove barriers within the mountain biking scene.
The report asks, “Why aren’t you mountain biking?” not as a challenge, but as more of a call to action.
Aneela McKenna from Mòr Diversity: “We believe mountain biking has the power to bring people together, improve mental and physical well-being, and foster a deep connection with nature. However, our research confirms that not everyone feels welcome. Our findings show that 38.4% of all respondents believe mountain biking culture is inclusive. This drops significantly among underrepresented communities: just 22.7% of people of colour individuals, 22.5% of LGBTQ+ individuals, and 19.33% of disabled individuals perceive the culture as inclusive.”
Some key findings
Affordability and knowledge: for those starting out, affordability (22%), access to kit (15%), and knowledge about trails (21%) are significant factors.
Perception of risk: non-riders often view the sport as dangerous and risky, influenced by media portrayals focusing on “thrills and risk”.
79% of respondents discovered mountain biking through friends, family, or partners, underscoring a reliance on personal connections rather than more formal entry points like schools or cycling clubs.
Homogenous representation: the media often shows mountain biking as male-dominated, with a perceived lack of racial diversity. This contributes to feelings of being an outsider for many.
Henry Norman from Ride Sheffield: “This toolkit provides actionable steps, complete with checklists and inspiring case studies from groups like Rider Resilience, Bristol Shredders, and The Adaptive Riders Collective. It’s a testament to what can be achieved when we shift our focus to people, ensuring mountain biking is truly for everyone.”
The “Why Aren’t You Mountain Biking?” report and toolkit are available for download on the Reframing Mountain Biking website – reframingmtb.com
Why are you bothered if other people care about social inclusion?
No skin off your nose, is it?
If you live in a MTB hot-spot – Hebden Bridge, Surrey Hills, Peebles, Edge of the Chilterns etc etc it’s pretty common to go ride in the woods. Living in Heb I saw loads of kids all over the trails like a rash. I started during the big rush in the 90’s with some friends as we were looking to do something that got us outside and kept us fit. I still see people doing that now. But there’s barriers like every other sport, culturally, financially, ability, fitness access. Plus: define mountain biking…Back in the 90 for me that was a big circle in the woods/over the fells. Nowadays for people entering the sport? Not so much. Is it XC? DH? double crown? Gravel? Cycling’s always been a minority pastime in the UK despite in the increase in it’s popularity recently, MTB is a niche within a niche.Â
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CZ, I think what you’ve posted there is ‘cycling’ rather than MTB and I’d agree it looks like a thoroughly pleasant day out.
But MTB likes to present itself more like this – and you can see why people might find it daunting and unapproachable. If I was 16 again I would think that this was super cool. But now as an arthritic middle aged man I just can’t be arsed. My hand hurts just looking at it. And MrsDoris would never have been remotely interested in this kind of thing – although she would probably enjoy CZ’s trip above.
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The answer here is you don’t, because they don’t want to do it. I fall into the exact demographic you describe above- I love being outdoors and I also love beasting myself with V02 max intervals, hard runs and fast road rides and all the rest of it. But, I switched from mountain biking to road riding/Triathlon years ago and have never once really missed mountain biking.
For me, all the kit required and the cleaning and maintaining seemed nuts when I could just put a pair of trail shoes on and go for a run in the hills or do a road ride straight from my door. Especially in the winter when (to me) the extra layers and kit and cleaning/maintaining seems even more bonkers.Â
The above isn’t an objective criticism of mountain biking- I’m aware its just a personality thing. But, not everyone is interested in the kit and endless technical iterations of a thousand components that all seem to have different standards.
I think a lot of people who like mountain biking enjoy it because of that, which is cool, but there’s always going to be a significant demographic who are turned off by it. I just have zero interest in learning how to bleed brakes or service a dropper post when I could have smashed out 40 road miles and gone to the cafe or pub afterwards in the same amount of time.Â
In summary: Mountain biking is really only for people who like fixing and maintaining things and obsessing over technical details, prove me wrong.Â
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But also make them free to kids.Â
The one nearer us is £5 per hour per person. Plus bike hire, plus helmet hire.Â
It’s mostly empty, or sometimes has families rolling round.Â
The one near my mum’s is free, is rammed with kids playing out learning to manual and jump from each other.
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I’ve realized this year (the last of my 30’s 😬 ) just how quickly I could build fitness in my teens / 20’s. Riding to work for a few weeks was enough to have me averaging 20mph and I’d lose fat so quick I had to eat bowls of pasta after a main meal to compensate! I made a concerted effort last winter to get off my ass, get fit and lose weight, 6 months and ~3000miles later I can just about average 16mph and have lost no weight 😂.
So by that analysis, half the problem is going to be retaining people. They either need to keep up that fitness or get e-bikes.
Or people that realise it’s massively more fun than either running or riding a road bike.
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Methinks you were doing it wrong
I don’t like maintenance but road biking is so boring and trail runners smell bad. Convince me otherwise.
Out riding with group last night, kids in the woods building jumps as usual, click baity post.
Well it’s horses for courses, which is my entire point above.Â
But, I don’t see many posts hand-wringing about why more people aren’t running or road riding whereas I see tonnes on here asking why more people aren’t mountain biking on what seems like a fortnightly basis. This OP in fact being one of them. So, it seems lots of people consider the alternatives as “doing it right".Â
mountain biking is a spectrum – or perhaps even more its on one of those 2 axis plots where one axis is “gnar/skill" and the other “aerobic effort".
everyone commenting above is equally valid in enjoying their passtime doing “mountain biking" even if one corner of that graph might be more suited to a bike that these days is labeled “gravel", and people can certainly enjoy doing multiple different aspects of it and also have aspects of it that they are not interested in at all.
but to focus on the bit you like and then either say “nobody is doing it anymore" or “its a totally healthy popular scene" is going to be wrong when considering the broader reach of the statement.
Think about that for a second mate.
You might not do it anymore, but this is still primarily a mountain biking website.
I expect people may ask similar questions on road cycling or running websites/forums… when they’re tired of discussing their watts or their heart rate.
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Within these analyses or whatever, there’s pretty much always a barely suppressed inference that the problem is gatekeeping by middle aged white men.
People like different things. I struggle to understand why folk get so het up about this.
My wife and daughters have every possible opportunity to mountain bike. Do they ever join me amongst muddy roots? Nope. Not for them. An occasional fire road jaunt in the sun is fine with them, but cold and wet isn’t. Â
I join in a six week block of pilates or yoga every so often, going back about 15 years now. I’ve been, without fail, the only man every time.
I’m warmly welcomed each time, nobody is excluding guys from joining in. Most men just aren’t interested.
Finance is of course an issue for some, that’s true.
Finance and cost is definitely a thing. I prayed that my kids wouldn’t get into competitive cycling to be sadly honest, and I’m not poor.
I think most people know what mountain biking looks like., though they’ll likely be thinking of downhill. Butif you were a newcomer, and went to a bike park, rented a bike – how much does that cost?Â
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Again another meaningless phrase. What is social inclusion? Trying to persuade others to play our game rather than the game they do play? Why is that important? Are there social inclusion programmes to encourage us to get to other groups games. Its all just meaningless hyperbole.Â
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Just use Google if you really don’t know what it means.
Or just carry on being angry about people trying to understand what might block some people from getting into the activity we enjoy.
That seems like a good use of time.
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How many mountain bikers do you see with a big grin?
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Have you ever seen a runner or a roadie smiling?
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I’m only pulling your leg though, you know what you enjoy and what you don’t
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Nope, I hate fixing and maintaining bikes! Rather they just work and I can spend what free time I have riding instead of fixing. Luckily bikes are pretty good now and seem to break less than my older ones.
I ride road too but that’s just because it’s the only regular exercise I can stand to do, and local MTB riding is pretty limited whereas there’s lots of nice country lanes to link up for a road loop. It’s boring compared to MTB though, but yeah it is also nice not having to clean up a muddy bike too!
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Im not angry about it. I just dont understand why its needed, or why the magazine is writing about it. If thats how some people want to spend their spare time then I hope they enjoy it.Â
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This seems very similar to the post on here a few years ago about barriers stopping people of colour and other ethnic groups from taking up MTB, if I remember correctly that ended up with a lot of middle-aged white men explaining to everyone that it was mainly just cost and no other significant barriers, despite being told that it wasn’t by POC in here and other places. Lots of valid reasons have been said on here today, but I fear this will just degenerate into similar.Â
Because even if you only look at the totally selfish reasons, making the sport (geographically) more accessible , cheaper, etc actually benefit everyone.Â
And in slightly more external reasons but still impacting ‘us’. More people on bikes means less “cyclists don’t pay road tax" in the Sun comments section and opposition to infrastructure. Because 60% of UK adults do no sport or exercise at least once a week which costs the NHS money. Because more people on the trails hopefully means better access.
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If you include riding around a local park on a gravel path mountain biking then I guess that might happen. Personally I dont and I dont see how you can move the landscape that my version of mountain biking needs ie topography to make it more accessible.Â
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As for the wider benefits for society and the NHS then just getting people to go for a walk will give alot more benefit for the cost
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Well that’s not what I said, but you carry on riding round that straw man all day if it makes you happy.
I said build more BMX tracks because it’s a gateway for kids into the sport by minimizing the cost of the bike, maintenance requirements and need for transport.
Some people discover MTB by accident, I was lucky enough to live in the middle of the countryside and was riding bikes offroad before I knew offroad bikes were a thing. Some people get into it because their mates are into it. But growing the sport outside of those existing users needs more accessible routes. Â
Take Chris Hoy, the most winningest track cyclist ever (maybe). Track cycling is expensive, niche, and even more geographically inaccessible for most people. He was talent spotted racing BMX. Tom Pidcock, basically a roadie. Tracey Mosley, started riding XC in Wocester. I believe that if we want more people to get into MTB then the solution is to build a rising tide of all cycling disciplines and let that lift the MTB boat.
I don’t know exactly how much pump tracks cost to build but I think any money spent on them will pay back significantly in societal benefits.
If you want to attract funding as a result of your analysis/report then you need to be ticking the social inclusion box. I don’t think that anyone on here could be accused of gatekeeping though. Very much the opposite.
Agreed, that’s why I find the inference irksome.