Differentiating Identities Within an Extreme Sport: A Case Study of Mountain Biking Print Advertisements

Abstract

The work of McEwan (2016) has questioned the assumed homogeneity of mountain biking in terms of culture and sporting values, leading to the suggestion that there may be differing patterns of identity within the various formats of the sport. This is also supported by McEwan and Weston (2017) findings, which advanced knowledge of the mountain biking industry by defining the differing pluralized segments within the market and highlighting their hierarchical nature in relation to the cost of products. This therefore leads to a question over whether differing markets are reflected in differing identities among varying consumer groups within the sport of mountain biking. Thus, this study sought to establish what these identity characteristics are through an analysis of a sample of mountain biking magazine advertisements (N = 568). The analysis was conducted using a sequential Ethnographic Content Analysis (Altheide, 1987) followed by a Quantitative Content Analysis (Berelson, 1952) mirroring the approaches used by Williams et al. (2010) and Cann (2012) in their studies of the portrayal of identity within magazine advertisements. Results of this analysis highlighted five identity characteristics (places of play, equipment functionality, risk taking, competitiveness, activity aesthetics), three of which varied significantly between differing formats of mountain biking (risk taking, competitiveness, activity aesthetics). Activity aesthetic was established as a component of risk-taking rather than an independent identity characteristic and therefore risk taking along with competitiveness formed the basis of a refined four-format activity categorization within mountain biking and the production of a model of participant archetypes.

Trail Use, Motivations, and Environmental Attitudes of 3780 European Mountain Bikers: What Is Sustainable?

“…Interestingly, however, the motivations for participating in mountain biking were found to be similar to those of other groups of outdoor enthusiasts, with exercise and health and connection to nature being the most commonly reported primary motives. Conversely, risk was not found to be a particularly common dominant source of motivation in the sample, despite mountain biking being widely considered an extreme, or adrenaline, sport [ 37 ]. This may to some extent reflect the nature of the cohort, as the enjoyment of risk is known to be greater amongst downhill riders [ 27 ] who were somewhat underrepresented.…”

Feeling and Thinking about It Are Two Different Things: How to Capture Momentary Emotions of Extreme Sports in the Field

“…A range of studies describe a multitude of motives for taking part in extreme sport [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. Some of the divergence may be due to the challenges of defining what extreme sport really is, and what types of activity sort under the extreme sport umbrella [9,10].…”

Book review:Gamble

“…However, despite an upsurge in popularity over the last few decades (Taylor, 2010), mountain biking remains conspicuous by its absence. Notwithstanding excellent work from the likes of Taylor (2010), Savre et al (2009), Gibbs and Holloway (2018), Brown (2012, 2014), Brown et al (2008), and more recently McKewan (2018) and McCormack (2017, 2018), we still know very little about the lived, embodied, everyday identities of mountain bikers, or the contexts within which these performances might play out. Gamble , therefore, arrives at a critical juncture in mountain bike history, as its synopsis speaks to those practices and forms of personhood that have hitherto been overlooked in existing accounts on the sport:Steel City Media and Creative Concept bring you the much anticipated new feature film Gamble , uniting some of downhill mountain bike racing’s most talented and charismatic riders and releasing them from the confines of the tape.…”