The highs & lows of life on the mag

Our circulation figures for 2021 are in and we had another cracking year. We owe you all a big thanks for continuing to buy and subscribe to the mag in these uncertain times, and for putting up with recent delivery delays, which were beyond our control. You’re the best!

It’s great to hear that the Freeride Mountain Bike Association have added women’s categories to the FMB World Tour silver and bronze events for 2022. Could we soon see female riders compete at top events such as Red Bull Joyride or (non-FMBA) Red Bull Rampage?

Our Bike of the Year testing is in full swing, with a new category for 2022 – e-MTBs – alongside the usual trail and enduro bikes. The team have been putting the miles in on dozens of bikes, with some interesting results…

… It’s lucky this year’s bikes are so good, because the crew aren’t overjoyed to be stuck testing in the drizzly UK, after the reams of paperwork now required for us to take bikes into the EU put the kibosh on a trip to ride drier trails and bag sunnier photos.

We’re intrigued by the launch of a new Rockrider UCI MTB team. Yes, that’s Rockrider as in the budget bikes sold by Decathlon. They’re targeting the World Cup XC circuit in 2022, with sights set on the 2024 Olympic podium. It’ll be interesting to see what impact this has on their MTB line-up.

Self-confessed “not the greatest MTBer in the world” Richard Hurst plans to take on the infamous Megavalanche on his fatbike to raise money for TotalMTB’s mental health projects. #Pray4Richard. Follow Dicking About TV and TotalMTB for updates.