Emmaus, PA (BRAIN)—Rodale, Inc. said on Wednesday that it would fold Mountain Bike magazine’s content into Bicycling Magazine, ending the off-road magazine’s 25-year run as its own publication.
Mountain Bike has been published as a supplement to Bicycling six times per year since 2003, but was sold separately on newsstands. November was the final issue. Prior to 2003, Mountain Bike was a standalone publication.
Rodale executives made the decision to stop printing Mountain Bike after several months of deliberation and analysis, said Peter Flax, editor-in-chief of Bicycling.
Flax said those discussions were already taking place when he joined Bicycling in July.
"Integrating Mountain Bike into Bicycling makes strategic sense editorially," Flax said. "This will allow our top-notch team to focus on extending Bicycling's position as the world’s leading cycling magazine and to put all of our biking-related content under one roof.”
The pages of Bicycling magazine will now include more mountain biking content, while Bicycling.com will offer a dedicated channel to Mountain Bike. The new content is expected to be integrated around March, which would have been Mountain Bike’s next print edition. How much content will run in print versus online, as well as the frequency of that content, is still being determined, Flax said.
Lou Mazzante, who had been Mountain Bike’s editor-in-chief, will transition to a new role as articles editor for Bicycling. Working with Flax, Mazzante will continue to direct all mountain biking-related content while also taking on new assignments for Bicycling.
As part of reorganization at Bicycling, three people will be leaving Rodale, but the company declined to name those affected.
Flax said the staff doing the heaviest lifting with Mountain Bike from an editorial and design standpoint would stay on through the reorganization. Mazzante was the only staff member working solely on Mountain Bike.
“I want it to be clear that people are not leaving because of the cessation of printing of Mountain Bike,” he said.
Chris Lambiase, who was recently promoted to senior vice president/publishing director for Rodale’s sports titles, will continue to lead all print and digital advertising sales and marketing efforts for Bicycling.
“More and more Bicycling readers are also riding mountain bikes, extending their passion from the road to the trail, or in places like the Northeast, carrying on their training through the colder months,” Lambiase said in a press release. “Integrating Mountain Bike into Bicycling brings a new dynamic to the industry, allowing us to deliver more mountain biking content to the largest cycling audience in the world.”
—Nicole Formosa
nformosa@bicycleretailer.com
