Sept. 19, 2016, 9:56 a.m. -  Ryan M.

#!markdown Amanda, I hear what you're saying. Without pro's pushing the limits of what's possible, the sport becomes stagnant. The companies who benefit from that progression/risk taking should be fairly compensating, insuring, and looking out for the well being of their athletes (and the athlete's families) that are sticking their necks out for them (don't get me started on redbull, either). Replacing with/Outsourcing to "brand ambassadors" isn't cool. That said, I think there's still a role for the so called "brand ambassadors". I rarely race, I mostly just go out to shred and have fun. I imagine the majority of folks buying bikes aren't racers, we're just folks who are mediocre, may never race in our life, and work a 9-5 to pay for the chance to shred the local trails next weekend and burn our vacation time/savings riding trails away from home. Seeing similar riders getting out there and doing the damn thing on instagram or whatever is intelligent marketing. Screwing the hard working, risk-taking, truly professional athletes who got you this far is total bs, but it's not the fault of a bunch of Instagram- wielding millennials that the companies are giving them some swag to do stuff they'd probably be doing anyway. Hell, if they gave me free stuff to snap a few shots of myself riding/drinking while wearing it, I'd totally do it. Maybe the true purists/elite pro's aren't the only people who are allowed to get industry support. If companies are screwing their elite athletes, that's on them and they suck for doing it. But hating on the mediocre riders who are "unskilled beneficiaries of corporate charity" as "fathletes," kinda comes off as elitist. Hating on the corporate assholes who made the call to cut the pro's budget is one thing, but ease off on the "fake-pro's" thing. We're all somewhere on that progression, and the industry is allowed to support folks who are trying to make that next step.