Chipps Chippendale
Encyclopedia
Mountain biking
Mountain biking is a sport which consists of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially adapted mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain.Mountain biking can...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. After a stint as a bicycle messenger
Bicycle messenger
Bicycle messengers are people who work for courier companies carrying and delivering items by bicycle. Bicycle messengers are most often found in the central business districts of metropolitan areas...
his journalistic career started in 1994 with UK magazine MTB Pro which he worked on for five years. After the magazine was closed down by its publishers, Future Publishing, who said that there was not enough interest in a magazine about the 'soul' of mountain biking, he left the company and went freelance, contributing to Mountain Biking UK, Total Bike, Maximum Mountain Bike and others. He also wrote for Clarks Originals, for whom he authored a book about 50 Years of the (Clarks) Desert Boot.
In early 2000 he started working for 9feet.com, a startup website based on the 'online shop with editorial content' model, specialising in outdoor gear. He worked there for nearly a year until meeting Mark Alker and Shaun Murray, then of www.gofar-mtb.com, a privately run mountain bike website. They suggested he join them and start making a print magazine.
He is the founding editor of Singletrack Magazine
Singletrack Magazine
Singletrack is a UK based mountain biking magazine and web site. The magazine is aimed at more mature mountain bikers and intended to provided a counterpoint to magazines such as MBUK which are aimed at a younger audience....
, a publication he created with Mark Alker and Shaun Murray in 2001.
He is generally credited with popularising singlespeed mountain biking in the UK - an idea he claims to have stolen from Bike magazine editor Mike Ferrentino
Mike Ferrentino
Mike Ferrentino is a mountain bike journalist.-Beginnings and career:He was born in California and raised in New Zealand.In 1994, Ferrentino began writing a column for a new glossy mountain bike magazine that the publishers of Surfer were putting together called BIKE...
- and is a collaborator in The Outcast, an underground singlespeed fanzine.
These days, he is still the editor of Singletrack Magazine still regularly writes and photographs for it.