Back to what I said about cost being the key factor. When I was a kid everyone at lysterfield rode BSO (had a bigW huffy myself) on the trails. A beginner could take almost any bike out and start riding for relatively cheap, but if they truly commit to the sport (like most of us here) then it's a steep cost curve. Soon you are paying for forks that cost twice as much as your first bicycle. It's this normalization that really starts filtering out the regulars.
Cost of equipment is definitely a huge barrier to many but it's also part of a tapestry, and people writing off initiatives like Eliot's program as "diversity for diversity's sake" or suggesting that it'd be unnecessary if bikes were just cheaper is a very narrow view of the issues. Counter to @SummitFever's painfully reductive "If anyone is not mountain biking it may be just because they don't want to", lots of people are unable to access, or are not made to feel welcome in accessing, the kinds of experiences that would allow them to decide whether they want to or not.
That's true but it doesn't really answer why there is disproportionate representation. Around the lysty area that is migrant central, lots of asians, indians, middle eastern etc. But you go to lysty and up until recently it's mostly white aussies. In fact I'd almost say I have never seen a non white kid under 12 on the trails. A few pottering around the bbq areas and those bloody afghans put on a good spread mind you, but no mountain bikes. That's race. On gender same thing applies.
Yeah look of course there are going to be intra-cultural barriers at play also - evidently there are even within the dominant culture or MTB would be a mainstream sport which it is not - but 1) you kind of have to take those as fixed variables when talking about how to improve diversity/accessibility (you change the things you can change), and 2) they are only entrenched further by limited access.
There’s a lot of that surfer localism/macho/bravado lingering around down there. Sometimes it’s a can be a bit of a bro-down snag fest.
Whistler seems (never been but just what I see) to be the true mtb Mecca. Anyone who gets remotely into mtb would see that as the place to dream of riding one day regardless of age, sex or nationality. And the skills you could build off the trail network and riding crew would be phenomenal.
You are mistaking aggregated reality with individual truths. Sure some women are perfectly competent mecs. But overwhelmingly women on aggregate do not show much interest. Case in point Engineers Australia had a target of 50% enrolled female engineers and they realised what a folly that was - ended up munting their female completion rates, while pissing off a lot of actual female engineers who thought quotas just devalued their worth. As much as we live in a society where equality is a core value, fundamental differences still play a part.
I assume I can race an Enduro in a skin suit?
Narrabeen... that’s ground zero! My first Narra experience was a doozy. I’d moved to Sydney from the far North coast having spent a childhood growing up in the coastal stretch from Byron to Ballina. Localism was kind of present but nothing like the northern beaches. Went for a surfcheck with a mate and decided Narra looked ok. (Normally would head further north from newport to palmy) Went out got a few waves nothing spectacular and no bad interactions. But in the carpark while getting changed a few guys proceeded to walk up and drag our boards by the leashes across the gravel ranting about us being lost. I was a plumbing apprentice at the time I had a MAPP gas in the Ute and gave chase with it blazing and set fire to one guys boardies he had dropped and left smoldering in the road. Couldn’t say I went back again for quite a few years.
What structural and systematic barriers would you say exist in Australia aside from income levels?
When people talk of 'diversity', they are talking about aggregate statistics, not sure how you can argue around that. People can be ambiguous in their intent, but saying they want more diversity = means we more a higher percentage of X demographic. It's not individual at all.
Man that is a doozy. I was a boogie boarder trying to get good at stand up, never got good after a year of solid sessions trying, so stuck to skating instead. Luckily my flatmate was beefcake central, a stone mason of all things but also a gym junkie, so I went surfing mostly with him and a couple of his equally well built buddies and didn't cop any flack.Narrabeen... that’s ground zero! My first Narra experience was a doozy. I’d moved to Sydney from the far North coast having spent a childhood growing up in the coastal stretch from Byron to Ballina. Localism was kind of present but nothing like the northern beaches. Went for a surfcheck with a mate and decided Narra looked ok. (Normally would head further north from newport to palmy) Went out got a few waves nothing spectacular and no bad interactions. But in the carpark while getting changed a few guys proceeded to walk up and drag our boards by the leashes across the gravel ranting about us being lost. I was a plumbing apprentice at the time I had a MAPP gas in the Ute and gave chase with it blazing and set fire to one guys boardies he had dropped and left smoldering in the road. Couldn’t say I went back again for quite a few years.
I don't think it discredits your experience, which sounds like a great experience most of us haven't had doing this MTB thing.
I see this as really 'talking down' to people of colour. So everyone that isn't white is so dumb that we need to see a picture of someone with our skin colour riding before we realise "Hey! I can do that!" ???
Good point, quantifying a need would be a good start....
