From athlete to communicator: a new balance
Today riders are no longer just athletes.
They are also communicators.
They produce content, manage channels, build a direct presence.
This has opened up important opportunities: more visibility, more autonomy, more opportunities to tell one's story.
But it also introduced a new pressure.
👉 Performance is no longer enough.
👉 You have to be there, always.
The risk is that communication ceases to be a consequence of experience
and you become a target.
When you choose a trail for the content it can generate—and not for the sensations it gives—something changes.
👉 Content becomes constructed.
👉 And what is built, over time, loses authenticity.
When content takes the place of experience
In the MTB world, this transition is particularly evident.
Releases designed to be filmed, lines chosen for visual effect, moments built to work on social media.
All correct, but not always true.
👉 The problem isn't making content.
👉 The problem is when the experience is bent to the content.
Because that's where the balance breaks down.
The public — even without realizing it — perceives this difference:
between something that has been experienced
and something that was built to be displayed.
And in the medium term, this difference affects credibility.
Credibility and roles: the limit of self-referentiality
There is then another aspect, even more delicate, which I explored in depth in the interview with Alberto from RITM Agency
Today, riders communicate directly, but that doesn't mean they have to tell everything themselves.
The risk is self-referentiality.
When a rider:
- talks about his performances
- promotes himself
- builds a closed narrative
the message tends to weaken.
Not because it's false,
but because there is no distance.
In the MTB system, roles still have a precise value:
- the rider lives and interprets
- sports results are the measure
- the media tell and contextualize
It is this balance that builds credibility.
It's not the rider who has to say how strong he is.
The results and the external story consolidate it.
