First RoadBike, then Rider, and then WomanRider…lots of changes in the magazine world these days.
RoadBike continues to be the clear winner in my eyes. Their new look is clean without being minimalist; sharp without being too flashy. Jessica Prokup has been an excellent contributor, and I was impressed with her first issue as editor. Two thumbs up to her and the entire RoadBike staff. If I had to pick only one general-purpose bike magazine to subscribe to, this would be it.
Rider gave me quite a start when I saw the most recent issue. Am I the only one who remembers (fondly!) the days when Rider featured landscape/travel shots on its cover? Now it has the same ol’ flavor of the month as all of the other newsstand magazines. Sigh. Anyway, I’m not sure how I feel about the new look. It seems as though the magazine is thinner, the ads are more intrusive, and the font is huge. The picture quality inside the magazine seems lower than usual, too. Hrm. I’ll reserve official judgment until the next issue; maybe this one’s just a fluke.
Woman Rider, a child magazine of Rider, has now gone annual instead of quarterly. I don’t give it much time. An annual magazine isn’t much of a stand-alone magazine, per se; it’ll become a supplement to the parent magazine. It’s too bad, really. I didn’t always agree with Woman Rider’s choice of focus, but it never hurts to have one more woman-oriented magazine. Let’s hope that the women who’d subscribed to Woman Rider will now turn to Women on Wheels. Our magazine is getting bigger and better, though of course, I’m utterly unbiased. 😉