Can Independent MTB Media Survive? – Drew Rohde of Loam Wolf
Downtime - The Mountain Bike Podcast
Downtime MTB
4.9 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 20 January 2026
⏱️ 91 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Mountain bike media has always been shaped by the riders, the bikes, and the culture around them. But right now, that landscape is changing faster than ever.
Today’s guest has seen that shift from the inside. Drew Rohde started his career at Decline, right at the heart of print media, before going on to found the independent mountain bike platform, Loam Wolf.
In this episode, Drew and I talk about how he made that jump, what it takes to build sustainable MTB media today, and whether the rise of platforms like Meta and AI content and search puts specialist MTB media at risk.
We also dig into what riders are actually asking for, how e-bikes have changed both coverage and audience expectations, and where Drew thinks bikes, and e-bikes in particular, are heading next.
This is a conversation about media, bikes, business, and the future of the sport we all care about. So sit back, hit play, and enjoy this episode with Drew Rohde.
You can also watch this episode on YouTube here.
You can find everything Loam Wolf at theloamwolf.com and on their YouTube channel here.
Podcast Stuff
Sponsoring Partners
This episode is sponsored by Wahoo Fitness. Over the last few years, the Wahoo KICKR has become in invaluable part of my training. They’ve recently launched the Wahoo KICKR CORE 2 to provide an incredible trainer with pro level features at entry level pricing. Check it out over at wahoofitness.com.
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Photo – Loam Wolf
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The next year is going to be kind of a make or break for a lot of brands. |
| 0:05.0 | Budgets are getting smaller. |
| 0:06.7 | Brands are maybe spending more with meta, Instagram, Facebook. |
| 0:11.5 | If you haven't come to the site because they just read an AI summary and bounced. |
| 0:14.7 | Either you go out of business. |
| 0:16.8 | You have to charge brands to review products. |
| 0:19.8 | Or three, consumers will have to step up and pay |
| 0:23.7 | for media to stay afloat. They love to complain when there's a sponsored video, but then they |
| 0:29.3 | won't pay to support mountain bike media. You know, without sounding like a jerk, I'm like, well, |
| 0:33.8 | what do you want? |
| 0:38.2 | Hey everyone, I'm Chris Hall and this is the downtime podcast, the podcast for the true fans of |
| 0:43.0 | gravity mountain biking, taking you deeper into the sport than anywhere else. |
| 0:46.9 | This episode is sponsored by Wahoo Fitness, but more about them later. |
| 0:50.9 | We've got heaps of great episodes coming up for you, so make sure you don't miss them by following the show. Just hit that button in your podcast app now or head to downtimepodcast.com for slash follow. If you want a bit more downtime, then you can follow us on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok where we're at Downtown Podcast. And if that's still not enough, then you can get the full inside line by joining our newsletter at downtimepodcast.com forward slash newsletter. As always, I really appreciate your support. Be that sharing these |
| 1:15.6 | episodes with your friends or online, leaving the podcast to review somewhere like Apple Podcasts, |
| 1:19.8 | or if you really want to help out, then a small regular donation over at patreon.com |
| 1:24.1 | for slash downtime podcast really makes a difference. All right, mountain bike media has always |
| 1:29.8 | been shaped by the riders, the bikes and the culture around them, but right now that landscape |
| 1:34.0 | is changing faster than ever. Today's guest has seen that shift from the inside. Drew Road 8 started |
| 1:39.7 | his career at Decline right at the heart of print media, before going on to found the independent |
| 1:44.6 | mountain bike platform Lone Wolf. In this episode, Drew and I talk about how he made that |
| 1:49.0 | jump, what it takes to build sustainable mountain bike media today, and whether the rise |
... |
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