I will agree that they are mostly pretty thin on anything insightful to the experienced triathlete. Mostly they are good for checking out new gear advertisements and looking at the pictures.
However…
How many have gotten “the bug” to try their first triathlon after picking up the magazine somewhere? I know I was mainly a runner and couldn’t find “runner’s world” on the magazine rack so I grabbed the closest thing they had available, which was “Triathlete”. This was about 1987, and all the ads from “Ten Speed Drive Imports”, and lots of interesting race reports, just got me really pumped up to try one. I bought my first pair of “baraccuda” goggles and a Dave Scott Centurion bike within a month probably.
I really like Outside - they have enough breadth that they’re not always looking at the same few questions.
Living in Germany, I really enjoy the German cycling and triathlon magazines - they will actually take manufacturers to task over crappy products, and write a fair number of negative reviews. Of course, I haven’t been reading the things long enough to find out what amount of material is recycled every year. Still, it’s refreshing to see a publication actually critique the makers of equipment. Doesn’t happen often enough.
I agree with the group, both magazines seem to be written by the products … They give the products and write about it, instead of the magazine people actually writing about them . God forbid they have a negative comment about a product. I am trying to remember when the last time, other than point counter point, I have read a negative article in either of those magazines
They are all both garbage. Only good for looking at pictures.
The best triathlon magazine is, by far, Slowtwitch.
Though I think there is a pretty good ausie tri mag.
This post hit the nail on the head. At least they stopped putting Michellie on every other page with that smug look on her face.
How much does Zoot have to pay for advertising space on the front cover? Even the logo on the sleeve was placed there to make sure we get the point. As I flipped through it, I was also starting to think this magazine is all advertisement, either directly or an “article” about why you need a certain product. This mag should be free.
I have to agree. I have subscribed to Bicycling for 15 years, and have always looked forward to it. There is usually at least one article I like. The latest issue, I spent 45 minutes flipping through it and put it down with no desire to read a single article. When you consider that they only review $5,000 bikes now, and have largely become Men’s Health-ified(something Rodale did with all their men’s mags, and which will ultimately put them out of business, I hope), I’m seriously thinking of letting many of my subscriptions lapse.
Speaking of Men’s Health, does anybody remember when they didn’t cater to metrosexuals? They once ran articles on what to do when you cut your thumb off, or how to buy cool manly presents for your guy friends(not ties and cufflinks, more like torches and pocket tools). Hell, they even showed men with body hair…but that was in the 90’s.
I’ve subscribed to both for almost two decades. Had a subscription to Triathlon Today that eventually morphed into Inside Tri and remember when Triathlete and Triathlon were seperate glossies back in the 1980’s.
Most interesting stuff is on the web these days, but I still like it when the mags show up in the mail. Lots of it is just paging through, though I always read Tinley, being the same age (Scott has gotten alot better…but still has a tendency to overwrite at times). I find giving the copies to newcomers to the sport gets them interested.
Definitely thin on content. Though I freely admit to subscribing and looking forward to receiving each issue. I guess that’s just part of being an endurance nerd. Plus the mag is published in my backyard, so I root for the company as it’s local. That said, here are just two things I’d love to see from Triathlete:
Real product reviews. The current reviews are so pandering. It seems like every product is just fabulous. Several of the european mags review equipment and aren’t afraid to say when something is shit. Triathletes are so anal about their gear, and I know so few of them that actually follow the training plans provided in the mag, so it seems like hard-core reviews are the best content the mag could possibly provide. Race coverage is nice, but it won’t help anyone go faster or enjoy their training more the way that new gear can.
Dump Tinley’s feature. I don’t know most times what the hell he’s talking about. The dude writes in tongues. It’s not quaint, it’s nonsensical. I’d much prefer a rotating feature, like what Runner’s world or the UK’s 220 Triathlon does, where they profile a celebrity or normal age grouper and their relationship with the sport.
I think triathletes fall into one of two basic groups: 1) those that are hard-core serious and 2) those that are just into the lifestyle and want general sense of fitness. I don’t feel Triathlete caters to either group very well, nor does inside tri. In fact, both mags seem to be just vehicles for people that love triathlon just to have paying “jobs” as “writers” and “editors”. Hopefuly with the recent buyout of Triathlete, the publisher will begin to pay more attention to the consumer base.
Just got the new issue today. Apparently every single wetsuit is absolutely perfect. Not one of them has a single flaw. None. If they graded political leaders, every failed megalomaniac would get an A+.
And the “Road to Kona/Clearwater” supplement is just a summary of information readily available on ironmanlive.com seeded in between fat loads of ads and sprinkled with generic pictures.
So, I’m not going to renew Triathlete, as nice as the pictures are. Sounds like there’s a growing market for a truly independent tri mag–one that focuses on honest reporting and insightful content.
Outside is maybe one of the ONLY magazines still worth reading. That, and Harper’s, are the two magazines that I subscribe to that I read cover to cover.
What gets me is how poorly they do their interviews . . . they actually interview some very interesting people in the sport of triathlon (Fernanda Keller, Gale Bernhardt, etc) but the interviews consist of about 5-7 inane questions. Most of these people have been in triathlon for a long time and have led very interesting lives . . . do they ask about some of that? Do they ask about how some of these people grew up? Got interested in triathlon? How they overcame struggles? What they do in their free time? What other areas they are involved in (charities, business ventures, etc)? Nope . . . if you want to know anything more in-depth than what their last workout was or what they had for breakfast, you are out of luck.
A while back it was either Triathlete or Runners World did a story about the girl that hurt herself on a trail run out in Moab and was stuck for 3-4 days before her dog led rescuers to her (or some desert place like that). The whole article was about 1.5 pages long. Outside did an article about the same thing with a lot more depth and background that was closer to 8-9 pages long. Just goes to show the lack of journalism in Triathlete/Runner’s World. Every time I read one of their feature articles I think what a shame . . . they leave so much interesting stuff unexplored. Of course, from what I read, it sounds like the entire magazine has a staff of about 3 . . . I guess when you are that thin on staff, there isn’t time to do more in-depth work. Still, seems like TJ Murphy used to turn out some good stuff . . . and I think he actually has a journalism background. Now you can’t tell his stuff from everyone else . . . I wish he’d go back to some of his old ways.
Good points the stories and interviews are lame. I agree Outside magazine although a little yuppie does actually have some good writing. However, I think that Runners World magazine does have more interesting content then Triathlete mag, same lame ass product reviews.
Triathlete Magazine is headed the same way as Bicycling Magazine. I quit reading Bicycling Magazine when one issue had a little blurb about MIT cycling team wind tunnel insight, but had a 12 page article about road construction.