Yaneth Renteria and Dr. Colleen Delaney
Abstract
Mountain biking is a growing adventure sport around the world. This study investigates the factors contributing to building communitas in mountain biking culture. This study aims to focus on understanding the various aspects of mountain biking culture: technology, category, rides, emotions, rituals, and shared experiences amongst mountain bikers. By adopting Victor Turner’s concept of communitas, Aguirre’s research on flow, and Maslow’s study on peak experiences help find how mountain biking participants build communitas in the mountain biking community. Furthermore, to better understand the mountain biking culture, semi-structured interviews were conducted on mountain bikers’ perspectives on how communitas is created in mountain biking culture. In addition, online surveys geared towards mountain bikers of any category were collected using snowball sampling. The results of this investigation will show the importance of viewing mountain biking culture as complex, and even as the sport evolves, those who identify themselves as mountain bikers can find community.
I really liked your presentation set up as it really does have such a great flow. The one thing I wanted to bring up was how fun it has been to see your growth with your capstone. I honestly never really thought about the mountain biking community and your presentation really brings up the idea of how EVERYTHING and ANYTHING has a community. Anthropologically speaking, every thing that we do has some sort of history, reasoning, and significance. You really enlightened me on the special bond these mountain bikers that you investigated had. And honestly, how motivational and life changing it can be for them. Really great job.
This presentation is set up really well and reads quite easily. I especially enjoyed how you used Victor Turner’s concept of ‘communitas’ and emphasized how there is several ways in which that is illustrated in the local mountain biking community. I think the idea of ‘flow’ that you present makes sense to me naturally as well, kind of like a free-flowing tunnel vision i imagine, where the riders’ get lost in the ride and the experience of mountain biking. The anthropological lens you used to understand the human connections here and how people relate to a hobby and experience such as this demonstrates how connected the riders are to the sport and to the places they ride, as well as with the people they ride with. Super cool presentation, and fantastic photos!
Hi Yaneth, excellent research! I love the theoretical approach you took and your methodology. I agree with Amanda that it’s been great to watch the progression of your project. Your poster looks fantastic too! I think the visualization of your data was really effective and nicely organized. Well done!
Hi Janice, I love your poster presentation. It came out very nice and it was very organized! I really enjoyed the topic you chose, I’m not too informed on mountain biking culture so I was became interested in your topic right away. I definitely learned a lot from your presentation and it opened up my mind to how big mountain biking culture can be. I really enjoyed how you focused on the various aspects of mountain biking culture (technology, category, rides, emotions, rituals, and shared experiences amongst mountain bikers)I didn’t realize how many there could be! you did a great job!
Hi Yaneth, I love your poster presentation. It came out very nice and it was very organized! I really enjoyed the topic you chose, I’m not too informed on mountain biking culture so I was became interested in your topic right away. I definitely learned a lot from your presentation and it opened up my mind to how big mountain biking culture can be. I really enjoyed how you focused on the various aspects of mountain biking culture (technology, category, rides, emotions, rituals, and shared experiences amongst mountain bikers)I didn’t realize how many there could be!
Hi Yaneth,
Great job on your poster and your presentation. I really love the flow of you poster and the photos are so beautiful. Nice bike!
I never new anything about mountain bike or the community behind it. I think it’s amazing that you join the mountain bike community and rode with them to do this research. You are a true anthropologist! I really love that you added the voice of your interviewee to your poster. I think it’s really interesting and important to hear the voices of your study.
Awesome Capstone!
Nice job, Yaneth. Always nice to see the end product.
I really enjoyed your presentation and the way you set up your poster with the results of your study being centered in the middle, I always enjoyed your use of Victor Turner’s definition as it expresses that there is a sense of community in everything we do and really defines how connected people are. It was also interesting to see how some people were more connected than others, but even those who preferred to ride alone were still connected to nature and their surroundings. From an Anthropological perspective this idea of shared community whether between other riders or with nature itself is significant in bringing more awareness to the culture of mountain biking, as well as other cultures which aren’t often considered to be a culture just based on the activity. It really brings the idea of looking deeper into perspective, that not everything is as it seems at first glance. Thank you for a wonderful and informative poster and for teaching me something new.
I enjoyed many parts of your poster. Yet I do have some questions/comments; firstly there is no acknowledgements of the damage that mountain biking can cause to cultural sites. The degradation of soil can lead to unearthing of cultural material as seen in many mountain biking events. The specific event I am referencing is from Peru where mountain bikers tore up an ancient petroglyph because they decided it was a “better trail.” While I understand that mountain biking is a fine form of exercise and building of community, there also needs to be an acknowledgement of the dangers and destruction that it can cause to our local cultural materials. Another criticism is that your N value is too small to truly understand how mountain bikers feel as a community. Aside from these aspects, I do think the poster presents an interesting view into the life of mountain biking.
Hi Yaneth! I really enjoyed your poster and presentation. I’m not very well-versed in mountain biking culture, so it’s extremely interesting to learn how strong the feelings of community actually are. I think it’s great that you were able to execute some participant-observation methods and get a first hand experience. Awesome job!
I genuinely enjoyed your presentation on the mountain biking. It was something I was actually interested in but unfortunately could never really do. I think some aspects of mountain biking can be dangerous or cause some damage but overall you do a good job presenting that it’s not just a sport but also a community that grows just all other things do. Amazing job!
I think your presentation was amazing, you did an amazing job of getting straight to the point and explaining the community of mountain biking. You also did amazing in explaining the work and how the community while is a sport manage to come together to form something. I think it goes to show that everything in the world in one way or another can become a community. Amazing job!