Is the SUP industry tanking?

[Area 10]

A lot of the older “early adopters” with a disposable income near me have moved from SUP to electric mountain-biking (eMTB). One of the things that SUP did when it came along was to allow older surfers who were finding the prone paddling position too painful to do because of ageing, to continue surfing. It removed or ameliorated the most physically taxing parts of traditional surfing. emtb is doing the same for off-road cycling. You can now easily go up hills that you could never go up before, and that means you can spend most of your time and effort doing the best bits (downhill). And, just as with SUP, it turns out the ebiking actually turns out to be better exercise for the ageing athlete.

Here’s a couple of the older SUPers I know who have now switched almost entirely to emtb. The guy who does the speaking at the end was the UK over-50s SUP race champion a couple of years back. Now he virtually never SUPs, only emtb. They are fitter than ever, despite being in their 70s now. The general feeling of excitement, freedom and discovery reminds me of the early days of SUP.

[yugi]

When we were kids an "E"-day out meant something completely different

[ukgm]

1) Ok, so first thing to do IMO is to throw out what you think you know about training. It’s all completely different in the ageing athlete.

2) First of all, performance is not about fitness as you age, it’s about health.

3) Cross-training in the older athlete isn’t really “cross-training” is about variety.

4) Why does varying activity help so much? It’s probably because as we age we start to restrict our activities. We “play” less, and we start to concentrate and narrow  our activities both during the day and in our exercise routines.

5) And so often range of motion and flexibility are the scaffolding of power in sports.

6) This likely happens at a neural level too. “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy”? It’s the same with physical activity - “all training and no fun activity make Jack’s body (and the neural circuits that support it) bored and tired”. Give your body and brain a lot of variety in its diet. It will reward you with better performance.

7) So, overtraining in the older athlete is often not about “overtraining” as you are thinking about it. It’s about health.

Interesting for sure. My first thoughts were:

1) Physically, I haven't seen a single a single study that would support that. It's about overload, recovery and supercompensation. That's pretty much empirical fact in a range of studies. I was told by a famed exercise physiologist once - "there are no miracles" [when it comes to racing]. However, there are other mitigating factors which you touch on and I wouldn't disagree.

2) I certainly agree with this. I don't believe its a coincidence I know of a lot of endurance athletes who have heart problems...... and that's before we get to mental wellbeing.

3) I would agree but the impact/needs of performance are different to those of someone who wants to keep fit. The question is how relevant raw performance is when we're 45+. To most, very little I guess.

4) I actually think your comment is relevant for any amateurs of any age - particularly children. Mental burnout is sadly all too common and its no coincidence when many pro athletes retire, they literally just sit around and get fat.

5) I agree. Cross training or the needs for strength and conditioning are essential as we age. Injury or breakage is always a concern.

6) You may well be right. That's closer to your field than mine.

7) Its certainly about sustainability in my view (being the bigger picture).

[PonoBill]

Looks like Salt Life and SUP Magazine didn't get the memo. The PPG schedule was just announced and the prize purse this year is $60K. Remarkable. It looks like they are increasing their efforts in every direction. Good for them. They seem to be focused on SUP as a fitness tool, which is a fine idea given the SoCal, "I wanna be young forever" venue.

I like eBikes a lot, it seems I enjoy just about everything that pisses other participants off. I swear it's not my intention. SUP came along just in time to rescue my surfing life, Foiling is just flat out fun, and eBikes enable a geezer with a bad knee to ride like he used to. When I was starting our advertising agency I did a 10 mile street ride every morning that included a long, steep hill climb from Northwest Portland over the top of the west hills--working 14 hour days didn't leave time for much else. I just finished the foil hauler fatbike and I'm going to convert a standard el Cheapo Mongoose MTB we have laying around the house next week. I've sworn off doing expensive ones. I have two Bafeng HD's left in my stash that I need to do something with, so that's next.

I find eBiking to be a great workout for my bad knee. I built my electric trike to do enjoyable rehab after my first knee surgery and it's turned out to be a good workout generally. The popular notion is that you just sit on the bike and push the throttle, but if you want range and speed you pedal just as much as you would on a standard bike. The difference is how far you go, how fast, and how much pressure you put on your legs. With a standard bike, you have to do whatever is required to climb the nastiest hill, with an eBike I can adjust the effort to suit my knee. My standard ride is thirty miles round trip of rolling hills, Hood River to The Dalles over the twin tunnels road and that takes less than two hours.

I think my late entry into performance sports has helped me a bit in my geezerhood. From 30 to 60 I was an office worker, albeit the kind that plays rollerblade hockey at lunch and rides a bike to work, but I was much fatter and less fit at 45 than I was at 65. At 71 I'm seeing a substantial decline, which I'm working to ward off by stepping up the effort and adding/changing sports. We'll see how that goes. I intend to make my life an adventure until the end.

[TallDude]

Looks like Salt Life and SUP Magazine didn't get the memo. The PPG schedule was just announced and the prize purse this year is $60K. Remarkable.

or Stupid..... I hope it has some success.

[TallDude]

I like eBikes a lot, it seems I enjoy just about everything that pisses other participants off.
My standard ride is thirty miles round trip of rolling hills, Hood River to The Dalles over the twin tunnels road and that takes less than two hours.

This is what my wife has gotten into. She's been an avid MTB'r for years. Rides with some crazy women who typically come back injured and dirty. Her friend has a couple of high end fat tire eMTB's. They used to ride 12 to 15 miles in the hills. Now they do 30 miles and come back with big smiles, and..... totally beat from the workout. They're trying to get me out there with them. The problem with me, which is always the case, I too tall and don't fit on those smaller bike frames. I sat on my friends Harley the other day, and my knees almost drag on the ground. They are like kids bikes too me. Looking at OC-1's.... same problem. I haven't fit into any I've tried. Not even close.

[Bean]

SUP, unlimited ceiling!

I love the concept of eBikes, ADA, great equalizer, bla, bla, bla.  But I’m afraid e-Bikes in the trails will lead to more lost trail access.  We share a big percentage of our trails with the equine set...

[Larry Allison]

I agree with Talldude and Ponobill. Leveling out but more importantly the Sup industry has a SMARTER consumer buyer. Which I am thankful for because the manufacturing sector  seems to waste large amounts of money going nowhere but trying to sell their consumer that they are going somewhere, LOL!!!!! So tanking isn't the right term I would say the consumer isn't going to buy junk!!! Which is also happening in the surf market after now 15 years of going backwards. Thanks for the support from alot of you here which is humbling. Mahalo, Larry

[PonoBill]

The problem with me, which is always the case, I too tall and don't fit on those smaller bike frames. I sat on my friends Harley the other day, and my knees almost drag on the ground. They are like kids bikes too me. Looking at OC-1's.... same problem. I haven't fit into any I've tried. Not even close.

You need to build your own, dude. So easy. Find a mountain bike that fits you and put a Bafang HD mid-drive on it. Most of the prebuilt stuff is made for average height people--Menehunes. But MTBs have been around a long time and there are bikes for every body. You won't have any problem building a eMTB. Check out Lunacycles.

[SaMoSUP]

Why not eSUP?

3-4 hour battery life. Perhaps if the price were a bit lower this could be more attractive; and if they made a cooler video...

[robon]

I think the industry is actually at it's peak inland BC and possibly still surging somewhat.

I went for an upriver paddle yesterday into Nelson and saw about 30 other stand up paddlers by the time I got to Lake side beach, and more people were renting and bringing their own boards to the water as I arrived (thriving rental business right on the water). Definitely the most I've seen around here at one time other than for a paddling event. A couple of locations inland BC in the Okanagan and Vernon areas have somewhat of a race scene, but that's always been the smallest part of this sport participation wise inland or coastal.

As predicted by many, inflatables have been the biggest increase in participation inland that I have seen, followed by a continued upward trend of the all around surf style boards that are under 12 feet. I would say I have noticed more displacement touring boards this year compared to last, but the vast majority of boards on the water are inflatables and the all around surf shapes.

A Canadian company called Kahuna has seen a major uptick in the entire region over the last couple of years, with multiple shops and rental outfits stocking their composite and inflatable boards. Seems like a decent company. I have seen a few Cascadia boards around, which is another Canadian company. While there has been a definite increase of the big box/cheap inflatables, I see a lot Red Paddle and other inflatables from paddling specific companies, which is good.

[Zooport]

SUP, unlimited ceiling!

I love the concept of eBikes, ADA, great equalizer, bla, bla, bla.  But I’m afraid e-Bikes in the trails will lead to more lost trail access.  We share a big percentage of our trails with the equine set...

+1  I've ridden my street e-bike to work for over 2 years now, but I would never ride one on MTB trails.  The idea of an e-mountainbike seems good at first, but they open MTB/hiking trails to people who lack the fitness and skill to maintain the trails or to ride them safely.  IMO, pay your dues and pedal your bike.  Fortunately, I'm hearing that many trails are already banning eMTB.





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[Zooport]

I like eBikes a lot, it seems I enjoy just about everything that pisses other participants off.
My standard ride is thirty miles round trip of rolling hills, Hood River to The Dalles over the twin tunnels road and that takes less than two hours.

This is what my wife has gotten into. She's been an avid MTB'r for years. Rides with some crazy women who typically come back injured and dirty. Her friend has a couple of high end fat tire eMTB's. They used to ride 12 to 15 miles in the hills. Now they do 30 miles and come back with big smiles, and..... totally beat from the workout. They're trying to get me out there with them. The problem with me, which is always the case, I too tall and don't fit on those smaller bike frames. I sat on my friends Harley the other day, and my knees almost drag on the ground. They are like kids bikes too me. Looking at OC-1's.... same problem. I haven't fit into any I've tried. Not even close.

So how tall are you, TallDude?  None of my business, but I can't help from asking. 

[TallDude]

I like eBikes a lot, it seems I enjoy just about everything that pisses other participants off.
My standard ride is thirty miles round trip of rolling hills, Hood River to The Dalles over the twin tunnels road and that takes less than two hours.

This is what my wife has gotten into. She's been an avid MTB'r for years. Rides with some crazy women who typically come back injured and dirty. Her friend has a couple of high end fat tire eMTB's. They used to ride 12 to 15 miles in the hills. Now they do 30 miles and come back with big smiles, and..... totally beat from the workout. They're trying to get me out there with them. The problem with me, which is always the case, I too tall and don't fit on those smaller bike frames. I sat on my friends Harley the other day, and my knees almost drag on the ground. They are like kids bikes too me. Looking at OC-1's.... same problem. I haven't fit into any I've tried. Not even close.

So how tall are you, TallDude?  None of my business, but I can't help from asking.

The guy to my left is 5'11. I'm 6' 6 3/4" in the morning

[pdxmike]

I like eBikes a lot, it seems I enjoy just about everything that pisses other participants off.

They're certainly stirring things up among people who bike in Portland:
 
"We need to get people out of cars, and into less polluting forms of transportation."
(People start riding ebikes.)
"That's not what I meant."


Nobody knows what to do with them.  Similar to standup in many ways.  Are they bikes (surfboards)?  Are they motor vehicles (vessels)?  Can they ride in bike lanes (surf breaks)?


And now in Oregon, there's a new tax on each sale of new bikes (ironically progressive Oregon is either the only, or one of only two--I can't remember which--states that have a special tax on bicycles).  But ebikes are exempt (if you buy one from  a car dealer, but not a bike dealer, as I recall).  One more thing to make ebike haters hate them more.