The author really isn't doing any favors to the article's argument with that writing style. It is really insulting and puts the person reading it in a mood that is not only suspicious, but actively hostile towards the author.

Plus if you are going to have points like: Which gets us to today. Nine million trail runners and counting, yet a widely held belief—if an unproven one, as most trail crews don’t ask too many questions—that they have the lowest turnout among the core user groups when it comes to trail maintenance., you really need to be a lot less hostile with your writing.