Monday Blues: King for a Day

 There used to a boulder there, right by the obvious one on the left. Actually, you can still see it, right along with the bit of a depression that was left when someone pried it out of its embedment and rolled it off to the side. That boulder narrowed the trail a little, right where you swung out of a left hand turn. I noticed, a short distance further along the trail, that another boulder was similarly pried out of the ground and rolled to the side. The removal of both boulders widens the trail at those two spots removing obstacles to uninterrupted speed. It sanitizes the trail. 

Mountain biking has long been plagued by this idea of "sanitizing" trails, removing obstacles that some riders find problematic and beyond their ability to ride. Of course sanitizing is a double-edged sword - removing an obstacle and making a trail safer for one, removes a challenge that someone else finds fun. 

Now, I'm not saying this particular boulder was pushed aside for safety's sake, even I, one of the least technically adept riders you'll ever find had no problem riding around it, but it's removal does make this spot (and the other further along) faster. That, I believe, is the sole reason it has been moved to the side. You see, all these short sections of trail have made their way into the world of Stava where speed is the goal, getting your name on the leaderboard and, maybe, becoming king for a day. The question remains though, why do you have to change the trail to do that? What is wrong with putting in your best effort with what you're given? I mean, the test was equal to all to begin with, why Kobayashi Maru it, why change the conditions to meet one persons needs and riding deficiencies?

Riding ought to be about overcoming challenges, conquering obstacles, and improving our abilities so that we can do those things, not smoothing out every little bump in the road. Or trail. Mountain biking is different things to different people; for myself the mountain bike has always been a tool for exploration, allowing me to "get out there." Sure I enjoy the thrill of going fast when the opportunity presents, but not everything has to be a race to see who reaches the finish line first. What say you?

The Monday Blues has been an occasional feature here at the blog since inception; the blues, an emotion, a color, a genre of music, with a cycling twist.