ronin
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2003
- Messages
- 1,325
Remember back as kids someone would throw something at your head and at the last second yell, "Think fast?" And of course you couldn't and you'd get bonked and be the butt of everyone's silly, little kid's version of micro-sadism.
Well, I found myself going over the bars on my bike while trying to avoid a heinous rock-filled rut on a washed out local downhill trail the other day. Having ate it in a similar section previously, I knew I needed to bleed off some speed and hit the brakes and in that last second found myself with the front locked up, doing a stoppie and... You guessed it. Endo, OTB, man down.
Fortunately, with 20 yrs of Aikido and practicing falling on cement wired into the neural circuits I didn't need to think fast... or slow since it all seemed to slow down in that weird oh sh******t! way. No harm no foul thankfully. At first I felt (not for the first time) how I wished this trail could be groomed a bit to make it less threatening. And then I came across this article: featured/truth-trails-smarten-dont-dumb.
What am I as a 62 year old dude doing here anyway? I ride that trail a lot. I wash out on soft corners and rattle the fillings in my teeth over rock gardens nearly every day. Why do I paddle out when the surf is too big and gnarly for normal people?
I think this is also a metaphor for other aspects of life in our culture. Seems like we want to dumb it down. Raise those test scores. Give everyone a trophy. Group affirmation. Slow down. Wear a helmet. Whatever.
Probably the same feeling past generations had. Hey, you ever been kicked by a mule while trying to pull that wagon out of the mud you little whippersnappper?
I'm going out to hit that section of trail right now and see what happens if I change my line a bit. How much speed can I carry through to stay high enough on the berm? How much is too much and will knock the shifters off my bars when I eat it? Must be a little nuts. Think I am glad for it.
Well, I found myself going over the bars on my bike while trying to avoid a heinous rock-filled rut on a washed out local downhill trail the other day. Having ate it in a similar section previously, I knew I needed to bleed off some speed and hit the brakes and in that last second found myself with the front locked up, doing a stoppie and... You guessed it. Endo, OTB, man down.
Fortunately, with 20 yrs of Aikido and practicing falling on cement wired into the neural circuits I didn't need to think fast... or slow since it all seemed to slow down in that weird oh sh******t! way. No harm no foul thankfully. At first I felt (not for the first time) how I wished this trail could be groomed a bit to make it less threatening. And then I came across this article: featured/truth-trails-smarten-dont-dumb.
What am I as a 62 year old dude doing here anyway? I ride that trail a lot. I wash out on soft corners and rattle the fillings in my teeth over rock gardens nearly every day. Why do I paddle out when the surf is too big and gnarly for normal people?
I think this is also a metaphor for other aspects of life in our culture. Seems like we want to dumb it down. Raise those test scores. Give everyone a trophy. Group affirmation. Slow down. Wear a helmet. Whatever.
Probably the same feeling past generations had. Hey, you ever been kicked by a mule while trying to pull that wagon out of the mud you little whippersnappper?
I'm going out to hit that section of trail right now and see what happens if I change my line a bit. How much speed can I carry through to stay high enough on the berm? How much is too much and will knock the shifters off my bars when I eat it? Must be a little nuts. Think I am glad for it.
