Some of that is due to personal commitments and some of it is simply due to burnout.
Yesterday I went for a ride and it gave me an opportunity to clear out my head.
Like a lot of riders I belong to a lot of online mountain bike groups and no matter what the topic is there will be a broad range of opinions on the subject.
Some of the differences of opinion are fairly benign such as wheel size preference some, however, are way more contentious such as pilsners vs IPAs.
During my ride I met a guy who built mountain bike frames as a hobby. We spoke for a while and we talked about many things especially some of the changes that have taken place in the bike industry and cultural shifts that have taken place with the influx of younger, wealthier mountain bikers.
I don’t fault someone that can afford the latest and greatest gear imaginable that doesn’t mean you own the trail. Nope, you simply don’t. You’re just passing through just like everyone else so just chill. You and your helmet matching socks.
We talked about when we got involved with mountain biking in the eighties we both did so because it was supposed to be fun. Well, the industry seems to be allergic to fun. Fun is an anathema to GoPro videos, and Strava. The word fun has been sentenced to the linguistic equivalent of Siberia and may only get a reprieve as soon as “contumely” and “quidnunc” are both granted pardons.
Fun has been replaced by words like shred, beat, rip and crush. Shred the run, beat your riding partners, rip the trail, crush the competition. What are we, riding bikes are staring in a torture porn movie?
While health competition is fun if you really want to test your skills enter a race because multi use trails probably aren’t the best areas to set a new land speed record.
I know, crazy, right?
While my definition of fun may be different than someone elses fun shouldn’t be considered a zero sum game.
You can still have fun, just not at someone’s expense.
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