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Reflections
Most often, on weekends, I’m either riding or showing up for trail-building work parties. While I’m thinking lots about bikes (and trails) for obvious reasons, one of the other aspects of my planning is coffee. I suppose I don’t overthink about it as it slots into my mental checklist as I’m getting ready to leave … bike (check), helmet (check), shoes (check), knee pads (check), coffee (check) …
Why do we ride bikes? In particular, why do we ride mountain bikes? Yes, we can talk about the health benefits of an active lifestyle, but it’s much more than that. Ultimately we ride because of the community.
Road trips are great opportunities to stare out the window and watch the scenery unfold. The same is true for mountain biking, gravel riding, or bikepacking. Although to be fair, I'm not too keen on the unfurling landscape while bombing a hill on my bike. My eyes are fixated on the trail looking for rocks, roots, and unexpected drops. But I do think about land use a good bit.
While this may sound like the title of an article in an obscure academic journal, we want to have a conversation. No, we won’t be citing any latest research, nor will this be filled with bottomless footnotes. It’s about thinking through the where and how of our lifestyle as mountain bikers, gravel riders, and coffee drinkers.
One of the topics I want to hear more about is thinking through more sustainable ways to access trail systems than simply driving. No, I am not anti-car or anything like that. I sometimes think about the absurdity of endless shuttled runs and all of the gas wasted, time wasted, and of course, CO2 emissions emitted. Maybe that is why I have been thinking of gravel riding a lot more of late.
Looking back I realize how much of the best experiences we had were from the unexpected detours. Finding a waterfall in the high desert or scrambling up a cliff in search of Anasazi ruins were not on my agenda. But my trip would be incomplete without those experiences
