Maybe he was right after all; the commenter that is. Recently a commenter chided me on my inconsistency in denigrating single-track riding when mountain biking, since I usually praise the Agony-and-Ecstasy dualities of heat/cold, downhill/uphill, Dry Heat/monsoons, city/outback, etc.
I just got back from a "nice" ride today. You know what? I feel disappointed compared to the ride a couple days ago, when several things went wrong. "Nice" sort of means "boring."
I was following an ATV trail. Who says that motorized and non-motorized sports can't be compatible? The trail was smooth and troughed. It was delightful to mountain bike on, and it was a perfect running track for my kelpie, Coffee Girl.
Then it started dying step-by-step. First it devolved from a two track to a single track; then it became a gnarly hiking trail; finally it turned into a game trail with fallen logs every few feet. My gosh, does it ever get tiresome to lift a heavy mountain bike over logs every few seconds! I was not enjoying this -- or was I?
Why keep going? I like to deliver safety sermons against plunging onward on loop routes, while praising the safety of out-and-backs. I warn against hubris. But on this outing I knew where I was, despite not bringing a GPS gadget. Something -- not exactly hubris -- but more like macho stubbornness "forced" me to keep going. It might be that stubbornness is just hubris in disguise. Is hubris like influenza virus: it keeps morphing to a different strain when you get good at beating it in its old form?
I should have been more deliberate, but instead relied on dumb luck to follow the game trail to the south side of the mountain, where the dreary spruce/fir forest gave way to a bright aspen forest.
Soon that gave way to open pasture on the slope of a volcanic knoll. The game trail had grown over with grass, so I could only follow deer scat. The view on top of the knoll was a great relief and reward. Amazingly enough, I bushwhacked down the knoll and ended up on the initial trail, thereby completing a very messy loop route. But it will be memorable.
Comments
I think I'd prefer to avoid agonizing trails if they in any way lessen my enjoyment of common trails. I don't want to have to hunt for greater and greater agonies in order to get my hiking "fix" as the sightseers require greater and more wonderful "sights" to brag on... Or they have to quit, make an exit plan, and declare victory. Retire and die. ;)
What I question is striving to experience a crescendo each and every time lest it not be "memorable".
Hinoki Jeff, I can't quite tell what you are joking about, but you seem proud of hurting yourself. I will never practice that style of outdoor adventure.
Thanks for the information on witch's broom. I'll keep my eyes open.
Hubris--"a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one's own competence or capabilities, especially when the person exhibiting it is in a position of power". That just doesn't seem to describe you.