So, M flew out of The Anus of Hell eaarly this morning, to go back to Iowa to attend her uncle’s funeral and see the family. So, I woke up at 0245. So, I’m a bit tired and loopy. So, beware. This is not exactly moderate in tone.

Ergo, eating pizza and killing time on MTBR.

And I had the misfortune to stumble upon this. Going beyond my normal haunts on the Enduro racing, Singlespeed, Passion, 29er, and Arizona forums is never a good thing.

It frustrates me. It frustrates me because I like to think that those who share my interests share my views, at least in part, or appreciate basic matters of pragmatism. Preserving wilderness is not an ideal solution for many reasons, but given the myopic attitude towards resource management of our country in general and the sitting president in particular, let us be proactive for fucks sake!

For instance, I loath horses on a personal level. It also seems to me demonstrably true that their impact on trails far exceeds that of bicycles in all remotely comparable circumstances. So, horses should be banned from wilderness. I’ve also seen enough trash and bullshit brought in by horsepacker to think making the lazy bastards earn it is a good thing to do.

However, the 88th congress was the most monolithically liberal in the last century, and any precedent for opening up legislation would be very bad indeed.

I’m sure there are fantastic trails closed to mountain bikes in wilderness. So to in national parks.

Restraint.

Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should. (Perhaps this applies to suspension, too?) These are the places for which hiking and trail running were invented.

Speaking of which, perhaps I’ll head up to the Big Ditch tomorrow. Getting pretty hot for hiking near the river.