chubb trail and natural selection

"there are no stupid questions, just stupid people"...mr. garrison, shown here with mr. hat.

ah, the chubb trail. so familiar, yet still so fun. the trail continually evolves and changes, so even if you know the basic route like the back of your hand, the surface is always a surpise.

i was finally able to get the brakes bled properly on the rush, making it trailworthy. what a fun bike. actually, it is the most fun mountain bike i have ever had. if it were a pound and a half lighter, it would be the best one, too. i'm working on that.

so i loaded up the rush and set out to ride chubb this morning. the trail was superbe, no mud whatsoever and a grippy surface. i was sweating like a fat man in a sauna, though. good lawd it was humid.

as i approached the rock garden along the meramec, i was presented with a sight that i have never before witnessed. sort of like a woman in a wheelchair driving the wrong way in freeway rush hour traffic, but worse. there was a couple, a man and a woman, on department store mountain bikes, no helmets, struggling along the rocks, with child carriers on the backs of the bikes, WITH CHILDREN IN THEM. yes, you know the kind. the old kind. the child carriers that sit on the back of the bike, like top-heavy little racks, holding the child high above the ground so that, when the parent crashes, the child crashes harder. the kids did have helmets on, which didn't seem to matter much to one, which was screaming bloody murder as dad pounded over the rocks and her head bashed back and forth with each hit.

these people were not experienced mountain bikers. they didn't have good bikes. and they were on one of the more technical parts of one of the most technical trails we have in our area. i guess, whatever your beliefs are, that most would agree that natural selection is alive and well, and will dictate whether or not kids like these will reach adulthood. it's sad that the kids themselves will not be making the decision.

on a brighter note, besides feeling like poop, i had a lot of fun riding. i stopped at the west tyson side on two occasions to rinse off at the pump, which helped with the heat. more hikers than bikers today, for sure, but i did run into cw as i was exiting. he was just getting started.