I acknowledge that a friendly hello to other travelers is an admirable practice and never a bad thing but I am here to advocate for the space to indulge your introvert nature. If that’s your nature. It certainly is mine. Since the beginning, for me, riding bikes in the woods has been as much about solitude as it has community. In those early days going to the mountains was an escape from humans, or more precisely, specific humans and it was a time and place that allowed for it. Very few other users and near endless (small w) wilderness. 35 years later I live in a major metropolitan area with a high concentration of outdoor enthusiast and while I’m no longer running away from dysfunction when I head out for a ride there are times where the din of modern life and near constant interaction, digital or otherwise, has taken its toll and I need to find solitude in an otherwise very busy place. Sometimes I want to focus solely on the near meditative act of pedaling up a hill. Or bury myself in an athletic effort. Or find a state of flow that general eludes me in my daily life. Sometimes I don’t want to say hello. Or wave, or wink, or thumbs up, or fist bump. If this makes me an asshole fair enough. We all are sometimes and that’s ok. But to make that assumption has an opportunity cost. Everyone goes to the woods for their own reason. Some reasons can be shared, some solely our own. I try not judge others encountered on the trails(unless they are the ones randomly distributing bags of dog shit, f**k those people). They don’t owe me anything and our experience in that moment is shared regardless of greeting.
That said I always acknowledge another’s hello with a response proportionate to how deep in the cave I’ve gone, I’m not a sociopath FFS.
-A
April 19, 2024, 9:19 p.m. - aktrnsplnt
I acknowledge that a friendly hello to other travelers is an admirable practice and never a bad thing but I am here to advocate for the space to indulge your introvert nature. If that’s your nature. It certainly is mine. Since the beginning, for me, riding bikes in the woods has been as much about solitude as it has community. In those early days going to the mountains was an escape from humans, or more precisely, specific humans and it was a time and place that allowed for it. Very few other users and near endless (small w) wilderness. 35 years later I live in a major metropolitan area with a high concentration of outdoor enthusiast and while I’m no longer running away from dysfunction when I head out for a ride there are times where the din of modern life and near constant interaction, digital or otherwise, has taken its toll and I need to find solitude in an otherwise very busy place. Sometimes I want to focus solely on the near meditative act of pedaling up a hill. Or bury myself in an athletic effort. Or find a state of flow that general eludes me in my daily life. Sometimes I don’t want to say hello. Or wave, or wink, or thumbs up, or fist bump. If this makes me an asshole fair enough. We all are sometimes and that’s ok. But to make that assumption has an opportunity cost. Everyone goes to the woods for their own reason. Some reasons can be shared, some solely our own. I try not judge others encountered on the trails(unless they are the ones randomly distributing bags of dog shit, f**k those people). They don’t owe me anything and our experience in that moment is shared regardless of greeting. That said I always acknowledge another’s hello with a response proportionate to how deep in the cave I’ve gone, I’m not a sociopath FFS. -A