There's a War Going On

This one is for my Colorado Springs riding buddies.

I recently realized that I am in the midst of a calculated chess match between the "Tribal Council of Tech" and the "Trail Means Path Association".  It wasn't an immediate realization, but I had noticed some strange changes here and there.  When it finally hit me was when the trail nearly hit me.  I took the tech option on a section.  There is about a 3 foot drop on this line with a little helper rock about a foot away for a smooth roll off.  The proper way to ride this lip would be to wheelie drop it, but the helper rock meant if you wheelie dropped the exit, it was likely you would nail the back wheel on that helper rock (which I did once, Stan's rims are freaking awesome!).  On this day as I exited, the helper rock was gone.  It was sudden and I was caught off guard. I survived the nose wheelie and said out loud, "That's not cool man!"  and for that moment, I was on the wrong side of the battle.  That helper rock didn't belong in the tech line, but I needed it.

I spent the rest of the ride thinking about my alignment with the Tribal Council of Tech.  Sure, I'm getting soft, but I stand by my allegiance to the tech.  I was used to this at Palmer Park and, because I expected it. It  made things interesting.  Feature was changed, Council didn't like it, put it back. Cat and mouse.  Here it was different.  I didn't know I was playing Russian Roulette on trail.

Whatever the case, now I know and I am looking forward, literally, to seeing how the war plays out here.  As always, I stand by the Tech.

By the way, on my next ride, the helper rock was back. Boooo, take the easy line if you don't like it.