Unable to sleep

Unable to sleep old Kadizzle rose from bed and made coffee at about 4 A.M.  Today the little band of trail crew people will head off for a bike ride at McDowell park. The mid 70's gang will be assisted by electrons on the ebikes. 

In every endeavor there are purist.  Back in the sailing days there was some pride in making the trip on wind alone. On the other hand a motor made trips possible that otherwise would not have been. That is the case with ebikes. Young whippersnappers with energy and muscle to spare don't want ebikes on the trails. The reason is somehow they see it as an affront to their masculinity. 

 On more than one occasion Kadizzle has done this experiment. Kadizzle is on an ebike, and another older goat in good shape is on an unassisted bike. Kadizzle has found a skilled rider in good shape can go faster than a 73 year old on an ebike. That takes away the speed argument the youngsters like to use. Ebikes make no noise. 

Why can't everyone enjoy the trails? The best example of this was a family Kadizzle encountered. The son had a heart condition. Without the help of the ebike he could not keep up with his family. 

Kadizzle is generally not a fan of elitism. It has no place on the trails. If you use a trail politely and do not tear up the trail, why should some snob get to deny you the use of the trail. 

This all ultimately gets to the wilderness experience. The concept is good, but the execution has many flaws. People want to be back in the middle of nowhere away from chainsaws, and lumpers on four wheelers. That is understandable. If you can make the argument someone is hurting the wilderness, or disturbing your serenity then you have a case, but no one really has a true wilderness experience. You can take all the pride you want in tossing modern technology, but you do have a fancy backpack, a spiffy little stove, an excellent sleeping bag, bug spray, water filter, and on it goes. You are not out there with no technology, like the old guy with a mule.

Now for the totally insane part.  As the trail crew our job is to clear the trail so you can hike it. The tools used are not supposed to have motors or wheels. That is a fine idea most of the time, but lets add some common sense.  Trees falling across trails are a major problem. How many trees can you remove in a day with a buck saw? Maybe three or four big ones. Remember there may be a hundred trees across the trail. Now, what if the National Forest Service said for three weeks in March you could use mechanical aids? Then you could waltz into the woods and cut 27 trees off the trails. Hmm, seems like common sense, but that is a rare commodity.