Rideable, Not Rideable? Part I

I'm planning to do a series on here called what the title of this post is, "Rideable, Not Rideable?" It'll be spotty, but hopefully updated about once a week until we run out of things to try to ride (not likely). The point is to help educate people about what trail obstacles can and can not be ridden. Now, I know this is a pretty tall order and different people can ride different things. Hans Rey could probably ride everything I try to put up here in his sleep.

But that's kind of the point. I wouldn't want to ruin Hans Rey's fun.

We've seen well-intentioned people in the woods lately that have been removing or modifying obstacles that they have deemed "unrideable". The point of this exercise is to show that some obstacles that may be considered unrideable by some people are, in fact, rideable, and add a nice challenge to the trails.

Just because one person can't ride something, doesn't mean it can't be ridden by someone else. And if it can be ridden by someone else, it should be pretty much left alone. Rider skills can grow to meet the challenges, but it's a disservice to the sport and to the heritage of Michaux (or any riding area) to make everyone ride the same anesthetized trails. This applies to log ramp building, cutting logs, turning logs perpindicular to the trail, stacking rocks, putting in cheater lines around rocks, around logs, or to cut off those oh-so-difficult tight switchbacky turns and weaves of the trail flow with stupid cheater lines. God, I hate cheater lines. Turn the freaking handlebars.

Don't get me wrong, in certain cases, it may make sense to modify or remove something to make it rideable. What I'm trying to illustrate here is that many more minor obstacles are completely rideable as-is and shouldn't be screwed with.

Oh yeah, don't post comments asking, "What trail is that?" or, "Where is that cool thing?" If you don't know, you may not know enough trails to be screwing with obstacles in the first place. And no, I don't know every trail in Michaux. But I do know a bunch. And I always respect the ones that were there before me.

Anyway, on to the point. I've rambled enough.

The obstacle for this week is pretty minor in the scope of things. Slightly elevated log with a low side height of 12" and a high side height of 16". It is not built up. No ramps to and fro. On to the pics.

Low side height--12-13", depending on line. Low side ride next 3 pics.

High side height--about 16". High side ride, next three pics.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Yes, these are both 29ers. But, the bike doesn't matter and can not be used as an excuse. If *A* rider on *A* bike can clear something, it should become a goal for someone else to ride, not a reason to get on the short bus.

Stay tuned for more installments--some obstacles will be challenging, some will be typical. Not trying to prove any particular person's riding mettle. Just trying to educate the masses.

Can't wait to see the comments on this one! It'll be kudos or damnation, I'm sure.