One of my favorite things to do early in the morning is go for a ride on the mountain bike trails located a few miles from my house. The trails are a thrilling combination of hilly and flat sections with a wide variety of logs, roots, rocks, sand and other obstacles to challenge the rider.
A mountain bike trail can be anywhere from six inches to six feet (or more) in width, but mountain bike tires are only a couple of inches wide. This leaves plenty of options for where to guide your wheels. A line is the exact path a bike’s wheels will take on a trail. The biker must make quick decisions as to where his or her wheels are going to go. For example, one might have a choice to go over or around a log in the trail. Going over the log is a more direct route, but going around is easier. There is not a right and a wrong answer as to which path to take; a skilled rider will likely go over the log, while a beginner will probably choose the smooth path around it. The shorter path is not always the line of choice, but avoiding obstacles is not always the way to go. As I was riding the other day, I thought about this and realized it’s much like living life. Decisions must be made quickly, and a poor decision could have bad consequences. Maybe it causes a ‘wreck,’ or costs you some time. A bad line choice won’t take you out of a race, but it may be more difficult to overcome whatever obstacle is in question, and it will slow you down. Also, what one person does in a given situation is not necessarily right for everyone, although we can learn from the mistakes or successes of others.
Choosing a line is an essential mountain biking skill, but it’s useless if the biker fails to carry out that choice. The best way to stick to your line is to keep your eyes on the path you wish to take. Don’t get distracted by the obstacle you are avoiding. Instead, focus on the path you do want to take. Once you have passed the obstacle, look ahead to the next one, analyze and execute. In life, it’s very easy to get distracted by the problems around us. It’s important, however, to keep our focus on our goal: where we look is where we go. It is necessary to acknowledge the challenge, but only briefly.
One more lesson can be taken from the idea of line choice: you don’t have to know the whole trail. As a biker, one guides his bike through obstacles one at a time. No one is expected to have the trail memorized or know where it goes. You don’t have to have life figured out in order to make good decisions, you only have to take one challenge at a time. Look ahead to where you’re going, but don’t worry just yet about what lies around the corner. Keep your focus on what you can control right now, and make the best of the trail that’s given to you. You can’t always choose your circumstances, but you can choose what to do with those circumstances.
About me: I am a freshman at Iowa State University studying engineering. In my free time I enjoy mountain biking and running; mountain biking because it’s thrilling and offers great views (among other reasons), and running because I enjoy pushing my physical limits beyond where I think they are.
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