Bombing Down, Getting Schooled

#missoulaisashithole

2012 (before the big berms were installed) Missoula from the hillside, where the view is stunning and the trail etiquette is, let’s say, a work in progress.

Signs Are Decorative, Apparently

The MoZ trail is not subtle about what it is. There are signs at the top. Signs at the bottom. The banked corners are basically the trail’s way of introducing itself: “Hi, I’m a downhill mountain bike trail, nice to meet you.” Mountain bikers actually built MoZ specifically because bombing down the hiking trail at 50 mph was turning into a public safety disaster. So yeah, there’s a whole separate trail for hikers right nearby. The system works. Or it’s supposed to.

So there I am, dropping in on exactly the trail I’m supposed to be on, doing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing, when suddenly I’m navigating what can only be described as a spontaneous neighborhood block party on a banked corner. Kids everywhere. Adults milling around like we’re at a farmers market. I try to bail off the trail to go around them, and someone actually steps into the gap. I swerve back onto the trail, barely threading it, heart doing something unpleasant in my chest.

Then the screaming starts. Children at play. Slow down. Stop.

I’ll be honest, I did not respond with my most eloquent self. I cant. I said something like, “Go read the signs at the top of this trail”.

The thing is, the signs aren’t there to be bossy. They’re there because someone already had the close call that made them necessary. That history is baked into the trail, whether people read it or not.

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