falling off the straight and narrow path

the psychology of 'skinnies'

It’s confounding how something that seems simple can be difficult.

How is it that small things can be such a big deal?

It’s easy to dismiss small skills.

And.

They aren’t always as small as you might think.

When they first built mountain bike trails in the pacific north west, one solution to getting over impassable terrain was to cut down a tree, flatten the top with a chain saw and use the trunk as a bridge.

These are know as ‘skinnies’.

Skinnies progressed over time becoming intricate skill testers all on their own.

Check out this reel by ‘dangerous dave’ that winds through an insane network of skinnies.

Now that many trails are machine made, skinnies and wooden trail features have fallen out of fashion. Full suspension bicycles and some pretty elementary physics have made flying through the air more predictable than wobbling along a skinny.

Riding a bike with three inch tires along a six inch skinny is more difficult than you might imagine. You don’t need to be perfect, but it’s good to b…