The smallest bits wash away first - dust, dirt, worm turds then the sand.
After the sand, the pebbles go.
Once they move, it’s down to the gravel and finally cobble stones.
The ATV trails that we mountain bike on get washed out by rain.
Trails in some places are v - shaped. The sides are gritty and ridable but the bottoms are filled with large menacing boulders that make the trail unridable.
In order to get through, you need to be able to ride along on a side slope while either climbing or descending the kind of hill that is steep enough to get water moving so fast that these deep washed out ruts appear.
The ruts only show up on the hills.
If you’re in the middle going up, all progress stops. It’s an easy way to fall off the bike.
If you hit the middle going down, it’s possible to keep riding. With gravity on your side, the ruts are easier.
Making a change, transitioning from one side of the trail to the next is fraught whether it’s the trail of life or one you’re simply riding along.
Do you time. Climb to the top and start moving.
Once you have some momentum on your side, changing from one line, one path to the next will be bumpy but it will be a lot easier.
And if your path is headed straight up hill and the ground is so rough there’s no way to ‘ride’?
One foot in front of the other and up the hill you go.
The rest of us will be waiting for you at the top.