JO is Gone, Climate Changed It
Fully Rigid, 9/24/21
Just Outstanding is a beer and a trail name. Kern River Brewing Company brews the IPA and assisted in building the trail in the southern Sierra, nearby where the beer is brewed. The trail is gone. The beer is still available in Kernville and around much of California.
Fire.
A wildfire took away JO, the trail, from us. North of Kernville, up in the Sierra, another wildfire burns through Sequoia groves, the more famous one being where there is The Trail of 100 Giants. I first experienced it in 2000 and last walked through the grove pre-pandemic. In and around the Camp Nelson area, where there are great mountain biking trails, some that go through Sequoia groves, the same fire burns now.
Wildfire.
Climate change.
Mountain bikers.
The new normal, some say, is that we will live with wildfires, that wildfire season is now 12 months long in some places. The forests across the Western USA, where many of us ride our mountain bikes, have burned/are burning/will burn. It’s only a matter of time.
Hours.
Days.
Weeks.
Months.
Years.
Lifetimes.
Geologic.
Over time, there are the naysayers to the understanding that human activities are causing (at least in part) climate change. I submit the carbon cycle to such people:
If you clicked it, you saw in 2 minutes of time what the human species has done to change the carbon cycle in the past 100 years. It’s pretty simple, actually, and denial of our role in it is wrong.
What is also wrong is when I read discussion boards on various web pages where mountain bikers express frustration about wildfires and losing their trails and not being able to ride and then other forests are shut down as precautionary measures and because we are short on staff/fire fighters/resources/budgets/money and in those discussions about all of this which adds up to fire reality, I see few comments, I mean very few, that include even a suggestion about climate change. Everyone is angry/upset/pissed off, but no one wants to say climate change.
Get real mountain bikers. If you want your forest trails to not burn, I mean rage like wildfires (but they will burn, to some degree), then support policy that funds research to better understand/adapt to climate change/fire on public lands. Ask your elected officials to craft and enact policy that addresses climate change.
At this point, we’re not stopping it. We can only adapt to it. On a human level, yes, there are humans who do not have the resources/capacity to adapt. Some people will be left behind. We know that already, assuming we look around and beyond our bubble.
Fire and mountain biking and climate change certainly is a ball of privilege wrapped up like the insides of a baseball of my youth. I get it. Nevertheless, I, like you, am not about to give up riding on public lands. It is too much fun and at the same time, keeps me physically/emotionally/mentally healthy.
For me, as a mountain biker and in addition to supporting orgs and policy that fits into what I’ve written here, I’ll vote for humans that don’t turn their heads.
RIP JO. You lived a good life.
Fully Rigid is a monthly column by James Murren about Mountain Biking Issues within the Mountain Biking Community.
There are certain countries that contribute a lot of terrible things to our worlds air quality.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/most-polluted-countries
I'm making an effort to buy local(when possible) as the rules in north America tend to be much more strict vs some overseas areas.
What I don't understand though, is many of the California fires have been arson. What is wrong with these people?