HAND IN GLOVE

PRIVILEGE IN A TIME OF PAIN

- MIKE FERRENTINO

The spring of 2020 was a fucking mess. I think we can all agree on that, right? Global pandemic leading to widespread economic instability and spawning wave upon wave of protests whereby armed goobers stormed state government buildings because they felt their rights were being subjugated, only to have those protests immediately look like the tantrums of small-minded children when the massive surge of outrage over the murder of George Floyd hit the fan.

“Politics and mountain biking don’t mix.” Some of you are probably saying that right now. Sure, they don’t mix. Especially in a sport with probably the most middle-age, white, male demographic this side of ice fishing. But then again, mountain bikers love to get political when it suits them; when trail access is an issue, or when deciding to either decry or endorse the use of electric-assist mountain bikes. It’d be great to hold a hard line, say that politics has no place in these pages, that we are all just a big happy bunch of midlife bros doing this thing we love and that this thing we love bonds us all together and erases the prejudices and ingrained social conditioning that pervades EVERY OTHER ASPECT OF OUR LIVES.