This is always a strange conversation for me.
I personally don't have much racist programming and I have my parents to thank for that. They grew up as conservative folk but in college had a broad range of friends and learned to not care about color/sex etc. And as a home schooled kid that's what I also learned.
Don't get me wrong, there are still lots of societal influence and we all have to make our own day to day decisions on how we treat each other. And it is my conscious decision to choose to intentionally treat people based on actions not skin color or sex.
But...
In my life experience I don't see many women wanting to take the big risks. I don't see many women signing up for the extreme epics, the insane type 2 fun moments in the same levels as men. And I say this with a background in very high level sea kayaking, sailboat racing on an extremely fast sailboat and not mtb.
I understand there might be, are and will be barriers to entry, be they psychological, physical or societal. But I also see the people who want it going for it and doing the things they truly want. Case in point: yesterday talking with two middle class, white co-workers they both said mtb was too hard, they didn't like slowing their friend down and it hurt to fall, so no more for them.
Now, for a woman, or someone of co'or there can be significant other barriers, but here were two comfort white boys saying it was not something they wanted to do because it was hard, because of their own insecurities. So how do we quantify the barriers for others?
I also like to encourage people to do my favorite things, but I don't know if it's a good fit for most of us. Maybe the ones that want it go for it, and maybe most of the rest of it (besides the very real barrier of cost, regardless of sex or color) is just choosing to or not to.
And I also want to note I am, and always will always be friendly to literally anyone on the trails. Hell, I'm even polite to ebikes on the trails. (I view them as idiot dupes, not evil people;-)
March 23, 2024, 10:04 a.m. - BarryW
This is always a strange conversation for me. I personally don't have much racist programming and I have my parents to thank for that. They grew up as conservative folk but in college had a broad range of friends and learned to not care about color/sex etc. And as a home schooled kid that's what I also learned. Don't get me wrong, there are still lots of societal influence and we all have to make our own day to day decisions on how we treat each other. And it is my conscious decision to choose to intentionally treat people based on actions not skin color or sex. But... In my life experience I don't see many women wanting to take the big risks. I don't see many women signing up for the extreme epics, the insane type 2 fun moments in the same levels as men. And I say this with a background in very high level sea kayaking, sailboat racing on an extremely fast sailboat and not mtb. I understand there might be, are and will be barriers to entry, be they psychological, physical or societal. But I also see the people who want it going for it and doing the things they truly want. Case in point: yesterday talking with two middle class, white co-workers they both said mtb was too hard, they didn't like slowing their friend down and it hurt to fall, so no more for them. Now, for a woman, or someone of co'or there can be significant other barriers, but here were two comfort white boys saying it was not something they wanted to do because it was hard, because of their own insecurities. So how do we quantify the barriers for others? I also like to encourage people to do my favorite things, but I don't know if it's a good fit for most of us. Maybe the ones that want it go for it, and maybe most of the rest of it (besides the very real barrier of cost, regardless of sex or color) is just choosing to or not to. And I also want to note I am, and always will always be friendly to literally anyone on the trails. Hell, I'm even polite to ebikes on the trails. (I view them as idiot dupes, not evil people;-)