Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1534827
Dylan Marchello Dylan Marchello With the detonator dismantled and the final ma- chines rolling back into the pits under their own power, one might argue that three hundred minutes doesn't sound like a lot. Tell that to the proud legacy of purple hearts with their blacktop wind chills and knuckles busted at full speed on tree trunks. "I never thought we'd s ll be pu ng it on in this day and age," former Meteor trail boss and president Dale Freitas offered at day's end around the societal and techno- logical trends that somehow always seemingly serve to complicate. And yet, there he was hours earlier on Sunday, mobile device Velcro-d to the handlebars with a GPS app running, s ll doing his part to keep the show on the road. What's clear from the center of the storm is what's so misunderstood at the periphery, so a final word from our Na onal Park Service. "Put simply, conser- va on seeks the proper use of nature, while preser- va on seeks protec on of nature from use." Preser- va on is too passive for these parts, where stopping me to protect a pearl-clutching porcelain world is apparently the only means of keeping it safe. Con- serva on is the ac ve counterpoint, where the big one come 2034 – a century's worth of sweat equity to cut untold ground miles of trail across 100 years of history – is the only thing the clock atop the me bomb might pause to reflect on for a moment… then keep right on cking.