I don't climb, or at least not hard enough for my opinion on climbing to be relevant, but I came to realise for myself that my mountain biking was a form of cou

I don't climb, or at least not hard enough for my opinion on climbing to be relevant, but I came to realise for myself that my mountain biking was a form of counterphobia.¹ There is a famous trail builder who built super risky trails in the North Shore of Vancouver. Those trails involved riding along six inch wide logs which were all slimy and slippery way above the forest floor.² My bonafides: I've ridden everything on Fromme and most trails on Seymour too, back in the day before they cut down the most dangerous lines. Basically, I just wanted to say that from those riding experiences, that I get it. I know that feeling of being one with the trail, of fully accepting and merging with the fear. It brought me peace during the ride (it altered my perception till all I could see was the front tire and the line I was riding, everything else became bokeh) and the comedown after riding trails like that was also really nice. Driving home across the Lions Gate bridge with my bike in the back of my friends shitty pickup (the bike was likely worth more than the car) are probably some of the happiest memories I'll ever make. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterphobic_attitude https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterphobic_attitude 2. https://diggerknowfear.com/ https://diggerknowfear.com/ His logo includes the words 'Know Fear'