Instant Crush
Dad in crush mode (back in the day when his beard was still dark)
Dear Reader,
Last week, I had the privilege of discovering one of my new favorite activities: crushing rocks. Despite the rather unsavory cultural connotations of the action (think incarceration), turning big rocks into little rocks is a key element of building features on multi-use bike trails. Small rocks or “rip-rap” are used to fill in gaps between larger rocks before being covered by dirt for a smooth riding surface. Now, stone-smashing also serves another purpose: stress relief. In fact, it acts as a sort of natural rage room. As a rising high school senior, a clinically anxious person with a perpetually ruminating mind, and human living in the world, I am often left to contend with unpleasant events and the emotions that they catalyze - as most people are. And I have found that physical activity, especially non-violent acts of physical and mental strength, help me to cope with life’s side-effects in a healthy way. My near-daily runs outside, for example, prove to be helpful in soothing my mind and blowing off steam if I am struggling in my academic or personal life. However, the act of crushing rocks in particular has an empowering quality for a young woman like myself. The conditioning that young women experience to repress and purge feelings of anger, rather than use them in a productive and healthy way, becomes irrelevant when building a trail. Feelings of shame can be swept aside in order to accomplish my overall goal and actually create something for the community. Physical demonstrations of strength also encourage me to physically and emotionally take up space even when social messaging implores me to make myself smaller.
And it's not just me. Rock-crushing is one of the most sought-after tasks on our twice-weekly trail builds. Participants often fight over the task depending on how difficult their week has been. Moreover, sledge-hammering itself is very good physical activity with many gyms having exercises that utilize the technique. Regular builder Steve Boshart actually refers to the activity of trail-building as his “rock gym.” After all, it saves you a gym membership, gets you outside, and gives you an opportunity to contribute to the community. This element of pushing your body to extremes to soothe your mind is reflected in many people’s approach to exercise. When I talked to builder and rider Sandy Chapman about the stress-relieving aspects of rock-crushing, he also emphasized the importance of mountain biking in helping people to remain resilient in the face of personal adversity, saying that many riders use the sport as a way to dance with their “demons.” Something about the sweat of a hard climb and the unbridled freedom of a steep descent, those tires rolling over the earth in all its variety and richness - from smooth clay to bumpy rocks the size of baby heads - speaks to people. For me, a non-mountainbiker, the act of hiking and making trails grounds me, reminding me that I am just one part of this complex web of life that we call “Earth.”
Poet Mary Oliver once wrote in her collection Blue Horses, “Do stones feel? /
Do they love their life? / Or does their patience drown out everything else?” Like her, I choose to believe that the short answer is “yes” - and that is beautiful. Whether we crush them to decompress or sit on them for rest, stones are marked with both our pain and our comfort. Still, in their willingness to abide and sheer unbotheredness to the human condition, stones are simultaneously ever-listening and ever-apathetic to our plight, a patient foil to our increasingly self-absorbed society.
Best,
Dani G.
Marianne getting ready for the ol’ crusharooney!
