The mountain bike trails around Fruita, Colorado and Moab, Utah are frequent Spring Break destinations for our students, and this year is no exception. Considered by many to be one of the premier mountain biking destinations in Colorado, Fruita boasts “the perfect combinations of terrain to challenge riders of all skill levels and abilities. There are so many choices, true believers will most likely want to experience all the trails, each for its own unique value.” Moab, in turn, calls itself “home to some of the best mountain biking trails on the planet. With a vast array of trails to choose from, Moab offers stunning rides through canyons and mesa tops, as well as challenging routes that will push your skills to the limit.” Sounds like just the thing for Wyoming Catholic College students!
This year’s group of student riders will spend three days in Colorado, vanquishing such routes as Kokopelli Loops, 18 Road Trails, and Lunch Loop Trails. Then, they will head on down the road to Moab for another three days of riding.
Reading through the detailed itinerary and daily plans that the group’s leaders must turn in before heading out on the road is impressive. They are written with clarity and confidence, and they take particular pains to address the various risks and challenges that might arise each day. “There are many new riders in this group,” this week’s plan says, “so keeping everyone on trails and around features that they can manage is key. Familiarizing everyone with the terrain and different types of hazards are also main concerns.” Additionally, “the temperature will be high and the sun will be out, so we must be careful to drink enough water, apply sunscreen, and avoid overheating. Mountain biking has higher injury rates than some of our other outdoor activities, so we must be sure to stay safe and not to attempt more than our abilities and skill sets will allow.”
As with yesterday’s group, there’s more to their adventures than just biking. “Meditate for twenty minutes on the importance of fasting and on how it affects our spiritual and physical life,” says Friday’s “Integration Nugget,” the term used for an activity that helps to bring all three elements of the College’s educational vision together—body, mind, and spirit. “Why should we fast? How does doing something physical help with and affect our spiritual lives?”
Following up on that topic, Saturday’s Nugget reminds the group that “in Aristotle’s Ethics, the magnanimous man is said to avoid foolish or unnecessary risks. With this in mind, and recognizing that becoming the magnanimous man means that you must first become morally virtuous, can we see our mountain biking as an opportunity for the development of moral virtue?”
Talk about a distinctively WCC twist on the question of what makes a man virtuous. We look forward to hearing the thoughts of these young people on that very question when they get back!
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