Dunno what it is with this one tree in particular. I just seem to keep clipping it with the end of the handlebar.

It’s not a big tree, maybe that’s part of what is going on. The trunk is maybe 4 inches in diameter, and sits right on the edge of fast sweeping singletrack, close to the first apex of a double apex corner. You can see the fast line through the corner and beyond the tree as you approach it, it’s just that the skinny tree wants its share of the fast line too. My brain seems to figure that the tree is best ignored. Doh!

On that same stretch of trail today I spot the magic clipping tree ahead, think to myself oh yeah, that’s the one I usually clip — I can tell by the handlebar height gouge in the bark — and sure enough it happens, the end of the handlebar grazes the trunk. Ha!

I go back for another run, making a conscious effort to go out wide around the tree. Don’t clip it this time but the funny thing is the corner is nowhere near as sweet or fast when you’re not in tight against the tree 😛