Saint Louis Rugby

When we cruise through Forest Park on the weekends, there are all sorts of displays of manly prowess. There are the knights that fight with Nerf and then there are the rugby players pictured above. Both groups seem to enjoy whaling on themselves. Other manly pursuits are also well represented. There is the racquetball, handball and squash confederation, “Thump! Oh! Thump! Whoa! Thump! Yeah!”. Baseball is firing up now on all pistons on Aviation Field. The grass is always greener and more manicured there, especially on the diamond side of the fence. Tennis and golf also enjoy their sacred sanctums, and then there is the bicycle trail.

The bike trail is where I workout. This so-called bicycle trail is really a multi-use trail. It is shared among cyclists, rollerbladers, runners and walkers. There are also baby-strollers, dogs and an occasional horse. All of these varied users generally mesh well together, until they don’t. Machismo can flash itself when it comes to passing. Passing when there is oncoming traffic can lead to violations of people’s personal spaces. Sometimes bruised egos are also involved and sometimes it isn’t only egos that get bruised. I know all about how this happens. I’ve experienced it.

While rugby and the knights that fight with Nerf are exclusively boys clubs, the rest of these athletic pursuits are coed. The women help to diffuse any local over abundance of testosterone. It is a big park, one of the largest urban parks in the country. So, there is always plenty of room for everyone to play and when the bike trail gets too crowded, then there are many more miles of roads available to ride.