Kind of reminds me of triathlons and those type of athletes. You never see them smiling on that last leg of the race. They all look placid and miserable yet they cant wait to do it again. I cant relate to their misery. The only thing I understand is different strokes for different folks.Sun, in my opinion those types of trails suck on a bike. They are sometimes trying in my Jeep and I have watched bikes trying to run these and it doesn't seem like any of them are enjoying themselves at that time. I much prefer trails that you can ride with some speed and not worry about the boulder fields.
Some guys like hard core death defying challenge but not me. I like small doses of difficulty (difficult to me that is,) but not miles and miles of it. It just wears me out and beats me up too much. Plus I tense up too much and head trip myself sometimes. Trails like John Bull sure do make you a better rider though. In a perfect world I would get small doses of everything all year long to keep my skills up. What I like about the easier LPNF trails are they are just enough technical challenge for me but Im still able to keep the fun factor up