Posts tagged life

I wonder what sparks a passion for two wheels? Bicycles and motorcycles are often passions we have from a very young age and passions which tend to stick with us for a long time. I don’t remember when I first got interested in motorcycles, but I do recall my first two wheel experience.

Obviously when I was a kid I had kids bikes, with and without stabilisers. They were usually encrusted with poor rip-off paint jobs of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or some such. My first real bike though, the first one I chose came later.

I don’t know how old I was, or where I was but I do recall being upstairs in a blue carpeted cycle shop with my parents. At one end of the room were mountain bikes (MTBs) and at the other were road bikes. Early on I spotted a beautiful white road bike with dropped bars, skinny tires, light-weight frame and ten gears if I recall. It was built for speed, and it was cheap. I pleaded for hours with my parents to get it.

They weren’t convinced. Instead they tried to talk me into a black, bad-ass looking mountain bike. 21 useless gears, straight bars, made for giants and heavier than a bloated rhino. “You’ll grow into it.” I remember them saying. “It’s more fun, more versatile…” More tiring more like.

Eventually I caved and got the more expensive MTB. I loved it. I rode it everywhere. I wasn’t quick, didn’t venture too far off-road and I didn’t care. I was free and my medium pace coupled with my never-ending desire to keep going no matter what got me far. Even though I could barely lift it, and certainly couldn’t straddle it properly, a passion was born. A passion which quickly grew.

I rode that bike for years and years. It was the only bike I owned until it was stolen when I was 18. Later, I began riding motorcycles in it’s place. I’ve owned a few bikes since then, but I’ll never forget the white road bike that never was. I regret it to this day.

I don’t make new years resolutions for two reasons. Firstly, you can only make them at New Year’s. Secondly, you have to resolve to actually doing something. That might sound a bit funny, but let me explain a better way.

I make want lists. Instead of at New Year’s, they can be made at any time. It’s not even once a year—it could be 4 months after the last list, or 4 years. In my case, it tends to be around every 18 months. I also don’t resolve to do something, but to acknowledge I want a change. It’s a step before resolving to try something. Which itself is the step before actually doing something.

It solves the problem of a tendency to try to do something before you have really considered it, before you know it’s not a fleeting idea. Let me give you an example.

I, like many, tried to quit smoking countless times during the 8 years I smoked. Sometimes I really meant it, sometimes I ran out of cash, sometimes I did it to appease others. The problem is I never really wanted it. To want, is to have desire for a period of time. That period is indefinable, but it is longer than an hour, or a day. One day I simply woke up and decided I had considered it for long enough and I really, truly didn’t want to smoke anymore.

There are two subtle differences there: it was a long time considered, and I didn’t want to quit, I wanted to not smoke. The method worked and in 3 days the symptoms of being a recent smoker were well on their way to disappearing, and I felt great. Nearly 3 years later and I’m still really happy about it.

This was on my want list for a while. Probably about 2 years or more. The great thing about a want list is that it can change, and there is no anxiety about something being on the twice in a row—that’s progress because you still want the same thing