To blow off steam or control stress, I always try moving forward. Not the self-help tomorrow is going to be better than today, but head into the wind while moving fast. Play is where its at! Big Wheels, bicycles, dirt bikes, skateboards, any toy or vehicle that rushes through space.
Living at the bottom of the hill, I knew how to lean into a coaster brake. Hell on wheels before puberty, at a time when skid marks where bragged about. Bicycles have always been a passion and I still have a bad ass bike with a coaster brake. My skid marks are shorter.
I worked as bicycle courier in Baltimore, and my ride was built for battle. 1980’s heavy steel chro-moly frame with hack sawed handlebars, narrowing my signature to the width of my shoulders. This bike was a heavy tank, always ready to be hit by a bus or maybe a small car if your lucky. This purpose-built machine had an obscenely oversized front chain ring. You had to be going a good clip to get the front derailleur to nudge onto the biggest gear. Downhill’s, (usually flying into downtown) my thumb would coax the chain into overdrive. Dodging human debris and cars, while listening with a keenness that only happens, RIGHT NOW! Senses peaked and no thoughts other than this moment could be the best last feeling you may ever have. Perception of time is gone and every blink has to do with, now. Call it focus or awareness, maybe being in the moment but it can also be the greatest distraction.
Stoked, I’m not riding that cold steel bicycle on the icy streets of downtown Baltimore right now. I found other ways to dose myself with those fun brain chemicals over the years. Racing skateboards and going fast on snowboards for years was my mental health insurance, and part of my wellness. After a lifetime of being an adrenaline junkie, I’ve learned how to control the rush. The fastest part of the ride became, meditative. Dropping into a precarious moment with a serenity and quiet mind, aware things could go very badly…RIGHT NOW! I didn’t know spending so much time trying to go fast, could slow down your brain. There’s no time for distraction when fear or hesitation could end your day, so why not relish in the…NOW!
My meditations and trying to live my best life have slowed me down, and the threat of injuries. Getting hurt sucks, especially head injuries. Trips to the hospital and not being able to walk started to contradict my path to “wellness”. I still shred, but I have started running and doing yoga to get to that awareness. Another way I achieve inner peace, comes from a really loud Harley Davidson Motorcycle.
Trigger is a rescue, and she doesn’t like to go fast, but she likes to go. We’ve been putting on the miles together and about to go knock down some more. “Wind Therapy” is my mental health insurance. Riding demands being in the moment and allowing thoughts to flow like water. I’ve suggested meditation to several friends, they’ve told me they have “too many thoughts” to shut down their brain. I want to shake them and say, “that’s what it’s all about”. It’s a simple practice in controlling your thoughts. I know it goes much deeper for so many people and cultures, but just slowing down the voices and breathing with purpose is scientifically proven to be good for you. While riding a motorcycle, you might be meditating and not even know it. The quieting of unnecessary thoughts, while focusing on the environment that’s constantly trying to take you out. It’s part of my wind therapy.
Wind therapy has been my medicine since childhood. Moving forward, fast through the air has always given me my fix and now the motorcycle is my pharmacy. There’s all this cool neuroscience to back this up and I’m stoked to read that stuff, but I’m a junkie and I need to load the bike for a therapy session. Trigger gets a new rear tire today and we leave tomorrow for, somewhere?
Right now, things are upside down with so many lives. Family, friends, and neighbors are screaming at each other, at a time we need each other the most. We all have different views and issues with the world we live in, now more than I’ve ever lived through. Getting on the bike means I have to worry about being the King of the Road, not think about the list of symptoms and things that are upside down in this world.
The fundamental changes in my world include losses. No money is coming in and I’ve had to start packing my life in order to move to an undetermined location. I’m a wolfpack of one so isolation and the depression that comes with it can be overwhelming. No matter, I have a motorcycle I can ride to therapy.
It’s time to flow like water, over rocks, under the bridge and let go. Get some wind in your hair, and enjoy the grass between your toes. I’ve had beautiful picnics on islands in abandoned mall parking lots. You don’t have to be surrounded by nature or next to an ocean to just go outside. If you do it right, you might smile.
I’m taking my National Parks and Federal Recreation Lands Pass, so me and Trigger can go see “Merica! Loading bags and a tent for some wind therapy.
Safety Third