Ever Present on a Motorbike

RAVEN’S WING – FAIR COMMENT
27 April 2010


Today’s Topic – Ever Present on a Motorbike

If you really want to know what's going on, watch what's happening at least five cars ahead. Anon

The future is never further away than the next present moment. I have learned that trying to live ‘in the present’ is damned impossible. However, perhaps in it’s ever changing present to future to past dynamic, you can manage the process by breaking those changing moments up into more manageable bits. This I have learned by learning to ride a motorbike.

Among the many things I have learned so far in my quest to ride a motorbike, be confident, and enjoy it (like how not to run out of petrol on an uphill when you have to push the damned thing), is that it really is a one step at a time process. For me the first step came as somewhat of a surprise. I went and bought a motorbike and it was delivered to my house. As it was put in my driveway, the realization and reality of now actually owning this machine became rather real. My housemates were all there offering excitement and enthusiasm. I, on the other hand, was thinking what have I done? It was of course a fun romantic notion at the time to own a motorbike, but having this daunting machine parked in front of me felt, to say the least, a bit overwhelming.

Nevertheless, I now owned a motorbike and figured I’d better get to learn how to ride it. Over and over again, experienced riders have said to me, in one form or another, something along the lines of ‘You have got to be observant. Know what’s going on around you. Even if you have an accident that isn’t your fault, it probably could have been avoided if you were paying attention’. The fantastic instructor I went to for lessons was the first to reinforce this.

Another part of this unfolding process was to realize that other road users are not thinking about me. It’s not personal; it is pointless to take it personally. That is just the way we are. Getting upset because someone didn’t notice you is a bit useless once they’ve knocked you over. In as far as riding a motorbike this means that the taxi driver looking for passengers is not noticing the somewhat wild-eyed blonde chick on the motorbike. In other words it’s up to me to notice the taxi and not up to him to notice me, if I want to stay safe that is. The lesson in this of course coming back to the present moment is, as in life in general: taking responsibility for yourself on a moment-to-moment basis, being observant and aware of what is around you, so that when the moment changes you are ready to take action and move with it fluidly.

The next thing I learned was the only way to do something is to do it. Having done a few lessons, and talked ‘riding a bike’ with many people, I had to actually eventually get on it and ride. The first few times were scary, and in hindsight probably quite funny to anyone else watching. I’d literally get all dressed up. Take the bike out. Drive it around the block. Once. Then park it and wait for my heart rate to return to normal over the next few days and then repeat the process. Eventually my next-door neighbor insisted I go for a longer ride with him (about 5km’s to Rivonia), I found lots of excuses not to, which he stubbornly wouldn’t accept. So it happened that I eventually got out on the road properly, and discovered, that the only way to do it is to do it. Having done that, I felt ready to take myself out for a proper ride to visit my mom.

This is where I learned the most. The most important thing being, to manage each traffic situation as it arises. Before I left for my ride that morning in my head I had my route all planned. However, once out on the road, living in the present moment, probably for the first time ever, made the most sense and was the best line of plot. I discovered I only needed to know from one section of the route to the next what to do. I learned to observe quickly, react and to keep going. I quickly learned that nothing else was as important as where I found myself in the moment, dealing with each part of the route as I got to it. Being available and present concentrating on what I was doing and not on anything else was a fairly new experience for me. Ever the daydreamer, re-living the past or imagining the future. There I was doing just this one thing as best I could, my mind fully focused on that task. When I eventually got to my mom, I was exhausted!

I’m doing my best to take these lessons from riding a motorbike into my other activities and daily life too. Hopefully the lessons of observation, not taking anything personally, taking responsibility for myself, taking the leap and just doing it, one step at a time, and focusing on the task at hand without distractions, will take hold in other areas of my life to my benefit, and there I was thinking I was just learning to ride a motorbike.

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