Video: Why you should go ride

It's an oldie, and it belonged to a very dear friend before he sold it to me. Another buddy is making some pretty heavy repairs to the frame that were beyond my set of skills. I've been nagging him about getting it done, and I think he probably winces every time he sees my name pop up on the screen of his phone. Hold that thought.

Item two: I've been racing some flat track lately. I try to be somewhat conservative in practices, but recently I had a race where I was champin' at the bit to spin my tires and whup some ass. I rode aggressively, hit another rider, and crashed. I'm not excited about being banged up, but I'm glad I rode as hard as I could. Happily, I am knitting up nicely. Hold that thought, too.

Item three: I just ordered a new dirt bike. I sold my old one, because I thought I could go without. I've been itching to go ride dirt, and I told my wife I was thinking about maybe replacing it. She went with me to go look at one (very) used bike that I was very unhappy with. As we sat in the truck on the way home, the ever-patient Mrs. Lemmy suggested I just go buy a new machine. (Right after I bought a new flat-track race bike!)

"You love doing it and in the grand scheme of things it's really not that much money for us to spend," she said. (That woman was a find.)

I realized that all of these little vignettes could share the common theme of my impetuousness; my impertinent desire to do everything in a hurry. Maybe I'm just an impatient dope. Or maybe with a bit of experience I have come to realize that life is pretty fleeting. There's no guarantee that I'll wake up tomorrow. As I've aged a bit, I've begun to feel an accelerated need to do things I love with the people I want to be with as often as I can. Mostly, I'm trying to go ride.

I watched a video from the same guy who runs the Cross Training Enduro Skills channel on YouTube, and it drives the point home well. It's an oldie, but a goodie. Check it out. (Unless you're exceptionally thin-skinned.)

I try not to be too preachy, but every now and then I try to write up an encouraging piece, and now seemed like a good time. Call in sick, grab your key, pack your bedroll, and go ride.