"I don't really ride just to ride. I need a place to be and a reason to go but I'll always go there by motorcycle if possible."
How odd - I don't recall a motorcyclist state that. For me (and many others I know), it's the journey, not the destination.
In the past, I raced bikes for about 10 years.
Lot of fun and lot of miles going no place in particular but trying to get there faster than everyone else. My wife and I still remember the summer of 1997 as the most fun we have had in our lives. Three regional and one national championship titles in club racing. My "pro" career lasted only 2 attempts and 2 practice sessions ending in broken bones.
After racing, I did track days and moved to race track coaching while also doing plenty of day rides with friends to lunches and stuff. After a while, my social anxiety, depression and two baby time suck pulled me away from friends and I stopped having ride invites. About the same time I lost interest in packing up and driving to race tracks just to run around in a circle for no real reason. (Although, I do remember feeling really good when a student gushed with joy about something they just learned or accomplished)
So now, 25 years after racing and 20 years post track day/lunch outings, I combat crippling depression by setting up responsibilities I can't avoid. Getting out of bed without a reason to do so is hard. Getting on the bike just because it will be fun isn't enough motivation. But, if I
have to go somewhere, taking the motorcycle gets me there in a much better mood then before I started.
For now, I'm committed to being a productive asset at my day job (principal software engineer) but that doesn't give me a reason to ride anymore and I'm notably more grumpy. The two 30 minutes periods of real live video game strafing traffic were all the anti-depression medicine required but I'm currently off that prescription (CoVid).
I'm also committed to providing all the tree work bids requested and doing all the tree work I book. This makes me get on the bike to do bids and get a bunch of exercise when work is booked. The side hustle doing tree work has expanded (word-of-mouth advertising only) to about 2 jobs a week all summer so I get plenty of rides and workouts. I'm licensed, bonded and insured so ask me to give a bid and I'll
have to ride over and look at the job.
Sorry for the long (and cathartic) explanation but really I can't just get on the bike for no reason. I need somewhere to go and somewhere to be or I just won't get out of bed or leave the house. Kind of sucks but that's the reality.
Later,
Kent Larson from Minnesota
p.s. I was going to move this to another thread but didn't see a "mental health" sub-thread under "rider assistance". Don't want to hijack this thread but I did want to say the above. Any suggestions on where this should really go?
