Lessons From The Saddle Of My Bullet – Part 2
I pride myself on being a safe motorcyclist, but after 10 days of tearing up the Himalayas on some of the roughest roads known to man, I was getting cocky with my Bullet and riding faster than I should have been.
Having just visited the Baralachala pass (the 2nd highest pass in the world at 5000m above sea level), I was racing down the snow covered mountain looking forward to a hot bath at my hotel at Jispa.
Suddenly, the tar road turned into dirt track. Normally, this would not have been a problem, except that this time I was hurtling forward at 80km/h heading straight towards a concrete roadblock just 50 meters away!
Slowing down on dirt road is a tender affair. One almost has to almost stroke the bike into submission. If one grabs the front brake lever even slightly too ambitiously, the front wheel will lock up and skid. Unfortunately, if I did not brake in time, I was going to end up much like the insects that were splattered on my visor.
Time slowed down as the roadblock came closer and closer. Contrary to my natural instinct, my arms relaxed their grip on the handlebars and my unconscious mind took over steering the bike. I felt as if I had been temporarily ejected out of my body and somebody else was steering for me while I watched…
There was no time to think or brake. The only option was to attempt to persuade my Bullet to somehow go around the roadblock. I had about 5 seconds left before I would become dinner for the local vultures.
I knew that if I jerked the handlebars even slightly, I would lose traction and skid, so I did the only thing any sane man would do in this situation – nothing! Well, almost nothing….
I focused my attention on the right edge of the concrete block in the road and miraculously my Bullet began drifting to the right hand side of the road. Inch by inch and what seemed like hours later, I scraped past the roadblock, missing it by millimeters. I still do not know how I made it out alive, but that evening as I sat around a campfire warming my hands, I reflected on some valuable lessons this experience taught me about biking and about living.
Bullet School Lesson #2: When the sheet hits the fan, relax…
When it looks like you are going to crash, relax your grip on the handlebars and focus on your escape route, not on the obstacle in front of you. Your bike goes where your focus goes.
My experience shows me that life works in the same way.
When the sheet hits the fan and I don’t know what to do, I step back and observe the situation, take a deep breath and relax. The minute I relax and let go of having to control the outcome of my challenging situation, a solution usually presents itself to me. I equate this to loosening my grip on the handlebars and allowing my unconscious mind to step in and guide the bike for me.
Next, I choose the outcome I want and I place my attention on making that happen using every ounce of focus that I have. Before long, if I have managed to stick with this process, my solution has blossomed and I am over the worst of the problem.
If you are facing some challenges right now, why not step back a little, take a deep breath in and assess your situation from a distance. Then, choose the outcome you desire and place your focus on making that happen. Be sure to focus on the solution and not on the problem. Visualizing your desired outcome will help you stay focused on it.
Above all, remember to relax. When trees are being blown about by a storm wind, they do not resist the wind. They flex and bend to accommodate the wind until it passes. If they did not, the wind would uproot them.
If you can relax and flex like the trees when the wind is blowing your life around, before long your storm will pass and you’ll wonder what you were worried about…
Till then, have a miraculous day.
P.S. Next time you encounter a biker, use the following lingo and appear cool:
“Grab a handful” refers to pulling the front brake lever hard.
“Throwing it down the road” means to lose control of your bike and go sliding down the road with it.
Combine them for added effect “Last week I saw some dude grab a handful and throw it down the road!”
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