Losing the Plot
Weather: Nice enough that I don’t even notice.
“I will be out of the office for the next couple days. Please leave a message…”
“Losing the plot” is a term my British friends use when they want to describe someone who is coming unhinged. It certainly applies to my mental state, lately, as work has sucked all the energy and life out of me for the past week.
My commutes take place on the freeway, where riding becomes a simple exercise in avoidance and survival. I derive no pleasure from it, and the time it saves me is wasted in activities for which I have very little enthusiasm. It’s all wrong, and I’m not going to do it anymore, unless it is absolutely necessary.
Next week, the workload is not going to ease any. But I am going to change my habits. I’m going to get up earlier, and ride my sidestreets once again. I am going to bring the camera with me, and take the time to make a photograph whenever I see something worth sharing. By the time I get to work, I will be energized and my enthusiasm will be renewed. That’s the theory, anyway…
For this, I need to get back on a scooter, at least for part of the week. That will require a visit to Baron HQ, and maybe some creative engineering on one of the prototype mules. I’ve got to get back into slow riding, enjoying every mile, living in the moment… It seems that scooters have gotten under my skin, and I do miss riding them.
Don’t get me wrong; Frogwing is a brilliant mount, and he is quite adequate for every kind of street-legal riding that I do. He is even better for the occasional off-road, on-ramp situation that we have to create around modern road destruction and traffic.
But on the freeway, I find myself riding him faster than I want to, taking chances I’d rather not take, and just generally pushing our luck to the limit for no good reason at all.
Riding a scooter, on the other hand, would require me to pretty much obey the laws and accept my little space in traffic, as we all move along the commuter conveyor belt.
I’ve got to admit that there is something mentally relaxing about not having that tactical capability, challenging me to find an alternate route around the mild congestion of our urban surface streets. The warrior recedes, and the herd animal emerges, for a little while. That is a peaceful place to be, as long as one remains vigilant against threatening predators.
When the congestion becomes severe, however, the scooter still has the same advantages here that it has always had in Europe and Asia. Exercising them may not be strictly legal, but nobody can argue that doing so makes perfect sense. The law in this country has always lagged behind our social reality.
If you get a ticket for advancing through traffic in an unauthorized manner, fight it in court. That is how the laws get changed, and really, that is your duty as a responsible citizen.
Our government was supposedly designed to respond to the needs of The People, right? When The People submit unquestioning to the whims of government, where does that leave us?
Precisely where we are now.
But I digress…
Tomorrow it is supposed to rain. Here, that is.
My solution to that has always been to go elsewhere, to a place where the storm will pass by.
I look at the radar, look at a map, find an interesting destination, and plot a course. I will wear my Aerostich Darien suit to get us through the rain, and pack some lighter gear in case it gets really hot where the sun is shining.
Tomorrow is going to be a beautiful day, somewhere. That’s where Frogwing and I are going. Stories and pictures to follow…
June 17th, 2006 at 11:38 am
I kept reading about your scooter and went back thru your blog to find a pic. The Black Baron is pretty cool looking. I can see why you want to get it back. I hope you get it back quickly so you can enjoy your side road rides. I have a friend who has a 2004 Suzuki Bergman and she absolutely loves it. Anyone admiring it and she’s off and running, showing all it’s neat features. Her husband stand by and just rolls his eyes, lol. He rides a v-star 650, like me.
Wishing you a better week, Betty
June 17th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Betty: You should go to “The Baron in Winter” link on the right sidebar. That is where my blogging began. You might find that entertaining.
Of the two prototypes I tested, I much prefer the one I called “Hot Rod”. It is faster and more agile than the Black Baron, and it is much more fun to ride solo.
However, my daughter prefers riding two-up on the Black Baron. It appears I have a dilemma. Well, if that is the worst of my problems right now, I guess life isn’t so bad after all.
Ride well,
=gc=
June 17th, 2006 at 9:28 pm
Gary, not that it matters too much I guess, but as much as I enjoy your adventures on Frogwing, I found it cool to see that you are going scoot a bit again. I’ve pretty much been on my scooter commute whatever the weather for the last 3 months, and was in need of a spark of inspiration. Ha…I even threw a leg over a KLR today just to get a feel for fit. I’d definately need to get a lowering kit if I was to go this route. Being 5′ 6″, I can’t quite tip-toe on a bike with a 35″ seat height. I’ll check into it though.Oh… HAPPY FATHERS DAY!…Bill
June 19th, 2006 at 12:19 pm
Gary, I just made a post on my blog that is remarkably similar in nature to yours. Perhaps the Earth is moving through some sort of energy field that has some of us feeling the weight of too much noise. This finding of ways to overcome the noise is something I have been interested in for a long time and used photography as a discipline to make more of my life.
Glad to hear you are going to get on the scooter again. You’re right about it being mentally relaxing. I like to think of it as “natural” and in tune with the way we were designed to live rather than racing out on the bleeding edge…
“Why are you running grasshopper?”
Happy Belated Father’s Day greetings.
steve
June 21st, 2006 at 6:58 am
Bill: Yeah, the lowering kit ought to bring the KLR down far enough so you could safely ride it. It is still one of the best values in motorcycling.
Steve: It seems as though our lives follow some barely-discernable orbit.
That energy field you perceive is, of course, the very same Existential Gravity that has us all swirling around this big white bowl of life.
Eventually, each one of us loses enough buoyancy that we drop into the vortex and get washed down the tubes.
What a nice metaphor, eh?
The scooter thing is still on-hold. Communications breakdown and not enough time in the day, I guess. I think I’ll blog again tonight.
Ride well,
=gc=
June 21st, 2006 at 6:59 am
OH, AND HAPPY BELATED FATHER’S DAY TO EVERYBODY… =gc=