The Year Ahead

  As this Christmas moves into our rear view mirrors it becomes a time of reflection and planning for many, the preparations to enter the new year with a plan of action. I find myself with a lot to reflect after a whirlwind (or perhaps tornado would be the more appropriate descriptor) year, and some exciting plans. It was almost a year ago that this blog started as my thought process after finding myself on the streets, with virtually nothing. The blog was a bitter, sad, angry compilation when it started. It has progressed over the year to something more, which thankfully many seem to enjoy.
I hope that this blog always encourages its readers to think about others, and helps those in tough places to find some small bit of hope. I hope it encourages some comtemplation and deliberation. I hope it reveals some perspectives on life and the people around us that may not be so obvious to everyone. There are those individuals who take from others and take no concern in destroying the lives of others in pursuit of their own goals. Whatever their reasons or motivations, I can't help but feel a little sorry for these people because I don't think they can ever really be happy.

One of the things I would like to do with this blog is introduce you to others who have come from tough places and situations and are working to overcome their challenges. I am looking for suggestions from my readers on individuals whose stories would be of interest to others. In keeping with the theme of this website, if these individuals ride a motorbike it would be fantastic. I am looking for people who live within a days bike ride from Calgary so I can ride out on the motorbike, sit down and have a coffee and conversation, maybe go for a ride, then head back home and share this person's stories with my readers here and at Motorbike Zen.

In the next year I will be returning to some of the work that I truly love. My blacksmithing and horseshoeing. After the year long hiatus Steppin' On the FrogFarrier Service will be starting back up. I will be starting to take on new clients in late February and March and am pretty excited about returning to horses in this capacity. I will also be retooling my shop and taking on more blacksmithing projects as Akasha Forge &Foundry.

Of course I will be eagerly awaiting the arrival of bike riding weather so I can return to the open roads and enjoy the wind rushing past me, my partner holding on tight to my waist as we lean into the corners.

I look forward to a good year ahead and I hope all of you have a good year as well.

The Spirit of Christmas

“It's the most wonderful time of the year” or so the song tells us. Unfortunately for many that is not the reality of Christmas. Christmas time is in fact one of the most depressing and stressful times of the year.

Now if you are a biker like me it is a depressing and stressful time of year because are rides are closed up and covered up in some garage or shed just waiting for the sun to shed enough warmth on our part of the world to allow us to ride the blacktop again. It is not just bikers that don't like this time of year though, but individuals from all walks of life.

Personally I find Christmas a challenging, difficult, and frustrating time of year. Frustrating because, unlike the song says, I find Christmas to be the most hypocritical time of the year. Everyone get's into the “Christmas spirit” as Christmas approaches, loving and giving and helping other people and a variety of causes. They give, and help and support – until Christmas is over – and then they forget that joy and peace, the people and causes, and retreat into their own selfish little worlds for another 11 1/2 months. Of course many retreat into those worlds because they are busy dealing with the excesses of the Christmas season. After-all it is no longer the thought behind the gift that counts, but the value and size and whether or not it keeps up with the neighbours.

Hard times can fall on any of us at any time. Many fail to realize that. I failed to the true reality of that up until the last year, and were it not for the loving and caring of people who truly carry the spirit of Christmas in their hearts year round I could easily be having my Christmas at least alone, if not worse. My best Christmas gifts this year are the ability to spend it with people I love and care for, and who feel the same about me; time I get to spend with family (though there are family and friends I wish I could just reach out and tell them how much I love them); the fact I have a roof over my head; and a job I truly love.

The fact that this Christmas season in Calgary is warm enough to get my bike out for a ride is a bonus.

I truly hesitate to wish anyone a merry Christmas – but I will wish for all that they keep the spirit of Christmas in their hearts year round and with everyone you deal with. May the spirit of Christmas haunt you through each and every day of your life.

Perfect . . . .

   Perfect storm. Perfect day. Perfect ride. They are all different but the same, a situation created by a rare combination or concurrence of factors the alter a situation dramatically. In the case of a perfect storm that combination of factors that all too often results in devastation and destruction. That combinations of factors can result in a hurricane, a tornado, or in our own personal realities, the destruction of our lives and personal realities.

    A perfect day is very similar to a perfect ride, something every biker seeks on each ride out. It is the combination or weather, road conditions, traffic levels, scenery, companions and friends, starting and ending locations, food, drink, and so much more. It is a unique combination that you know you could never have planned, or even dreamed up on your own. A concurrence that you will never be able to duplicate no matter how hard you try, and if even if you could, it will not be perfect the next time because timing is everything.

   The nice thing about a perfect ride is that you can have more than one. It is never the same ride, but given time and patience another perfect ride will inevitably come your way.

   Life does not often throw a perfect situation your way. Life is in fact all about imperfections and the challenges in dealing with them. It is hard to imagine people, who in their very nature are about as imperfect as you can get, getting together to create a perfect situation. Even if they could you just know that someone involved is going to rethink that perfect process - and spoil it.

   We are often encouraged to “go with the flow” as we live out our daily lives, to not push against prevailing behaviour, norms and attitudes. While going with the flow can be a key part of that perfect experience we often fail to realize that truly being part of that perfect experience may mean stepping outside of those accepted norms. It takes real courage to do this. Jim Hightower said that “The opposite for courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow.”

   I recently came across one of those situations. Had I gone with the flow I would have missed out on a “perfect storm” that would change my personal reality. A confluence of factors that, if I let my logical mind get in the way, would have passed before I knew it. Instead I chose to experience and encourage this confluence of factors – the result – a ride (through life) that may not be perfect (because I am unfortunately not perfect (but don't tell anyone else please)) will no doubt be enjoyable.

Fall has gripped us firmly now, softening us up for winter's blow, which unfortunately means there aren't a lot of great riding days left but I wish all my readers a perfect ride, on their bike and in their life.

Contemplating the Uncontemplatable - Lawyers Again!!

  Well after much thought, and the input of friends and family, I am going to meet with a law firm that has contacted me through this blog and offered to help me pro bono get back “what is mine.” (their words not mine.) I trust lawyers less than I trust my ex, which is unfortunately pretty bad, but I would love to have all my trade tools and equipment, my family heirlooms, and my writing back.

  I am very torn over this decision at the moment because the last thing I want to do is make my ex's life more difficult than it probably already is, nor do I want to run up more bills for her because in the end it is only that animals and the children that suffer. Getting the missing pieces of my life back only to destroy hers in the process is not the right thing to do but maybe these guys have a better plan, though I have never known a lawyer that didn't want to start by going for the heart and settling for nothing less than ripping out the groin.

  I will keep my faithful readers updated.

Bonds

  There is something that draws bikers together as a group, a community of sorts. Riding that motorbike automatically enters you into a group that has a comraderie that I have seldom seen among other groups. Now I know the first thing jumping into the minds of most cagers is the nefarious motorbike gangs that they hear about in the news all the time, but that is not what I am referring to. What I am referring to is that simple little, at times almost invisible, wave that is exchanged between bikers as they pass each other.
   If you have been driving behind a person on a motorbike you may have noticed this action as two bikes pass each other in opposite directions. The left hand lifts off the grip and drops down to below the grip or lower and forms a sign, unique to every rider, as the rider coming in the other direction does exactly the same thing. If you blink you will miss it, it is so subtle in most cases, but between bikers it is enough to recognize that common mindset.
  They don't know each each other. They may never see each other again. But they know they have something in common between each other. A unique bond.
  It is always amusing as a rider when you come across someone new to the community. These are the riders who are driving down the highway at 60 miles an hour and joyfully raise their hand high in the air to greet the oncoming biker. We have all experienced the sensation as a kid of sticking our arms out the window and feeling the wind push your arm backwards. Well picture this happening to a hand that is quickly raised in acknowledgement to an oncoming rider. The picture the other riders laughter as he watches that hand counter rotate around the shoulder of the newbie rider, flinging it back behind them flailing in the wind. It doesn't take a new rider long to avoid that from happening again.
  Bonds are fragile things though. Temporary. Fleeting. If you don't work at keeping those bonds together they soon fracture and tear apart, sometimes never to be repaired. Even if you try to repair them they are never the same, and sometimes you do more damage than just leaving them be. Think of those repair jobs that you have seen where someone tried to repair something and when they were done all you had left was a piece of junk with extra glue out the seams, extra nails sticking out, doors or drawers not lining up, and just a general mess that would have been better off left alone. The person's doing the repair may have been motivated just to try and bring a thing a beauty back to original lustre or some semblance thereof – the best of intentions gone awry.
  Those are the thoughts going through my mind as I enjoyed a ride on one of the warmest days of summer, which is nearing an end all too soon. A couple of quotes come to mind as I contemplate this.    The first is from Emily Dickinson:

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune - - without the words,

And never stops at all.

  The second is from Christian Nevell Bovee:

“No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities.”

  As an aside, while doing some research for a website I am developing for a client I came across some interesting images. I thought I would share these with you.

Riding The Curves With A Friend

  “Hold tight in the turns.”

  That, I believe was the closing line in a recent email from one of this blogs readers. (I don't know for sure because I was unfortunately a little quick with the delete key. I do apologize to this reader. I like to take the time to personally respond to all emails.) Now this may not mean much to those to don't ride a bike, but to those who do corners are an entirely different concept. Why? Counter steering!
  What is counter steering? Don't worry that you don't know because the fact is, even many motor bikers, though they do it every day, don't know what counter steering is. It is probably the most difficult concept for those who teach motorbike drivers courses to explain. The basic concept is this. You steer into the the turn but as you continue the turn, you counter steer, or steer out of the turn as you lean into the turn. This is counter-intuitive to those that don't ride a motorbike but the fact is the more you turn into a corner, the more upright a motorcycle stays. Combine staying upright with the concept of g-force which wants to pull you out of the corner and you find yourself either driving into the other lane of traffic, the ditch, or worse.
  Now add to this formula the loose gravel, pot holes, oil slicks and variety of obstacles that suddenly appear on the ground beneath your wheels as you lean deep into your turn, just encouraging your tires to loose traction and slip out from under you. Of course if you ride that turn truly fearlessly (or like a crazy lunatic depending on your point of view) you can find yourself leaning so far that your foot peg is scraping the ground just seeking out an opportunity to grab hold so your rubber completely removes itself from the road and your leathers (if you are smart) and skin embed into the rough pavement.
  Riding the curves on a motorbike can be exciting, enthralling, exhilarating, exasperating, scary, frightening, bone chilling, and death defying – all at the same time. Riding the curves in life is very much the same experience. You live your life with a final destination in mind (other than death), a goal of sorts. As you head towards your destination every once in a while you find yourself facing a curve in the road that you just have to ride out. You turn it to it, knowing it is taking you off track, so you counter steer, in an effort to get back on path. You might ride that curve a little fast. You might lean into it a little hard. The choice is always up to you on how you ride that curve, and in the end you are either going to find yourself pulling out, or crashing and burning. If you do find yourself pulling out you may find yourself heading in an entirely new direction.
  I recently had one of those curves thrown in my path. I had pretty much decided that I wanted nothing to do with animals anymore. Just as I put that down on paper I received a phone call from someone saying they had got one of my basset hounds from a rescue that had found it wandering the back country a couple hours north of Edmonton. Leaves me wondering what has happened with all the other animals. Anyway, to make a long story short, I have my old friend back and I love it. I won't be rushing out to add more animals to my life but having my old friend back in my life has raised my spirits and given me hope. This is a curve I had to lean hard into but as I pull out of it I am still heading in the same direction, only now I have a friend to accompany me.

Skill

A bit of a step out from my usual blog but I came across a video of a police officer in a motorbike rodeo that demonstrates some incredible skill. I would love to just attempt this course - as long as it wasn't on a bike I would have to repair when it dropped!! Check it out.
Incredible Riding Skill