Everything just clicked this morning. I woke up, energized. Started riding at 6:45 am. My setup is perfect today. My backpack feels balanced on the bike. Everything is in place. The sun is out. Sunlight is coming through the trees. It’s fresh out. The landscape starts with lakes and lakes of flooded trees. I speed up, feel a rush of cold air passing through my body. The road is empty, expect for one or two cars that pass by.
I’m stuck. There’s a herd of cows blocking the road. There’s no space through which to pass. I beep. I rev. It affects them the sightless. Two cows are now facing me directly, looking… menacing? They just stand there. What do I do now? I get off and to the side of my bike, use it as a shield in case the charge at me. From the side of the road, I advance. Step by step. They don’t move, just stand there, looking ready to attack. I get closer. They are not moving, but also, not attacking me. Only when I’m almost next to them, they start to move aside, slowly, gently.
These are the new rules for my motorcycle ride. They help me create structure and maximize joy. If I see something interesting, something I might want to photograph, I make a few changes. I shift to second gear (the bike’s a four-speed, semi-automatic). I slow down. If I want to take a picture, I go into picture mode. I stop by the side of the road, check the rearview mirrors, see there’s no one coming. I leave the bike in first gear, in case I have to start driving quickly. I put the kickstand down, so I don’t have to balance the bike. Like this, I am ready to take a picture.
As I rehearse these rules, a new one comes up. If I pass by a village, I do it in second gear, drive slowly. This way, I can see the people, properly, their house, what are they doing, wave at them. This last rule instantly doubles the joy of driving. I get to see the life of a place. I see kids running around. Farmers going to work on their tractors. People eating on the side of the road.
I’m speeding up again. While I love to purposely go slow, it’s also thrilling to go fast. The bike’s in fourth gear, the highest one. I’m not going superfast, but fast. I hit the gear-up pedal. The bike goes to neutral gear. What the hell? How did I pass from fourth gear to neutral? I’m confused. I’m still going fast, don’t know what to do. I hit the gear-up pedal again. Brake! The bike slows down abruptly. It went to first gear! I don’t lose control of the bike and crash by miracle.
Why did you do that? Referring to the bike. It turns out, you can do a whole cycle again! I experiment. From fourth gear, if you hit the gear-up pedal the right way, it goes to neutral, and the gear cycle starts again. The same applies for neutral, if you hit the down-gear pedal rightly, it goes from neutral to fourth gear. This could’ve been a costly lesson. I thank I’m able to learn from imaginary accidents.
