Motorcycling and An Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD)

As At 12 August
Total Distance 4035km [since 12 May]

THE 'OFF'
Last Thursday after the Kelson and Belmont run I went to Harcourt Werry Drive carpark and had a good session practising counter steering. There were a dozen half cut tennis balls laying on the bitumen in the carpark and possibly another rider may have been using them to practise. I laid out the ball halves in a line and got into a good rhythm counter steering. Then I placed six down a line and the other six parrallel about metre apart in the two lines of six - this I used for emergency braking and was quite pleased I was able to move up the gears at each gear practise the braking, finally getting to 3rd and sometimes 4th around progressing upto 50+ kph [threabouts] and braking. I was very pleased and then introduced emergency braking followed by emergency acceleration [sceanario you look in the rear view mirror and you know the vehicle, truck, bus whatever is not paying attention as you see the nose of the vehicle dive down and perhaps the sound of screeching tyres and may squash you like a bug.]

Things were going very well I was very pleased with my progress in the practice session and 'Wait stop, think about it, how well was I going, did I stop to plan out this session before I left home, well sort of, did I think it was going to go as well as it had, well sort of and to be frank a bit surprised with the progress.'

There in is a lesson: A beacon light strobing in the pitch black, you can't see it directly just the lome of the light over the horizon, warning of danger rocks, reef, mother earth.

What Happened:

In a nut shell the emergency acceleration turned into a 'wheelie' the bike kept climbing the wrist rolled back, the horizon disappeared as the eyes travelled skyward and in that split second, the lack of experience and the poor planning and preparation resulted in a parting of BuckBuckNo1 and Golf November Two Five Zero. I let go of the bars slid backwards off the seat, banging and bruising my left calf into the pillion peg, outstretch arms and bruised thumb, Golf November Two Five Zero, was like a uni-cycle as it said 'see ya later' I cringed as I saw it too meet mother earth.

Exhaust sky side was my first thought and not mother side, I looked for the better side of what I knew was going to be a potentially ugly scene............

It was a separation and I am pleased to say not an irretrieveable breakdown, we are back together figuratively and literally she is a bit sore but looking better each day. My pride is damaged, but my more importantly I have seen the 'things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom - to know the difference.'

I was in a moment - a zone - where I blind sided myself into moving into an area of bike control that if things went wrong I may not have been able to have changed the course of inevitable events.

Now with the courage to look at the time, place and frame of mind, I was in, I was wrong to have attempted a more rigorous emergency acceleration.

Wisdom from my perspective I maintained a reasonably structured approach these past few months - Know where I was going, knew where I was at when I arrived, and knew where I'd been when I returned. The whole concept of learning new skills requires discipline and dedication and not a blasé approach. Else you are aimless, lost and haven't a clue where you want to end up, and how you want to get there.

My mentor has contacted me and we will go over the 'off' at the end of the month. In the meantime, Golf November Two Five Zero is looking purdier than before the 'off' - I got the wide bars to replace the chopper style bars and the after-market mirror. I am impressed the makeover has been good in that respect.

Since Thursday the transformation has been quite good, and as I cleaned the chain and for'd sprocket and housing, as well as a good polish, I am amazed that not one scratch of paint appeared on the fuel tank or side covers. I mean to say if you got a scuffed throttle lever, munted peg and bent armature munted handle bars and a scratch along the pillion hold bar at the back and a scratch on the retaining head of the seat strap as well as a waisted indicator light and damaged rear-light housing, yet not a scuff on the vinyl seat or paint work, I polished that bike with all the TLC saying sorry.

So in my ramblings above I hope that you newbie and wannabe riders see a message or two, and for the old and bolds out there, I now know what it means to have your first 'off', and yes some pretty strong personal lessons were learnt.

Oh and by the way just to recap - it was in a carpark, at least I got that right.

Whereas I try and find a balance between good selected rides and learning awareness self feedback and recognising the things done well and the things that can be improved upon - there nevertheless comes a time when we are blind sided by our own enthusiasm.

Heads Up and Enjoy