motorcyclemeditation.com

A familiar fifty mile ride to a project meeting today. The opportunity to practice motorcycling skills, always welcome. If you want to get or stay competent, you have to put in the hours, same with anything. Except with motorcycling you do faster what you had to do anyway, the hours don’t consume your time, they give you more of it.

This project in the early stages, so far unburdened of compromises and complications. Motorcycling philosophy showing the way. Crucial to everything, the small empty space in front, the safety bubble, any foreign objects there and you’ll crash into them. Empty space however having a vacuum’s propensity to suck stuff in, effort and occasional harshness being required to keep it clear. As was duly applied in today’s project meeting, a whole lot of small stuff otherwise threatening to take over.

Terrific, clear space in front, we’re alive and rolling. Now to find the clean line. As with motorcycling. Get that right and it all flows, get it wrong and everything seizes up and shakes and rattles and the wheels wobble and fall off or you hit something. Find the clean line, then if you have to change direction and pace, you only have to do so gently and gradually. Projects and motorcycles both, they can soak up small pressures, big ones and you find yourself interfering too violently with the forces, they’ll bite back.

Keeping the line made a lot easier by keeping lean. This project team nice and small, four people. On the motorcycle, seaming through the traffic, passing another motorcycle with panniers, too wide to fit between lanes, stuck. Bulk down, my friend.

Exciting times, the motorcycle journey and the project, full of possibilities both.