Why the why is important

Image by hannahlmyers from Pixabay

The famous quote by Nietzsche: “He who has a why can bear almost any how” is a personal favorite of mine. Last weekend I was reminded of the why in a rather funny way. My wife, who also is a motorcycle rider, mentioned on the fly that it might be time to consider a mini 50 cc dirt bike for our petrol head son. Time flies. I used to love motorcycles. Around ten years ago, >20 000 km per year was an average season for me. But since becoming a father my offroad bike has mostly collected dust. It’s not that I don’t enjoy it anymore, but the problem is that it is not an activity that can include my family. Riding the bike is a solo endeavor. However, when my wife planted that PW50 seed in my mind, I instantly visualized a new timeline where the motorcycle passion might enter my life again but in a different format.

We live in the countryside, for away from civilization. There are tons and tons of tractor tracks and dirt roads in the vicinity. No neighbors to disturb and no traffic hazards. It is without a doubt a perfect place to begin one’s motorcycle career. We even have a tennis court nearby with 600 sqm of tarmac with a fence around it, which constitutes the natural training ground. The only thing that is missing is for my son to learn to ride a bike. Sure, it might be possible to simply start with the motorcycle straight away, but we determined that we wait with the purchase until he can safely ride a bicycle flawlessly around the tennis court. Then we all have a well-defined target to aim at.

Personally, I have felt a bit down for the last couple of months due to an unsustainable workload. I am convinced that it correlates with me losing the “why” in my sights. It was like I got stuck in the hamster wheel again and just worked for the sake of work, which is a recipe for disaster. If I get to be old and when I am lying on my death bed, it is unlikely that I will regret not working more during the peak life experience of little kids. And that little dirt bike idea ignited a powerful spark. I think about it all the time now, and on how much fun we are going to have together. A crystal-clear example of how the “why” will drive us forward. It is not like my workload has suddenly decreased, but my attitude towards it has changed completely. Without the why, work can feel utterly horrible. You sacrifice so much, and for what?

Anyway, the first step towards a motorcycle rider career is to learn counter steering, and from what I can tell, a balance bike (small kick bike with no pedals) is likely the best place to start. A bike with training wheels will not behave correctly with regards to counter steering. Turn left and the bike goes to the left. That’s wrong, and many people do not know it, but any two wheeled bike or motorcycle is turned by using counter steering. Turn the handlebar to the right, and the bike will go left and vice versa. Once that snaps into place, he will be ready for the dirt bike. I hope it will come this season, but we’ll see. The first thing he did when he got up on the balance bike was twisting his wrist and making vroom vroom sounds while revving the pretend inline four, so things look promising indeed. By the way, I have no idea where he learned about twisting the throttle on a motorcycle. Interesting. He even calls his balance bike “the motorcycle”.

I think I am decent on visualization. And I have been visualizing a lot lately. I thought that my biking days were pretty much over, but now I can clearly see them taking a new form. I imagine us grabbing a couple of sandwiches, some drinks and a little coffee and heading out together on a tractor track and having a little picnic somewhere in the forest. I’ll be riding my 600 cc and he’ll be on his little 50 cc. I also look forward to hooking up a trailer to my car and loading both bikes and going on a road trip with some riding at the destination. Over at my home by my parents, I know the place like the back of my hand, and I know some perfect dirt tracks that are reminiscent of a rollercoaster ride and can sometimes stretch for tens of kilometers. That’s where I rode myself as a kid.

Fun times ahead. And the importance of having something fun like that to look forward to, cannot be overstated