The Start of my Moto-Journey
This is circuitous and potentially too self absorbed and self-analyzing, but you guys asked...I had actually started this for a similar post a year or two ago, but never finished it.
At around 13 years old my relatively conservative, always uptight parents surprised the hell out of me one Christmas morning by having a Suzuki 50cc dirtbike parked in the middle of our living room. No one I knew rode – no parents, friends, neighbors, etc. I kinda figured out how to ride the thing and kinda figured out how to clean and adjust the carb on my own. We lived in suburban Long Island, NY. I was a pretty sedate tyke and as the first child always followed the rules. Therefore, I didn’t ride the bike on public roads. My parents didn’t really encourage my riding and didn’t have a trailer. So, after a year or two of riding around in circles in the woods behind our house, I got bored. We sold the bike sometime around when I was 16. Thus ended my early years.
Fast-forward about 20 years.
I'm a scientist - a hydrogeologist by training, but really a scientist by nature - I just like to know how things work. Except, I'm now a middle manager - a place in life that conjures up thoughts of expendability, of having no real expertise; not quite a power-broker or rainmaker, yet too far removed from technical expertise to be of real value.
About 4-5 years ago, I started having a hard time reconciling technical facts and "truth" against a world where politics, personal posturing, and he-who-shouts-loudest wins. In short, I'm in conflict. I wonder how I got here when I used to be the “wonder kid”. I did everything expected of me. Wait....I did everything expected of me... I managed the details, the budgets, the schedules, the staff training, the creation of standards, and somewhere along the way I forgot to look out for my interests.
The best phrase I've ever heard to describe me is a Type B soul wrapped in a Type A exterior. Laid-back by nature, but only when I can be. Utterly intense and the epitome of perfectionism when I have to be - most of the time since no one else sees it the way I do. It' s not a bad description, but my Type A exterior has been learned over time and isn't really me.
Maybe I'm just being self-absorbed and every person in the middle part of their lives goes through the same conflict, but a Type B soul trapped in a Type A exterior accurately captures the constant battle going on in my head. My type A persona is a product of a bachelors in geology, a masters in hydrogeology, working with uptight engineering-types and even more uptight clients for over 15 years. Somehow I went from being a beer-drinking laid-back enjoy-the-scenery geologist to the get-it-done guy. Unfortunately (or in the big picture, fortunately), I still remember I have a Type B soul.
So I suppose it shouldn't surprise me too much that a few years back, for the first time in my life, I was drawn in by an advertising campaign. It struck a chord with in my conflicted life. It was BMW's ad campaign featuring grainy black and white photographs of a lone rider leaning up against his F650GS motorcycle in the middle of a hot dusty desert road. It screamed freedom and I've been screaming "I'm trapped".
I needed an outlet. I took the MSF Rider Safety Course, figured out I can still ride and took the lessons to heart. I walked into the BMW dealership looked at the F650GS, looked at a Triumph Bonneville, looked at a Triumph America (almost went that direction), and decided I wanted versatility – I bought the 2002 F650GS right there.
So far, it’s been the best decision I’ve made in my 40 or so years on this planet. I love the solitude of riding alone, I love the people I’ve met, and it’s helped me put things in perspective. My wife even likes the fact that I’m happier since I bought the bike and am not quite as stressed out.
Go ahead – flay me alive for being a typical mid-life crisis dweeb – but you guys asked how I got started, and that’s it.
At around 13 years old my relatively conservative, always uptight parents surprised the hell out of me one Christmas morning by having a Suzuki 50cc dirtbike parked in the middle of our living room. No one I knew rode – no parents, friends, neighbors, etc. I kinda figured out how to ride the thing and kinda figured out how to clean and adjust the carb on my own. We lived in suburban Long Island, NY. I was a pretty sedate tyke and as the first child always followed the rules. Therefore, I didn’t ride the bike on public roads. My parents didn’t really encourage my riding and didn’t have a trailer. So, after a year or two of riding around in circles in the woods behind our house, I got bored. We sold the bike sometime around when I was 16. Thus ended my early years.
Fast-forward about 20 years.
I'm a scientist - a hydrogeologist by training, but really a scientist by nature - I just like to know how things work. Except, I'm now a middle manager - a place in life that conjures up thoughts of expendability, of having no real expertise; not quite a power-broker or rainmaker, yet too far removed from technical expertise to be of real value.
About 4-5 years ago, I started having a hard time reconciling technical facts and "truth" against a world where politics, personal posturing, and he-who-shouts-loudest wins. In short, I'm in conflict. I wonder how I got here when I used to be the “wonder kid”. I did everything expected of me. Wait....I did everything expected of me... I managed the details, the budgets, the schedules, the staff training, the creation of standards, and somewhere along the way I forgot to look out for my interests.
The best phrase I've ever heard to describe me is a Type B soul wrapped in a Type A exterior. Laid-back by nature, but only when I can be. Utterly intense and the epitome of perfectionism when I have to be - most of the time since no one else sees it the way I do. It' s not a bad description, but my Type A exterior has been learned over time and isn't really me.
Maybe I'm just being self-absorbed and every person in the middle part of their lives goes through the same conflict, but a Type B soul trapped in a Type A exterior accurately captures the constant battle going on in my head. My type A persona is a product of a bachelors in geology, a masters in hydrogeology, working with uptight engineering-types and even more uptight clients for over 15 years. Somehow I went from being a beer-drinking laid-back enjoy-the-scenery geologist to the get-it-done guy. Unfortunately (or in the big picture, fortunately), I still remember I have a Type B soul.
So I suppose it shouldn't surprise me too much that a few years back, for the first time in my life, I was drawn in by an advertising campaign. It struck a chord with in my conflicted life. It was BMW's ad campaign featuring grainy black and white photographs of a lone rider leaning up against his F650GS motorcycle in the middle of a hot dusty desert road. It screamed freedom and I've been screaming "I'm trapped".
I needed an outlet. I took the MSF Rider Safety Course, figured out I can still ride and took the lessons to heart. I walked into the BMW dealership looked at the F650GS, looked at a Triumph Bonneville, looked at a Triumph America (almost went that direction), and decided I wanted versatility – I bought the 2002 F650GS right there.
So far, it’s been the best decision I’ve made in my 40 or so years on this planet. I love the solitude of riding alone, I love the people I’ve met, and it’s helped me put things in perspective. My wife even likes the fact that I’m happier since I bought the bike and am not quite as stressed out.
Go ahead – flay me alive for being a typical mid-life crisis dweeb – but you guys asked how I got started, and that’s it.
posted by dbtgeology at 12:11 PM
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