Discovering the Curve

The CBR is perfectly comfortable in a turn. As long as I keep my head turned and my eyes focused on the apex, the bike simply kneels over and flows toward the target. Riding a bike is different from driving a car in that there is a new discovery in every curve. A road can be ridden a thousand times and each time through would be different from the others. I wanted to ride so I can be faster than other people on the road. I wanted to ride so I can be more maneuverable than other people on the road. But what keeps me on the saddle is the experimentation and discovery of learning a new technique that I have never used before.

Bleeding the brake while snapping the bike from left to right feels amazing! One should not be able to do this; it's certainly not something that is taught in class. As I ride and experiment with the throttle or with the brake, I find that I can do more things than I previously thought. The building up of speed, along with the new management techniques that keeps my bike on its wheels, is frighteningly exciting. I know my limit, but sometimes I slightly push my limit. The result is pleasantly surprising. It feels like I have gotten away with something that I shouldn't have; and somehow I am special because of it.

In life, we search not for things that we can do very well, but for things that we have not done before. This is why I am in the profession that I am in. I do not simply want to be so good at what I do that I am untouchable. I want to learn and grow and discover. I want every minute, every breath to be a new experience. Sometimes fear grip me back. I realize that to be able to over come my fear while applying methods and techniques brings so much joy that it is indescribable.

I realize that this is why life is exciting in that you are not given every ability, every strength, and every bit of knowledge the day you are born. Every person has the chance to step forth and discover new things about the world or him/herself. This is the dynamic of life that can never be taken away. It is true that sometimes we suck and we crash horribly. But in most cases, with proper guidance, conditions, and intelligence, our bodies and minds can ride and flow like no super computer can.

Just last week, I had learned to plan and manage large undertakings. This involves a lot of guessing, estimating, arguing, and reguessing. The point is to take the most amount of BS out of the process as possible. This increases the chances of succeess, even to the point unimaginable. Lives can be saved, happiness could be attained, time and effort could be harvested, only if we use our imagination and management techniques. These techniques must be attained through the process of risk management, instinctive actions, and most importantly, the intelligence to discover what works and what does not.

As I ride through the curves and straights that I have done a hundred times before, and as I look back at the arduous undertakings that I was a part of, I can see that when we shut down the part of our brain that wants to discover and overcome that we truly fail. We simply have to go just a bit faster than we have gone before, and overcome the part within us that just wants to do things we have always done it, then we would be more successful than we have imagined before.

I find that the hunger for discovery feeds itself, but also yearns for more. When I think that I have mastered a technique, I simply wants to turn around and do it again. Maybe this time, I will learn a new technique. No time through the road is ever the same.