Daily Readings

Vernal, Utah

Once it is broken is it ever really the same?  This could apply to many things, but let’s look at trust.  From my experience trust is something that builds almost silently.  You don’t set out to trust someone – it just happens.  Unfortunately, the first time we are really aware of how much we trust someone is when it is broken.

At 22, 158 miles the trust between me and my motorcycle was broken.  Up until that point we have enjoyed an amazing relationship.  Several trips across the country, a few trips out of the country, and hundreds of hours of shared experiences. 

But now things are different.  I’ve played the blame game, but in the end it really doesn’t matter.  Should I have noticed something earlier?  Should I have maintained it better? Etc.  The fact is the bike left ME on the side of the road. And then I left it at a huckleberry stand.

The bike has been fixed, I have been educated, and we are once again travelling.  However, things are not the same.  Every day there is a tiny little piece of me that wonders if it will happen again.  How far will I get?  Where will I be? What will I do?  Have I passed the midway point between A and B yet? 

This lack of trust is impacting things.  It has changed the route that I take.  It has changed the distance I am willing to travel.  It has changed the times that I travel.  It has changed how I feel about travel.  It has changed everything.  I have even considered trading it in.

The real problem with those last three paragraphs is that “I” and “me” were typed too many times.  How can you mend two things if you only focus on one of them?

I know this will sound strange, but I had to put myself in the bike’s tires (shoes didn’t seem appropriate there).  The bike needs me to get places as much as I need the bike.  We are a team and the prospects of either of us getting anywhere without the other is slim.  We have to start building that trust again…

So I made a deal with the bike.  I will listen better.  And if something should happen (and the odds are that it will) – WE will do something different.  We will start by unloading all of the unnecessary “stuff” we are carrying.   We’ll take it off to the side of the road and cover it with the bike cover.  We will get back to the basics.

And then I will push you up the hills and you can give me a ride down the hills… Whatever it is that caused us to stop… will just become part of our journey together. 

Oddly, yesterday was the best 300 miles of riding I have had in several years.  The combination of scenery, curved roads, nature, and the weather left me wishing the days were longer.  I listened to the bike all day.  And it responded beautifully.  Not that it would have mattered – we have a plan now. 

And all that took was a little communication.

Geoff Glibbery

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 23rd, 2009 at 3:56 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.