It’s important, yet so many of us don’t do it. I am impatient. I’m horrible at standing around. I just don’t seem to gel well into a crowd. I can do it, but it is work for me. So, part of the anxiety for me, and I would wager for many, many others, is the wondering of what to “do” once you’ve shown up.
Being on a bike is quite often a solitary experience. Sure, you can often find riding companions when it’s a perfectly sunny Saturday afternoon and you’re looking to ride around town. But as soon as you add some early morning, serious miles, and foul weather to the agenda, the riders become scarce. And even if you’re with a group, or if you’re riding two-up, you can’t really talk. So there’s a lot of time to think, to be inside your own head.
I suffer from this whole “what I’m gonna do” thing for any sort of social event. Honestly, being on the bike is a fantastic excuse to not hang out all night. Here’s a laundry list of excuses why you need to leave…The weather, the miles, the dark, the deer, the length of the trip in, the fact that you don’t want to be hammered when you leave, the cops are out…I mean, there are tons of them.
This summer was a whole lot of “showing up” for me. And it’s been good. This article was written courtesy of a flight on American Airlines, which is why I actually have the time to sit down and write this little piece. But this trip is a great example of “showing up.” There are some conversations you simply shouldn’t have on the phone. It has to be face to face. It’s an indication of importance, and it’s a show of respect. So today, I will log a round trip of roughly 3,000 miles, but it’s the right thing to do.
It’s been a wild few months. The brief rundown is as follows: Nashville via the Smokey Mountains, Ohio Bike Week, Hot Rod Power Tour, Colorado chopper run, the Northern Compound, and Chicago. Why everything got so jammed up together, I’m not sure. It all started with a bet in a bar about running old cars from Detroit to Baton Rouge, and from that point forward, I was committed to the Power Tour. As the saying goes, always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That way you learn to keep your mouth shut while drinking.
Then I got news that my cousin was having an open house for her son’s graduation. They’re in Nashville now, with no family near them, so I felt it was important to show support and go. It was the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, so I decided to make a trip of it.
Then my buddies invited me to Ohio Bike Week. I really wanted the opportunity to spend some time with them, and I was happy they were getting in the wind, so I said I’d go along.
The infamous KB always does a bad ass ride in Colorado towards the end of June, and since I couldn’t go last year, this year I really wanted to do it. We loaded up the choppers and sent them on their way to the Rockies, and had a hell of a weekend riding old iron through the mountains.
The trip to the compound was punctuated by a Friday bender which derailed the servicing of the dresser, which led to a very early Saturday morning servicing of the beast over breakfast beers. It was such an awesome weekend that I couldn’t bring myself to come home Monday, so it was kickstand up at 5:00 am to be back to work in time.
Chicago was a trip for work for a customer’s anniversary open house. It was last minute because everyone kind of assumed somebody else was going. But unfortunately, nobody had committed to it, so 6:00 am Sunday morning, kickstands up and roll out there.
And here’s what I “did” at these events: nothing. I had a couple beers. Smoked a cigar. Talked to people. But I was there. I showed up. And when that happens, other things happen and you learn shit. I learned that old cars break a lot, but a group of guys can accomplish a lot of shit when they work together and are there to have fun. I learned my cousin and her husband raised a fine young man who is equipped to do well in life. I learned that I don’t have to waste an entire beautiful day just to get back home for work. But most importantly, at least for the moment and where my head’s been at, I learned that some people have your back and do the right thing, even when you don’t know about it. That, my friends, was a great moment. And it came to light because I showed up.
Grab the bars. Throw a leg over and put your ass in that saddle. Get there. Be present. Show up. Often, you don’t have to “do” anything. Just be there.