The feeling of a perfect burnout, the satisfying click of a perfect shift in gears, the joyful roar of a motor coming to life at the attempt of startup, the smooth lean into and out of a perfectly executed turn...these are some of my ideas of the motorcycle equivalent to the Japanese calligraphy of the circle. Even more subtle along that line of comparison is the perfect rotation of a wheel (the spinning prayer wheels of Tibetan tradition also comes to mind here). The rider is, on some level, aware and mindful of the sensation of every wheel rotation on every ride they take. Regardless of the exact bike ridden, the exact road taken, the length of the trip and the time spent traveling, each rider is in tune to the circles traced endlessly by the cooperation of human and machine. I firmly feel that my deepest meditation practice has been in motion on two wheels. I also feel that this phenomenon of meditation in movement, whether consciously recognized or not, is what draws so many of us to a lifelong love of two wheeled machines. From the mini-bmx bike of childhood, to the full sized mountain or road bike that even cager-commuters love, and from the ratty old two-stroke enduro, to the latest fanciest fully equipped touring dresser...every bike/ human combo machine shares the same essential forces of physics employed during riding. In this way, everyone on two wheels shares a deeper similarity to each other than they may realize or admit.
Weekend warrior
On GoldWing, and *[humble? simple?] third-
World cyclist are one.
*[when i wrote that, i intended it to be in haiku format. i debated which word to insert there, humble or simple, and of course brain-farted and just left the word out completely, haha! i guess i'm the humbled simple one, hahaha!]
Fantastic Pat . . . at some point even the most pose conscious rider, regardless of bike style or marque, must forget the 'aesthetic' image and embrace those truths, total surrender to the inner 'form', to be at one with machine and surrounds, as Pirsig said, not just passing through the landscape but to become part of it, as only a bike and horse can do, to resist through shallow thoughts of 'the look' is to continually miss the point. Brilliant mate, fucking brilliant
ReplyDeleteI agree that every piece of machinery, whether it be man or nature made, has this force of alignment within. I believe that the spiritual factor is beyond what our minds believe to be true. We're ALL products of the violence of the Universe, as is every single thing..therefore, NOTHING is truly "man made", maybe "man-formed". In this, I reckon we can deduce that our MACHINES are merely OUR interpretation of a collection of particles that we've manipulated to suit our form....eh? At the point in which we reach that, "WOW, that's my turn already?!" point, we have melded somewhat to our very core...our roots, the origins of ALL of EVERYTHING. Once you can break your mind free of the possible failures of your collection of materials, and once you can go beyond your surroundings and the distractions of it, you've begun to fly and become ONE with nature, the world, the solar system...and, ultimately, the Universe.
ReplyDeleteSame goes on during a "build". You aren't making anything, you are merely manipulating the forms of materials that you've been presented with, to make them agree with you're particular interpretation of what you need to dip so slightly into this common consciousness. It's a UNIVERSAL thing, brah, and it's open to anyone with the Yin to Yang it, baby.
Crazeeeeeee. As a loon.
Awesome stuff, Pat.
And I thought I just was daydreaming..