The Patience of Speed

Now.  We want everything now.  And we live in a time, a society, a marketplace, that aims to provide all of it faster than our muddled minds can muster the desire.  Food, entertainment, sex, goods and services, an entire smorgasbord within our greedy little grasps at the drop of a hat.  But the inconvenient truth, the pink elephant bursting the seams of the room and blocking the door, is that the things which are worth having, doing, or being are never instant, or easy.  I learned the hard way, over many years, that going fast on a motorcycle is one of those things.  At least for us human beings without much talent.

Seeking speed is like playing tag with an 800 pound grizzly bear.  You've got to come up on the behemoth really slow, from behind, hoping he doesn't catch a whiff of you.  Quietly creeping ever towards the unpredictable and vicious goal knowing that one false footstep, the snap of a twig, will bring a world of hurt down on you.  And the real scary part is, however good you become, that grizzly is still going to get you sometimes and hand down a serious drubbing.  All to remind you once again:    

Going fast is a slow thing.

Barber Motorsports Park on my hybrid EX500, chasing and running away from the grizzly at the same time.