Get up!

In my ponderings this morning, my mind has been drawn back to a poem, "The Race," that has been a source of inspiration many times in my life. I think I'll share.

The Race by Dee Groberg

I

"Quit! Give Up! You're beaten"
They shout at me and plead
"there's just too much against you now
This time you can't succed"

And as I start to hang my head
In front of failure's face
My downward fall is broken
By the memory of a race

And hope refills my weakened will
As I recall that scene:
For just the memory of that short race
Rejuvenates my being

II

A children's race - young boys, young men
How I remember well.
Excitement, sure! But also fear:
It wasn't hard to tell.

They all lined up so full of hope
Each thought to win that race
Or tie for first, or if not that,
At least take second place.

And fathers watched from off the side
Each cheering for his son
And each boy hoped to show his dad
That he would be the one

the whistle blew and off they went
Young hearts and hopes afire
To win and be the hero there
Was each young boy's desire

And one boy in particular
Whose dad was in the crowd
Was running in the lead and thought
"My dad will be so proud!"

But as the speeded down the field
Across a shallow dip
The little boy who thought to win
Lost his step and slipped

Trying hard to catch himself
His hands flew out to brace
And mid the laughter of the crowd
He fell flat on his face

So down he fell and with him hope
He couln't win it now -
Embarrassed, sad, he only wished
To disappear somehow

But as he fell his dad stood up
And showed his anxious face
Which to the boy so clearly said:
"Get up and win the race"

He quickly rose, no damage done
- Behind a bit that's all -
And ran with all his mind and might
To make up for his fall

So anxious to restore himself
- To catch up and to win -
His mind went faster than his legs:
He slipped and fell again!

He wished that he had quit before
With only one disgrace
"I'm hopeless as a runner now;
I shouldn't try to race."

But in the laughing crowd he searched
And found his father's face;
That steady look which said again
"Get up an dwin the race!"

So up he jumped to try again
- Ten yards behind the last -
"If I'm going to win those yards," he thought
"I've got to move real fast."

Exerting everything he had
He regained eight or ten,
But trying hard to catch the lead
He slipped and fell again!

Defeat! He lied there silently
- A tear dropped from his eye -
"there's no sense running anymor;
Three strikes: I'm out! Why try!"

The will to rise had disappeared
All hope had fled away
so far behind, so error prone;
A loser all the way

"I've lost, so what's the use," he thought
"I'll live with my disgrace."
But then he thought about his dad
Who soon he'd have to face

"Get up" an echo sounded low.
"Get up and take your place;
You were not meant for failure here.
Get up and win the race."

"With borrowed will get up," it said
"You haven't lost at all
For winning is no more than this:
To rise each time you fall"

so up he rose to run once more
And with a new commit
He resolved that win or lose
At least he wouldn't quit

So far behind the others now
- The most he'd ever been -
Still he gave it all he had
And ran as thought to win

Three times he'd fallen, stumbling;
Three times he rose again,
Too far behind to hope to win
He still ran to the end

They cheered the winning runner
As he crossed the line first place
Head high, and proud, and happy;
No falling, no disgrace

But when the fallen youngster
Crossed the lin last place,
The crowd gave him the greatest chear,
For finishing the race

And even though he came in last
With head bowed low, unproud
You would have thought he'd won the race
to listen to the crowd

And to his dad he sadly said,
"I didn't do too well."
"To me, you won," his father said
"You rose each time you fell."

III

And now when things seem dark and hard
And difficult to face
The memory of that little boy
Helps me in my race

For all of life is like that race
With ups and downs and all
and all you have to do to win
Is rise each time you fall

"Quit! Give up! You're beaten!"
They all shout in my face
But another voice within me says;
"GET UP AND WIN THE RACE"

Quoted from http://brucelynnblog.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!B5C035B7809F740A!112.trak

Evolution

The principles of evolution indicate that if something fails to adapt to changing circumstances it may cease to exist if those circumstances are incompatible with the nature of the thing. I have discovered that this has become the case with my blog. Clearly it has been neglected by its author. (It doesn't have any readers I know of, so neglect has been status quo from that aspect). I have feared that I may have to lay this blog down to rest with the millions of unattended blogs that float out there in "the cloud." But I do like this blog, and I want to make a second effort to give it life. So, I will adapt.

Head In The Wind is not only a great metaphor for the life of a rider, but I find it a great metaphor for me. Sometimes, I feel as if my head is in a whirlwind. My thoughts become chaotic and indistinguishable; a blur of debris. Other times the wind is rushing by briskly, life moving fast, blowing me from one moment to the next. But occasionally the wind slows to a calm breeze that carries with it sweet aromas of inspiration from a far off place. With that in mind, I intend to expand the scope of this blog to include more aspects of me, than simply my motorcycle. My iron ride is still part of who I am, but I am going to include more facets of who I am. In doing so, I hope to draw from and increased scope of content to fill the space here and keep this blog alive. Since I have no readership to offend, change shouldn't be a problem.

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Before I finish this post, I should at least update how the remainder of my summer of riding has been. Well, generally.....uneventful--up until about 2 weeks ago. I was riding home after work and experienced my first blown tire. It happened as I was coming through the construction zone on 201 between Bangerter Hwy and 5600 W. I was passing a dump truck that was parked over on the construction side of the road when I heard this massive BANG! It scared me to death and I'm surprised I didn't jump off my bike. It felt so close, like it was right on me. A few seconds later as I collected my nerves, I felt my bike begin to shimmy a little like it was being pushed around by a stiff cross-wind, but there was no wind. Then I notice that the shimmy was more isolated to the back end like my back end wasn't tracking straight with my front end. That is when it dawned on me that perhaps the big bang was not from the construction but was from me. I started to slow down as the back end began to wobble more noticeably. By that point I was out of the construction zone, and no cars were around me so I was able to pull off the road without any trouble.

Now what do I do. It was actually Ethan's birthday that day, and I was supposed to be home in 15 minutes to conduct festivities. Well, that wasn't going to work. Fortunately my good friend, Rob, the motocross champ, happened to be home just then and with a quick call he was able to come out with his trailer and haul my crippled self home. Thank goodness for good friends. It was also reassuring that a couple of other riders stopped to see if I needed help. I love the fact that fellow riders stick together like that.

While it has gotten colder, there have been some beautifully warm days this last couple weeks that I have missed out on. I'm hopeful that I'll have the time to get a new tire on, so I can catch the occasional clear day throughout the winter.

So with that, let the evolution begin.