So what if you’re getting older. Just keep riding…
Is Aging a Physical Condition or a State of Mind?
After the previous post with the Morning Fall video I thought I would post something a bit more upbeat.
I like to think aging is, in part, something I can manage mentally. This video always helps support that notion. And it may have some benefit down the road to help me just keep riding.
Memories of this video often spring to mind when I ride my Vespa scooter, or any other two-wheeled machine. While I realize some aspects of aging and health may make continued riding impossible, I believe there are a wide range of circumstances that can be overcome through determination and willpower. Those are the situations where my own thinking and beliefs trip me up.
It’s important that I determine the difference between those things I have power over and those I do not. I want to be careful to not judge myself harshly or consider some lack of action my fault, or a lack of willpower, when in fact they are truly insurmountable. Too often people judge themselves and others as “not trying hard enough” when in fact there is absolutely nothing that can be done.
This video provides me with a jolt of hope and strength when I feel bad. It helps me to just keep riding.
What does it do for you?
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Was thinking yesterday May 29/Memorial Day//UK Bank Holiday would have been your last paid holiday while with your current employer. And the reference to the latest video posting which I have viewed previously, reminds me your day of formal retirement is fast approaching.
Having myself been out of commission since early May due to medical problems can in some way understand your own perhaps apprehensive feelings as you approach the end of your formal working career.
Rest assured we your faithful readers shall be with you all the way.
The countdown to retirement from Penn State is in full swing. A lot of things to wrap up yet.
I hope your medical issues improve and return you to an acceptable state of being. In terms of my own story, whatever happens, I’ll be writing along the way…
That is one of my favorite videos.
Mine too. In a video landscape of high speed antics and crashes it’s uplifting to see something hopeful like this. Perhaps one day, twenty years in the future, some of us bloggers can get together and make a similar video.
“That is one of my favorite videos.”
Second that!
It will be on my annual playlist. I have two now — Morning Fall and this one. I need to find a third…
So good. Thanks for sharing!
My pleasure Andy.
Yes, you don’t need to be a motorbike rider to understand that one.
So much rubbish going on in so many corners of the world. Let’s not forget what life is all about.
I agree. And I can’t help thinking how lucky I am to be able to ponder things like riding a motorcycle when I’m old. With all the rubbish going on, so many will never have that opportunity.
Favorite video indeed…..I hope I can still ride at their age!
Let’s plan on a ride — from Denver to Moab and back — in 2037. Will your URAL still be going?
Not sure about my current Ural….but a motorcycle should be available to me!
I’ll be riding an electric Vespa by then. Or perhaps they’ll fly!
I know I can handle aging mentally . Physically it isn’t so easy. It used to be easy lugging heavy motorcycles around the driveway. Not so easy anymore.
Old age and heavy motorcycles aren’t the best mix. Lugging is right. I remember trying to move the BMW K1600 GTL around on a gravel parking lot and thinking I needed a tugboat. There was no moving it manually in that place. Everything had to be done under power. It was a lovely machine at speed on a fine paved road. But any kind of low speed maneuvering was a miserable challenge. I was glad to mount the Vespa again after a few days with that…
“You don”t stop riding because you get old, you get old because you stop riding” You could insert, walking, dancing, cooking, laundry in place of riding of course. I figure we came into this world moving about so you just have to move about some and keep it as loose as our creaky bones will allow. Yoga anyone?
Regarding the mental aspects of growing old, you’re absolutely correct. There are decisions made for a variety of reasons that push us there. I won’t climb to the top of my 32 foot extension ladder anymore to clean the gutters on the back of the house because “I’m too old.” Physically I could still do it but I don’t want to accept the risk anymore. But generally speaking, there are a lot of things we can keep doing that maybe we just get to “tired” to do.
Yoga must be in my future. There have been too many references lately. And as the old adage goes — You’re as young as your spine is flexible.
Thanks for one more reminder Steve!
My new doctor gave me this tip…”motion is lotion”…
One thing about getting a Vespa a year and a half ago was the subliminal notion, at least to me, of “right bike, right time.” It wasn’t that I couldn’t go for a mid-size moto or the like, although to placate Significant Other (henceforth referred to as The Wife come Friday – there’s another milestone for you), I got the GTS instead. But the Vespa seems so damned right. This was driven home day before yesterday when I had a ton of stuff to do in the area, and most of it was done via Melody, from crawling to Home Depot on NJ 66 in mid-afternoon traffic to going hooligan at 75mph-plus on Rt 18 at dusk – all good, near-zero drama. The thing just swings, and looks the part. Most important, I feel great on it. I feel I can keep riding this thing for a very long time.