Handlebar Confessional: "On the road of life..."

"...There are passengers and there are drivers" or so the VW ad reads. I should know, I was in a VW Sharan (Europe model) for the better part of eight days driving around the Alps in Switzerland, Italy and France. I spent equal amounts of time driving and being a passenger as well as a fair bit of time riding my bike. All of which give you varying perspectives of the world around you. A few thoughts rolled through my head while taking in all of the sights and making notes for the MS Global ride this summer.

Somedays you feel like you're riding a stallion, and somedays you just make an ass out of yourself.

As I noted in previous entries, I have spent a fair bit of time traveling around the world but never really appreciating where I was for one reason or another. In other words, I was a driver with tunnel vision. I never was really comfortable being a passenger. It's just who I was. Most of my trips involved some sort of work or racing or both (they still do to some degree). So I had objectives. Wanting to do or be the best I could be, I failed to see the forest through the trees. I failed to really enjoy the ride.

Most of my trips have been solo so I had to be the driver figuratively and literally. If I didn't, nothing would happen, nobody was going to take me where I needed to go. On the rare occasion where I had traveling companions, it was a treat, though I usually ended up driving. Rarely was it a mutual thing. I sometimes wonder what would happen if I stopped driving...

Way back, I once took a vacation. A true vacation. No work related meetings, no racing, no real agenda. An honest to goodness vacation with sandals, boardshorts, a book and a snorkel. The goal was there was no goal...just relax, explore and enjoy. And that is exactly what I did. I ate tacos at Rossy's, I swam in the pool, the ocean and in the companionship I had on that trip. It was the first and relatively only time I can say I was totally relaxed. It had such an impact on me that I bought a silver bracelet the day before departing as a reminder of the feeling I had. I wear it to this day to remind myself of that trip and how good it felt to relax. I look at it daily and wonder when the next time is when I will feel that relaxed. That bracelet has taken on a greater meaning to me now. It not only signifies a desire and need to relax, but to appreciate my surroundings, wherever that may be and those that I am fortunate enough to share time and space with. And without exception, I do this, and it has made all the difference.

One thing that became evident to me while touring around Europe this week is that many beautiful surprises are beyond your peripheral vision and you might need to turn you head and squint to gain perspective. Once I began to catch on to this thought, I started to see many more things than I would normally, and it gave me a much greater appreciation for even the simple things around me no matter how far away they are or seem. Distance is insignificant when it comes to meaningful things. By happenstance, I glanced out the window while driving through Montreux and way up on the hill I saw this Chateau. Quickly I grabbed the Zoom camera and snapped off a photo. This became the norm for the trip. The thing that amazes me is while I have new eyes for seeing things that I normally don't see, what about all the things I still miss? I will be in these parts again, and it will be interesting to see how much more I can appreciate the next time. Life I guess is a lot like that, failing, learning and applying those lessons to the next time. I need to work on my squinting...

The THF photos are on Smugmug. E-mail me and I will send you a link to my photos on Kodak.

"Opportunities fly by while we sit regretting the chances we have lost, and the happiness that comes to us we heed not, because of the happiness that is gone." ~Jerome K. Jerome, The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow, 1889