Get it in Gear!

A vital function of an operational motorcycle is the transmission, which means that a vital function of the motorcycle operator is the ability to shift gears! One would think that shifting gears is no big deal - pull in clutch, tap the shifter into the next gear, release the clutch and you are back on your way. But like so much in riding and in life, it is a bit more complicated than that.

The problem lay not so much in the physical aspects of dis-engaging and re-engaging the transmission as in the consequences of said actions, which is really the important part. Pulling and tapping are actions necessary to accomplish the task of transferring power from the engine to the wheels. Clumsy, sudden, or inefficient engagement of clutch and shifter is a prescription for trouble, since those actions affect the transfer of power, and transfer of power is what makes a motorcycle go ... or not.

Racers spend a lot of time thinking about how to improve shifting, since every fraction of a second matters. Smoother means faster, faster means more efficient, and more efficient means time is saved - the secret to winning a race. Folks such as Lee Parks take that knowledge and share the insights with us every day riders. In his classes Mr. Parks spends no little amount of time on how to efficiently shift gears and one important aspect is what is termed "pre-loading" which simply means that you gently nudge your shifter prior to needing to shift. By doing so the amount of time and energy it takes to actually shift into gear is reduced, producing the probability of a much smoother shift.

Given how often we hear the phrase "get it in gear" it seems to me that this concept of pre-loading, of preparing yourself to move from one activity or level to another, is a concept applicable to life. This really came home to me this past week.

The Christmas seasons often brings out the best and the worst in people, which means that as a pastor I must respond to a variety of situations. The other day I had spent the morning in pastoral care, listening to concerns and fears, sharing sadness at loss, trying to offer comfort to folks in distress. Then the secretary came into my office to tell me of an aggressive and confrontative person in the Church; she was scared and needed some assistance. As an urban church we have lots of folks come through seeking help and most are polite, respectful and appreciative. But now and then you get some folks with mental health issues and other folks who are just plain mean.

This guy was the latter.

I went out, chatted with him and offered him the services we have available; however, we require folks to give us their names and he absolutely refused to do so. I twice explained to him why we do this and he continued to act in a belligerent manner. I told him that I respected his position and without thinking I reached out and gently touched his arm as I did so.

Big mistake. And I know better; when confronted by an angry person you DO NOT touch them, as regardless of how gentle the touch they will respond to it as an attack. But I was still in "pastoral" mode where a gentle touch is reassuring and comforting. I had not "pre-loaded" myself so that I was prepared to shift gears quickly and efficiently and deal with this gentleman in a manner appropriate and effective for his situation.

The end of the story is that the guy became even more aggressive, I asked the secretary to call the police (if I was going to get smacked in the snout I would rather have the cops on the way before getting pummeled than after), and then escorted him out the door. He went without physical violence and my snoot remained without need of physician, much to my relief.

All of us in life are faced with various and sundry demands on our persons and our times. I have a hunch that a lot of conflict emerges because we have not adequately pre-loaded and prepared ourselves to shift gears as necessary: unexpected demands and needs often result in us responding with anger, frustration, or confusion which then leads to conflict.

I have no handy-dandy method to suggest how to accomplish this pre-load. Sometimes I remember to do it on my bike, and sometimes I don't. The same is true in life. But the more we adequately pre-load, that is, the better we are at preparing ourselves to shift gears, the smoother the transition. And smooth is good!

Traction

I've got traction on the mind, which is no surprise given that I have moved to a record rainfall season in Seattle from "it's a dry heat" Arizona. Traction, the adhesive friction that exists between tire and road, is vital as it is what allows you to go, stop, and stay upright.

Traction is generally not much of a problem on Arizona roads given temperatures such that the tire practically melts onto the road. Add broad, flat, straight streets and you have the perfect environment for tootling down the road admiring the scenery.

Not so in Seattle, where hills abound and the curves are so numerous as to make one wonder if the bike will ever stand up straight again. Add a bazillion cars dripping all kinds of fluids on to a road that never seems to completely dry out, and that is a prescription for disaster if one tootles down the road admiring the scenery.

At most the amount of traction a motorcycle tire has is an area about the size of a deck of cards. Add lean, acceleration, or braking to the equation and that area decreases exponentially; factor in loss of traction due to a slippery surface and the actual size of contact patch that keeps the bike on Terra firma is frighteningly small. So while it is amazing how little traction is actually necessary to keep you rolling safe and sound, the moral of the story is that Traction is Good.

Traction is good ... for motorcycles AND for human beings. You see, traction is really just the friction created between tire and road surface and while we generally think of friction as a bad thing in human relations, it is actually necessary. We human beings are constructed for action and inter-action; just like a muscle which should be used rather than rested or it will atrophy, so it is with human interaction, or traction, which is the adhesive friction which exists between one human and another. If we don't find it naturally, we will create it artificially.

If there is no adhesive friction which allows us to move, we will create it, whether by so doing it allows us to move forward OR backward in the relationship. We just can't stand still!

I just spent six years serving in a retirement community and I found that those men and women who had given thought to retirement and sought creative expressions for their lives were delightful, healthy, well adapted folks. Those who had not done so were often petty and argumentative nit-pickers who, because of the lack of meaning in their lives, sought to create meaning out of the most meaningless issues.

But the same is true of working folk; if you have a job that is mostly enjoyable and provides opportunity for creative expression, life is good. If you don't have such a workplace, or have one which provides TOO MUCH traction (which in the interaction of tire and road prevents you from moving at all) or friction, life is not so good either.

Too little traction and you slide out of control; too much traction and you can't move. So finding the right amount of traction may be the secret to life, just as it is to happy riding.

Pay Attention

'Tis the season when we think of shepherds and Stars, Magi and mangers, Angels and announcements. I have been thinking about all of the above, but especially about Angels and announcements.

My morning commute takes about twenty minutes, give or take. After riding it for about three weeks now I have the route down, know where the bottlenecks are located, the best angles to take during wet weather and dry, and have the green light timing down so the communte moves pretty well most mornings.

But as with all things in life, there is an "X" factor: the Other Driver.

Washington is a hands free state, which means that you are not supposed to text, talk on your cell phone while it is in your hand, check your email, or perform any of the other tasks available through that tiny hand-held device that has more computing power than the Apollo 11 moon rocket. But of course we humans are quick to affirm that laws only apply to other people and it has been my observation that the hands free law is visible more in its disregard than its application. Commuting in the early-morning darkness, when the glow of the the hand held device is more obvious, has only strengthened that view.

Most mornings are not too bad, but today was particularly pernicious. I was cut off twice by boneheads checking messages while changing lanes, once by a guy pulling out in front of me and then slowing down as he dialed a number, and one woman who weaved all over the road as she leaned halfway across the car to dig in her purse for her phone. Luckily none of this provided any real threat to me as I continually adhere to the best piece of motorcycling advice I ever received: Just assume that everyone in a car is out to kill you and ride accordingly.

So I am a pretty attentive driver. Which brings us back to Angels and announcements. One of my favorite movies is "Michael" starring John Travolta. Travolta plays the Archangel Michael, who accompanies a group of hack writers heading back to their corporate office, all the while engaging in various adventures. It is a sort of cosmic journey film.

Two scenes in particular stand out for me; the first is when Travolta announces to the questioning of the angel expert played by Andie MacDowell that he is "not that kind of angel" and the second with MacDowell where he shares remarks on her character with stunning revelation. In a state of shock at his cogent observations, MacDowell says to him "How do you know that?" To which the Michael character responds: "I pay attention."

Therein lay a key to much of life: "I pay attention." How often do we fail to pay attention - while driving, while working, while conversing with friends and loved ones - and thereby cause harm? To pay attention is an act far more complicated than simply hearing the words or observing the scene, for it involves living with others and for others. Paying attention is the process by which we deeply inhale the moment and all of its implications, for us and for others, which can reveal far more than mere words.

Ralph Waldo Emerson once observed "What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say." That's paying attention - comprehending the meaning which exists beyond the words.

Regardless of one's faith stance, this is a season to be reminded of the value of paying attention, particularly to issues that transcend our own immediate wishes and desires, like checking messages or attaining the new record for commute time. Pay attention, for this is a season when angels abound ... and not always in the guise in which we expect!

It Is What It Is

Commuting in heavy, urban traffic is no picnic, so I garaged the big, heavy, great-for-wide-open-spaces cruiser for the smaller, lighter KLR650 (since nick-named "The Beast"). I bought the KLR, a single cylinder, dual sport bike in Arizona and used it primarily for off-road adventure with a buddy (accompanied with lots of bruises). The KLR is great off-road but lacks that little extra "umph" you can use when accelerating in traffic. But given that my wife prefers window coverings and carpets over a new motorcycle (hard to imagine, huh?), I am stuck with it in a different role. So I figured I would do some modifications to juice it up just a bit.

Thank God for the internet and the thousands of folks who work on and communicate about, their bikes.

My first thought was to add a new exhaust, as doing so on my Harley project bike (Puff the Magic Dragon) had really pumped up the torque in the mid-range RPM's. So I started researching what others had done and was shocked at what a learned. Adding a new exhuast adds 1 or 2 horsepower at best, and even a cheap exhaust system costs $300+. So maybe you rejet the carbs as well at a cost of another $50-$100. But again that nets only one or two additional ponies to your stable. And on and on it went. It finally occured to me that with probably $1000-$1500 worth of changes and an incredible amount of work I could increase engine performance by about 5 HP. Does that make sense? Especially after you have already spent $500 adding protection to the bike for off-roading (which you shold now remove, since added weight decreases performance). Fifteen hundred dollars is a nice down payment on a new bike!

But I figured there must be some solution to my perceived problem, so I kept reading and the more I read, the funnier it got. For example, there was lots of discussion about making your KLR perform well enough to do wheelies.

Huh? Why would you buy a single cylinder dual sport bike, spend an amount equal to 20% or more of the original cost to modify it just to get it to do wheelies? You can buy some beautiful and relatively inexpensive bikes - Kawasaki Ninja, Ducati Monster, Honda CBR, Yamaha FZ8 - that will do wheelies right out of the box for about the cost of the original KLR plus mods. Why would you buy a bike meant for a particular purpose and then try to dramatically alter it to fit another purpose?

And then I began to think of the many human relationships I have witnessed over the years where folks fell in love with someone and then tried to change them into something else. Why would you fall in love with someone, presumably because of who s/he is, and then try to get that person to change into something else?

Why would you fall for an alcoholic and then be surprised that s/he does not quit drinking?

Why would you fall for a person who has never met a budget s/he liked and then be surprised that they are always broke?

Why would you fall for someone who says they never want to have kids and then be surprised that they actually don't want kids?

There is a difference between necessary adaptation and change for personal preference. All of us have to adapt to changing circumstances at various times in life: if you lose a job and have to change your lifestyle, you do it. If you grew up as an only child but married someone from a large family, you figure out how to make holiday's work. That's adapting to fit circumstances. If your spouse loves his work as a caprenter, you can't change him into a rocket scientist; if your kid loves reading more than running, you can't turn her into a track star. That's trying to change someone for personal preference.

I bought a dual sport and now I ride it primarily for commuting. It will never have the zip I would like for commuting, but it sure is a safe and dependable ride, well adpated to commuting. It is what it is, and actually, that's quite good, so I think I will quit trying to change it. Guess my wife will get her window coverings and carpets after all ...

Be Prepared

It doesn't freeze in Seattle ... except when it does. It doesn't snow in Seattle ... except when it does. And yesterday it did both. And the roads were messy but worse, the drivers were terrified. When you have little experience driving in snowy, slippery, weather on hilly, curvy terrain, it can lead to trouble. And I saw lots of it - cars sliding, people over-reving their engines and spinning their tires (which only increased the sliding) and this morning on the way to work a plethora of abandoned vehicles.

I must admit it was not the weather that worried me, but the unprepared drivers and road crews. Now, to be fair to both, in truth there are only a few days each year of of snow/ice in this part of the Northwest, and as we in the ecclesial business say, "You can't build a church for Easter Sunday" (though perhaps we should re-think that ... grist for a future blog) so stewardship dictates that highway and road maintenance folks not spend the huge amounts of money necessary to buy equipment and chemicals. It is simply more cost effective to let most businesses shut down for two or three days each year. And it is fun to have a couple of "snow days" as well.

But having lived and driven in the Chicago area and not completely cognizant of the above mentioned realities, we ventured out last night to have dinner with some folks. But before we did I threw some some sutff in the back end, just in case. Be prepared. And I was, even though I didn't need it. But a lot of other folks sure did.

I wonder how often in my life that little Boy Scout motto has saved my bacon? Be Prepared ... which in this instance means having the right gear available if you need it AND constantly looking ahead for what might cause some trouble. Just like you do when riding a motorcycle - so being prepared is all about thinking a few moves ahead, like in chess.

Driving in snow/ice Be prepared means keeping a safe following distance, using a low gear, and especially watching out for what kind of bone-headed maneuver that other inexperienced, unprepared person just might do. Be prepared means watching the behavior of other cars in certain spots and either following or avoiding those spots. Be prepared means relaxing your vision and taking in the whole view rather than focusing on any one place or thing. Be prepared means applying the lessons of motorcycle riding to auto driving, like understanding that the vehicle by nature wants to go straight, squeezing the brakes instead of stomping on them, not over-reacting, using momentum to get you up a hill, following a line, braking before you think you might need to brake ...

It has been almost forty years since I ended my direct association with the Boy Scouts of America, but the lessons learned still hold, for riding, for driving, for living. Who da' thought?

Be prepared.

Giving & Taking

Had my brand-new rain gear stolen from the office the other day. After a wet early morning commute I hung it up on the coat rack to dry and later went out to have coffee with a member. When I got back to the office it was gone ... no doubt an impulsive grab & go crime of opportunity.

I have been robbed several times in my life; once it was a new coat (not yet completely paid for), another time some equipment from my back yard, but the weirdest was my car radio. I got a call around 4 AM that a parishoner had been in a bad accident and was not going to make it. I jumped into the car, put it into gear and headed off for the hospital. Trying to wake myself up I reached down to turn on the radio and found myself reaching into an empty dash instead. The worst part is that at the time I had a Schnauzer that barked at everyone and everything - mailman, parishoners, small children on bicycles, old people with canes, flies - you name it. But the lousy mutt slept through the great radio rip off. Worthless bag of bones ...

Anyway, I must admit that my first thought was "Somebody is going to die." Not exactly the most spiritual response but typically human and pretty much what I have thought every time I have been ripped off. But in each instance afer my temperature dropped my faith climbed; for me to lose a coat or a radio or rain gear is a real pain-in-the-ass, but not the end of the world. When I lost the coat I was cold for a few days and now I will be wet for a few days - not exactly Armegeddon. I won't say that it does not aggrevate me to need to replace the gear, but the truth is that I have a warm home in which to dry off, a loving wife and family to embrace, a job I love and good friends with whom to whine (and wine). My life is pretty darn good. Faith reminds me that I must never confuse temporary inconvenience with authentic loss.

Some folks are cold and wet every day with little option for changing the situation and while I do not condone theft, I do know that when we are miserable we commit acts that might otherwise be alien to our behavior. Thus I choose to affirm that the act was inappropriate but the need great, shrugged off my loss, got on the internet and ordered some new gear and am grateful that I can afford to stay dry on a rainy day.

But in the midst of this I struggle with a far more important question; my faith tradition states that if someone takes your coat you should give them your shirt as well. So I wonder: What if the person who took my rain pants had just looked me in the eye and asked me for those pants, would I have given him my coat as well? Would I have had the authentic courage of my convictions and walked the walk, or would I have said something preacherly like "I'll pray for you" which is a lovely sentiment but does nothing to actually reduce suffering at the moment? Would I have voluntarily chosen to be inconvenienced for just a short moment to help another person, as my faith demands?

Of what value is faith if it does not cost us a little bit now and then?

I think I'll head out and take a ride in the rain ... it will remind me how lucky I am.

Idol-Idyll-Idle

I pulled up next to a guy on a scooter at the stoplight. I purposely looked over to give the guy a thumbs up - it was a rainy, miserable day but in spite of that we were both rolling on two wheels. But he studiously avoided me, concentrating on staring straight ahead; when the light turned green he hit the gas and whipped through the intersection. As I eased on the throttle and slowly let out the clutch I found myself shaking my head and thinking, "What an idiot. Gunning it like that on wet streets is a perfect way to find yourself laying on the ground."

But then I had another thought: "Why that behavior?" And while I am not a mind reader and cannot know for certain, it occured to me that perhaps this guy had been treated poorly in the past simply because he rode a scooter. It's 2010 and some folks still have this 1960's Mod vs. Rocker mentality (look up the movie 'Quadrophenia' set to the music of the Who if you are unfamiliar with the reference).

I have a couple of good buddies who ride scooters and they have told me about some of the crap they take from so-called "bikers" who are usually weekend warriors riding high-dollar, pimped-out toys. These types imagine themselves as outlaws but they are really just wannabe's; watch them and you can see that they are just accidents waiting to happen. They confuse appearance with essence and have thus created a false idol, mistaking the outer covering for the inner reality. They think that looking the part makes you the part, that the clothes make the man. Nope - they just prove that advertising works.

One of my scooter-owning buddies had been riding two wheels for forty years ... and then he got cancer. Physically he can no longer swing his leg over a saddle or handle the 700 pound hog he rode all that time. But he wanted to ride so he got a spry little 400 cc scooter that will get and go, and he can still feel the wind. He understands essence.

And every time I see someone on two wheels I give them a wave, because regardless of the machine we all seek the same thing, the essence. You can love the tradition of American Iron, the sexiness of the Italian bikes, the supurb engineering of German craftsmanship, the absolute dependability of metric machines ... it doesn't matter, because it's all good.

It's not the bike, it's the ride.