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Posted by admin Tue Jan 2, 2007 17:53:01 PST
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0 responses 1 comment I can’t say that mine is truly a new year’s resolution- this notion that I need to somehow ‘live more’ this year.  I’ve always thought a real resolution had to be tangible- something like “I resolve to quit smoking this year.”  Not a lot of wiggle room in that one.  Not many people resolve to “get myself back down to just a pack a day.”  With resolutions, you gotta go big.  Either you do it, or you don’t.  Succeed or fail.  So for me to say I’m going to try to ‘find myself’ this year is just too touchy-feely for even me.  How ‘bout this… “I resolve that In 2 days I’m going to race my ATV equal to the distance between here and Sacramento in under 8 hours, and I have no idea what I’m doing.”  I’d like to think that puts me in with the group of people that are truly ‘living,’ if not mildly sadistic.

The race I’ve signed up for starts in Parker, Arizona, and isn’t over until I’ve gone 232 miles in giant circles in the desert.  Believe it or not, I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing.  Regular readers will recall that I lost my dad this last year, which has sort of set me up with my new “live like you’re dying, so buy good life insurance, but don’t really kill yourself for real cause you’ve got kids to raise” mentality.  It’s all very confusing, but my dad had his accident at age 50, which is just ten years older than the 40 I’ll turn this year.  It’s been a long time, but I remember him signing up for stupid-long motorcycle races when he was young and healthy too.

This is not at all meant to be a downer- quite the opposite.  In his life, my dad never really ‘got’ me, but even he would laugh knowing that I’ve named myself the “Dean’s Midlife Crisis,” team.  Oh yeah, the whole ‘team’ thing, that’s something I forgot to mention.  Most people run this 232 mile race as a team of 2 or 3.  One guy rides for awhile, then a team member takes over the bike for awhile, and so on...  Very few people are- let’s just say, um, STUPID enough to think they can ride this thing by themselves.  And yet here I sit, all smug and cocky, thinking I can do this alone.  I don’t even have a pit crew!  I’m learning that to succeed you have to at least have a crew to help you- not if, but when something goes wrong with either the rider or the bike.  And still I’m going to try.  So much can go wrong- maybe I’ll throw the chain, or maybe the bike will throw me?! 

And here with just 2 days to go, of this I’m certain.  No matter what happens, this Saturday will be unlike any other.  On some level, my resolution is alive and well- and so am I, just one week into the new year.

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Comment From: sunnica

Funny! Let us know how it turns out! Good luck!