Boys and their Toys...

Well, there's something for you!  I hadn't even typed anything other than the title when I was complimented about publishing my latest post!

Microsoft and Internet issues aside, here goes what I actually wanted to say...

Before I continue, however, let me mention that this article started it's life somewhere in March of this year and has now (finally?) seen the light of day about 8 months later!  Sorry for that, but there have been quite a number of events taking place in my life in the last couple of months......

We'll get around to that a little later.

The Pretoria Bikers Council were treated to some time on a race track on a sunny Sunday morning in March.  The track in question is Red Star Raceway.  In a newsletter I wrote earleir today, I mention that the racetrack is found in the middle of nowhere...

But this is a little nasty, because you can actually find the spot where the track is on Google Maps, even though Google Maps only shows the spot and not the track!  The problem, of course, is when the Google images were taken, the racetrack was not there yet!

We left Midas in Silverton with about 40 bikes and some cars and backup vehicles in tow.  The trip there was a little slow for some of us, but that's because we were sweeping for the group and had to make sure we got everyone to each of the turn-offs and assembly points along the route.

We arrived just after 8 and the registration process was in progress already.  Everyone that wanted to go onto the track had to sign an indemnity form (for legal reasons, of course) and the the bikes were scrutineered.  This process is to make sure that only "good condition" bikes ride on the track and it is, of course, all about safety.

I noticed the scrutineering team telling one guy that they would not allow him on the track until a team of mechanics had a look at his bike's front brakes, because the pads were a little worn.  Credit to the organisers for having a van on hand with some of the more popular bike's spares, because within 25 minutes the guy was back with brand new brake pads fitted and his bike passed scrutineering and he could join the rest fo the guys on the track.

Although the day is not a race day, boys will be boys and we ended up chasing eachother around the track anyway.  More for pride's sake than for any other specific reason, because there was no trophy at stake here!  (As one of the Marshalls kept on reminding us, all the MotoGP and World Superbike contracts had already been settled, so we had nobody to impress, except ourselves and our spectators.)

Needless to say, I enjoyed the day immensely, but by the time I started lap three of the second session, the fuel light started blinking its warning at me, which meant I had about 2 litres of fuel left!  Fortunately, there's a fuel station just 3 km down the road from the race track, so I exited the track, rode straight through the pits, out the gate and got onto the highway.

Filled up the bike and made a very (il)legal cross-over onto the other side of the highway and headed back to the track.  It was at this moment that I remembered...One of my friends, Willie, had put his GPS into my jacket pocket, because he wanted to compare his top speed of 174km/h, reached down the back straight of the circuit on his F800 GS BMW, with mine.


Of course, I used the opportunity of an open highway and whacked the throttle as wide as it would go and reached the turn-off to the track in virtually no time at all. By the time I got back, though, the session for my group was over and I was just in time to pull into the pits with the rest of the group coming off the track.

As I walked over to Willie I, nonchalantly, took the GPS out of my pocket and showed him the top speed of 209km/h. Once he caught his breath and stammered through a miriad of excuses, I couldn't hold it any more and burst out laughing...which is when you find out whether your friend has a sense of humour, or not!

Fortunately Willie has a very good sense of humour, but he insisted that I do it for real the next time round, which I did during the next session. The result? I'd rather not talk about it, since I only managed a little faster than his top speed. My excuse? Willie is a track instructor and I'm not.

Moving on...

By the time we headed home I had some time to reflect on the fact that boys will be boys and that some mature adults will be boys too. This was when I was reminded of a beautiful saying: "Growing Old is non-negotiable.  Growing UP, however, is optional!"

May I never grow up!

Working behind the scenes...

Recently I watched a rerun of an episode of Top Gear on SABC 3.  They had a challenge between Jeremy, driving the (then) new Audi RS4, and a speed climber, who's name escapes me right now.  Essentially, the speed climber had to climb a 1200ft vertical rock face, while Jeremy had to drive the RS4 60 miles around a twisty mountain pass to the finish line and the winner would be the one to reach the top first...of course.

Most people thought the car wold be a definite winner, but the speed climber ended up beating the car to the top by approximately 8 minutes.

However, even though the speed climber managed to scramble up the rock face using only his fingers and toes to find the most improbable hand and foot holds in the seeming sheer rock face, what really struck me was the guy following and supporting him.

He would follow a couple of meters behind, providing moral support all the way, while making sure he never let go of the safety rope he had in his hands.  The support climber was doing everything the main dude was doing, except that he was never in the limelight.  You heard him shouting encouragement in the background and you occasionally got a glimpse of him when the camera angle was right.  Other than that, the only guy who got the credit was the guy in front.

Made me think of a number of different situations in life where people are "slaving" away in the background to make something work, but they never get the credit for this.  As an example, I was thinking of the recent Impala Rally where many people were working behind the scenes, while only Simon gets the credit for organising a great event.

I know.  I know.  It's the way the cookie crumbles and all that, but there needs to be some spokesperson for the "little guys" (and ladies, of course!) backstage.

A word that popped into my head, was "Dedication".  The Free Dictionary (www.thefreedictionary.com) defines dedication as: "Selfless devotion", which really describes all these "behind-the-scenes" people, who spend their time and energy making sure everyone else gets the enjoyment and success out of events, even though they seem to be getting no credit or thanks themselves.

Now, before you go off about how some people get paid to do this job and it is their choice to be in the background and all that...I know that too.  Just thought about it and thought I'd let you know that I thought about it.  Ok?

Then I also thought of a book I read a while ago called "The five Love Languages" (by Gary R Chapkin, or Chapman) and I realised that there are people out there who actually enjoy doing things for others.  Me?  Of course I'm not like that 100% of the day!

I enjoy being in the limelight...as you no doubt realise by the fact that I've got a blog and a newsletter and participate in a number of other activities which require my presence in the light of lime...However, there are times when I enjoy helping people too...These times are just few and far between and they generally require some form of recognition at the end, otherwise I feel like nobody noticed!  :-)


Additional to all these thoughts, I was also thinking of all the times in my life when I've had a team of people around me to help me look good...and I realised that my success is owed to a number of people that have been diligently working behind the scenes to support me and help make me who I am today.

Quite a sobering thought.  Specially when you start thinking YOU are the main man/woman/person...