How does this end?
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Editorial Note: This was originally written in December of 2015 but never published until now. 10/2/2024.
Motorcycles have been a part of my life for a long time, relatively speaking, of course. The racing aspect elevates that love and passion for these two-wheeled machines to another level. It’s everything you’ve ever loved about motorbikes, and somehow so much more. The passion feels limitless and endless, almost impossible to overcome. It’s like the perfect love story that leaves you helpless in the clutches of someone who’s wrong for you in every way except for the most important thing: passion. She can wrong you, right you, break you, bankrupt you, yet she will never seem less important—or more important—in the grand scheme of life because passion not only fills those voids, but it also covers them up.
I guess I’ve been waiting for this love to pass by like another one-night fling. The very second I turn on my phone, open my web browser, or flip on the lights in the garage, there it is, staring me right back as it did the day before. If it’s not a text message from a fellow racer, it’s an email asking, “Is it race time yet?” or a notification that an item you “need” is about to end on eBay.
Everyone wants to know why we do it. How can you possibly spend XX% of your earnings on something that offers almost zero reward other than pure joy? Even then, pure joy is rarely achieved in racing. There is absolutely no “investment” here, like stocks or a house can be. But racers are investing; they’re investing in their lives in a different format. Maybe retirement sounds important to non-racers, and for some racers, building that fund is still possible. However, many accumulate massive amounts of debt just to turn laps, often without putting a penny into savings.
Making sense of racing is almost pointless, which is why we often hear, “I don’t get why you do this. Why do you?” There’s a long way to answer that question, but it can also be summed up easily in one word: passion. That alone should silence anyone who has ever said, “I don’t get it.” Because if they don’t get it, then they’re not enjoying their own passion in life. Anyone who can find that one thing that consumes their mind for every ounce of the day (yes, I know “ounces of a day” makes zero sense) should understand why you’re at the races or spending your day binge-watching World Superbike, Grand Prix, British Superbikes, etc.
Passion should drive everyone’s life. If you’re not a racer reading this and you’re unsure what makes your life tick, maybe it’s racing? Probably not, but you never know. You shouldn’t be searching for your passion; it’s most likely already a significant part of your life. And for racers, that passion is a motorbike. Sitting on the grid, giving the bird to one of your best friends before you try to demoralize them? It’s pretty awesome.
The people you meet and the friendships you build through racing motorcycles are what I love most. You encounter individuals with personalities at every end of the spectrum, coming from all different backgrounds. Do I like everyone at the races? No, but every single person there teaches me something valuable that I can apply to my life, even outside of racing.
The highs and lows of this lifestyle can sometimes make you wonder. Yet that pondering never seems to close the door because all it takes is one lap. One lap where everything connects, and riding at your very best feels effortless. That high reminds you of the passion that the low tried to make you forget.
Passion brings you back from the dead, but does passion have an end? I haven’t seen an end; it’s not here yet. Should I be waiting for it?
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