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Pammy
| | Posted on Friday, October 30, 2009 - 06:36 pm: | 
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I wasn't disputing your post per se. I certainly understand your point. I was just saying that you can do what you love for a living and still love it.
Riding isn't the only thing I love about motorcycles. I am sure you can relate.
I think the drudgery would come if I forgot to be grateful for my opportunities.
The one thing I dislike about the biz are the soul suckers who use motorcycles as a way to decorate their personalities...the money is there, but the passion is not. Passionate people inspire me.... |
Tramp
| | Posted on Friday, October 30, 2009 - 10:35 pm: |
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Well-said...I figured we were on the same page, I just didn't want to sound like I was saying that working in the industry of something you love would be taxing to enjoying that leisure activity.
In the snowboard model, if someone work , say, at a resort's snowboard shop...or abartends at a resort, they're in the industry, getting a free season pass, etc., but they're not 'boarding 8 hours a day as their job....
When I worked in the MC service industry, I was around motorcycles, motorcycle people, etc., but I wasn't getting sick of riding, by any means, as I was only occasionally paid to ride (I did a LOT of paid unit testing for Triumph and BMW... but never enough to get tired of riding!).
You've got it right in your professional life, Pammy, and that's not the easiest balance to achieve, as there are only so many positions available in the motorcycle industry 
Those soul-suckers seem to occur in most cool pastimes...they're just more pretentious, somehow, in our motorcycle world.
esp. when they say "righteous" and "bro".
In over 30 years of partying and riding with Real (capital "R") clubs, I've rarely heard either of those words uttered, but within 5 minutes of stepping foot into a HD dealer boutique, I'm sure to hear either at least once.
I did have a long and discussion on the effect of early celtic influence on late-iberian & teutonic language groups of the bronze age, though....with a member at a New York HA clubhouse. |
Xl1200r
| | Posted on Saturday, October 31, 2009 - 12:34 am: |
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Tramp - you're absolutely right. Back in high school and college I was "car guy", so I got myself in the door of a well-respected repair shop and learned as much as I could. When I made mention, in passing, of the possibility of doing that for a living, one of the techs which I was most able to have a heart-to-heart with said, "You like working on cars? Then you don't want to be mechanic."
Basically, you get so tired of working on other people's stuff that you don't ever feel like doing your own.
The x-country ride will take place at some point... every year I try to make plans, every year something gets in the way - life in general, I suppose. But one day, it'll happen, the sooner the better.
I don't necessarily need to take something I love and turn into a paycheck, but I'd REALLY like to just love what I do for that paycheck. Something MC-related would be fantastic, but it doesn't have to be.
I'll figure it out eventually. I'm still young, for now. |
Tramp
| | Posted on Saturday, October 31, 2009 - 08:16 am: |
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I'm not clear on what a cross-country ride has to do with a paycheck.
If you think that there'll be a point where life doesn't get in the way of such an activity, think again. You'll never do it if you continue to allow this impediment to dictate your path.
Do you have any kids? if "no", then get to that trip, willya?
(and this guy who did it with $2k in his pocket was damned lucky. I've done it with less than $400- in mine, and enjoyed the hell out of it.) |
Dynasport
| | Posted on Saturday, October 31, 2009 - 08:37 am: |
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I too have always wanted to take a X country ride, but have let life's obligations keep me from it. I still have the dream and believe I will do it. To me though, the main thing that has kept me from doing it is feeling selfish. I have a wife, two kids, a job, and many other obligations.
Several years ago, however, I read a story in a MC mag about a guy who was planning a X country ride with several friends. One by one, for various reasons, they backed out. Finally, only one guy was still planning to go. I forget the bike he had, but I think it was a fairly old Honda 500 of some sort. He didn't have luggage or a windshield on it. He just bungeed a duffle bag on and took off. I think he was gone for about two weeks. The guy writing the article said when he came back he was full of great stories and said he had a great time doing it. The guy died two years later. Cancer if I remember correctly.
That story has always haunted me. Especially when I put off something I really want to do. There are ALWAYS excuses not to do something. Sometimes you just have to shut up and do it anyway.
Now, if I can only overcome the guilt of burning up my vacation time doing something without my family. |
Tramp
| | Posted on Saturday, October 31, 2009 - 08:52 am: |
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"luggage"...."windshield"...? I never had either on any of my cross-countries.
just a small rucksack (which is how I got the nickname "Tramp" from an Angel in Austria)
Men take business trips all the time, leaving the wife and kids to fend for themselves. That can be a healthy thing in moderation...a cross-country should be no different.
Leave the luggage in the closet, and the windshield in the car.
When you get to the Rockis, watch out for jackrabbits at night. Bastards run at your headlights, and they're goddam huge....they can take you out.
Don't freak when you glide over cattle grates, and stop to snap shots of Pronghorns...they're curious of motorcycles.
Always be mindful of road-killed elk. Imagine someone tossed a blood-soaked sofa and love seat onto the highway from a pickup, along with 300# of beef....you do not want to run into that mess.
Take the 10 minutes to hack off some Elk backstraps, tough- bring ziplocks and hand-cleaner so you don't put bloody hands back into your glove and then wonder why your hands smell like a zombie's ass a day later.
Stopping to cook the backstraps at a campground or a cheap motel is the sh*t. |
Court
| | Posted on Saturday, October 31, 2009 - 01:16 pm: |
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>>>I'm not clear on what a cross-country ride has to do with a paycheck.
I used to love getting paid $0.67/mile to ride as much as I could. I used to leave Topeka, KS ride to Marina del Rey turn around and head to Atlanta then home.
I used to sing that old Steve Martin diddy in my helmet . . . " . . . and the most amaaaaazing thing to me is . . . that I get paid for doing this" |
Tramp
| | Posted on Saturday, October 31, 2009 - 01:22 pm: |
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What exactly were you doing for this $0.67/mile, and how would someone do this for a regular paycheck?
I test rode for two companies, but it didn't entail cross-countries..and it wasn't, unfortunately, by the mile.
How is xl1200r going to earn a paycheck by riding from NY to Cal.?
Lemme know, 'cause papi wants in |
Xl1200r
| | Posted on Saturday, October 31, 2009 - 01:39 pm: |
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Doing the x-country ride for fun means I'd have to deal with lack of a paycheck, and work being okay with me being gone for a month.
I don't have kids, but I have a dog and a house... Just takes some careful planning to get all the pieces back home to work.
Like I said, someday. |
Tramp
| | Posted on Saturday, October 31, 2009 - 03:04 pm: |
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Xl1200r-
Words like "someday' lead to us running out of tomorrows.
Until you change that 'someday' to a definite date, it's unlikely to happen.
Buy the ticket, take the ride. |
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