Wind-Rider

Oh, how I love riding in the wind.  I am addicted to visceral experiences.  Things that light a fire of sensation in my body.  And riding in the wind moves me deeply.

I have a long relationship with wind.  As a kid, I grew up windsurfing.  When wind is your 'power', you quickly come to appreciate everything beyond a gentle breeze.  I remember the sensation of being on the board, the wind picking up, and leaning back to catch it as it filled my sail.  Whisking across the water, the mist spraying me and keeping me cool.

When I started riding a motorcycle, I was warned about the wind.  I remember a woman who told me about a gust of wind knocking her off of her bike as she passed a semi.  I came home and asked Nathan "what do you do about that?"  His answer started with "when you feel wind, your natural balance system will kick in...."  I don't remember the rest of his answer, because my response, in complete and utter seriousness was "I don't think I have one of those."  "What?" "A natural balance system."

I remember our honeymoon to California, with all of the semis, and all of the wind. I became perplexed as to why people experienced challenges with passing semis; once I got over the fear that it would be an issue, I enjoyed it.  And, riding 400 miles through the Mojave Desert with a 45 mph hot cross wind (with technique I'd now consider wrong) made me love the wind and it's intensity even more.
                                      

For me, there is something magical about being caught up in a gust of wind.  My whole body relaxes, and my hips lean my bike into the wind, just enough to keep my course.  So often, I am just dancing with my motorcycle, but when there is wind, I have a third dance partner, and the love multiplies.

Adventure girls need downtime too, even when they don't want it...

A couple days ago, I got up like everything was normal, started getting dressed, and zow!  A muscle spasm in my back.  I'd never experienced anything like it. All the tools I teach my clients? Yeah right, breathe... Breathing freaking hurts! Stretching wasn't happening.  And I had to wake Nathan to reach the Advil, because my arms wouldn't move over my head.  Don't catastrophize?  Whatever.

Luckily advil and ice calmed the spasm, and I was able to start implementing the tools.  Don't catastrophize; this doesn't mean you are never riding your motorcycle again.  Slow deep breaths.  Stretch.  A little more.  And more.  Good.

I worked a short day, saw a chiropractor for the first time, and spent Friday on the couch, watching Gilmore Girls and blogging.  By Saturday, the pain was manageable, though my back was stiff.  I stretched and yoga-ed first thing in the morning, and headed to the Torque Wenches meeting.

What I discovered is that I suck at downtime.  Time alone I'm good at.  Put me on a bike in a helmet alone for hours, and I'm happy.  Put me in the woods, actually, with little to do, and I'm happy.  Put me on a couch for 10 hours, and I go STIR CRAZY.

People plan this stuff...."I'm going to do laundry and binge watch TV tomorrow."  Thank goodness I hadn't blogged our ride yet, or I'd have been out of my mind.  Reading wasn't the best option, because holding a book or phone was challenging for my sore upper back.  Though now that I think about it, I can read on my laptop with kindle.  Noting that for the next time I'm forced to take downtime.

So much of life is about Balance.  The night before this happened, I was busy planning every minute of the weekend 15 different ways to run by Nathan to see what he thought.  Perhaps the muscle spasm is a sign that I need to slow down a bit.  Stop falling off my motorcycles.  Stop planning every minute.

The other good part was that I got to hang out with Moto.

She just can't stop being cute.  

I'm not sure exactly what life is trying to teach me right now.  Perhaps I'm too stubborn to hear the lesson, but somewhere out there, I think there's a message... Next weekend Orygun Run, the weekend after California, the weekend after Camping.... Maybe I needed a quiet weekend and wasn't giving myself the time.  It's hard, when the weather is so ideal and the bike is calling my name.  

It has made me realize how far outside of my routine I have gotten since coming back from Utah.  No yoga, very little home training.  I set my alarm for 4:35 for Monday; I was going to go sooner, but the chiropractor recommended waiting a bit.  Yoga will start again.  I also was able to practice my yoga poses at home, at a slow and gentle pace.  

I am on the mend, but I think the lesson that always needs to be relearned is balance.  I cannot do to my body the things I do if I am unwilling to participate in daily training.  And I also need to look at the possibility that I am overscheduling myself. Being mindful of these two things, I will stretch and ride and move forward, until the next ailment lands me on the couch... hopefully with good balance, that will be postponed for a while.