Head Space

Lately I’ve been very busy searching for the voice in my head and then when I hear a distant whisper, I sabotage my good intentions. How dumb is that?  It takes a hell of a lot of effort working against yourself all the time.  Making crappy excuses about negative energy around you can keep you busy for weeks on end.  When that gets dull then guilt and blame are waiting in line to fill the gap.  I’ll start tomorrow gets so worn out.  Funny how we assume you get another chance to make it right tomorrow.  

But finally, the voice is crystal clear again.  And I’m listening attentively again.  It’s engulfing me, bursting into my whole being, feeding me with power. 

The energy of the earth has been pulsating around us all since forever, but who has the time to tune in. I mean really, come on, lets be honest.  Who has the time or desire to feel the rhythms around you when episode 4 678 of Egoli is about to start and absolutely have to know who the father of the stars’ unborn baby is or when you’re late for a lunch time appointment at the nail salon for a touch up and there’s a doos driving 40 in the fast lane and you can’t get past?  Just because you’re too busy dealing with these very important issues doesn’t mean the earths rhythms aren’t there.  They are, and guess what, they are more significant than updating your profile picture on facebook.          

When you are at peace with yourself, your vibrations automatically become in tune with the universe.   Spending energy on the semantics of religion or politics doesn’t bring you any closer to understanding the essence of life either.  Whether you believe you got here because of evolution or creationism is not the point.  What you do with your life is.  Are you just an ant going through the motions of survival or are you better?  Your world is only as big as you want it to be.  Listen to the voice in your head.  When you embrace it you will understand.   

The space in your head is controlled by only by you.  Take the plunge, I dare you. 

My First Off Road Experience

We’ll I’ve had my bike a month already and only taken it for a quick spin – no offroading. Finally a free weekend rolled around so we packed the tent and sleeping bags and planned to follow the railway line along the service road and see where we ended up. We took the tar road until Joostenberg Vlakte and then onto gravel. My first impression was not great. The road was sandy and my bike seemed to have a mind of its own. This was supposed to be fun and I wasn’t having any. My mirrors had loosened themselves from all the vibrations and the one even fell off. The road changed after a couple of km’s and I started relaxing and then it was back on tar again before we turned onto the service road at Hermon. I was kak scared when the road became a grass track and you couldn’t see the condition of the so called road and at one stage the prickly tall weeds were flapping around me at waist height. I was really grateful for my brand new offroad boots, my birthday present from Theo, which scored him big brownie points.

My bike started easily enough the day I bought it but for some reason I sukkeled to kickstart it from there onwards. I wasn’t opening the throttle enough so it cut out every now and then on pullaways and poor Theo had to kickstart mine, then his and his leg was taking the punch. At some point he signaled for me to stop so he could take a photo of me riding through a difficult section. Yeah right. The only thoughts I had were to keep moving, stay upright, try not to say oh sh!t too loudly and convince myself I was having fun. We stopped under a tree for a rest and I pulled a weed out of my bum, rearranged body parts, had a stiff drink for my nerves and decided that this was fun, only just though. The scary factor was high up there. Theo suspected that there was a drift up ahead and warned me that I better not cut out in the water otherwise I’d have a problem. I followed his lead, gave power, crossed through successfully but came out too fast and my back tyre slipped and slid all over the place and I nearly lost it. Luckily the bike cut out 2 inches before I hit a fence and I started doubting the fun factor again. I entertained a cow while I huffed and puffed and tried to maneuver my bike backwards into a better position for me to climb on again and try and kick the thing into life. Theo rescued me and to my relief he soon turned off and we hit the tar again. Riding on tar roads soon got boring traveling at 100 km’s. We came over the Nuwekloof pass into Tulbagh and Theo decided to explore the original old tar road along the gorge. It was fun but unfortunately we came to a section with locked gates and had to turn around. We headed for the forests in Tulbagh (which sadly hardly exist anymore) and the gravel roads up in the mountains had my adrenalin rushing to the limits. We rode up and down hectic gravel roads and when we stopped for a break I was exhilarated yet kak bang and panting. It was hard work turning my bike around in the dirt, until I realized it’s possible to just ride over small bushes. I had to keep pushing my remaining left mirror away from my shoulder to get my clutch lever back into a clutchable position and not point skywards. There was lots of vibrating I tell you and not the kind I was used to.

We took the back dirt road through to Wolsely and back along the tar. We arrived at the Tulbagh caravan park, pitched our tent and I flopped down grinning and exhausted. I didn’t care that my hair was stuck to my dusty face. There was no mistaking the fun factor anymore. A few drinks later, still buzzing, I praised myself and relived each and every scary bit.

The next day we chilled around our campsite and took a slow ride back home alternating between boring tar and straight easy gravel roads. Our bodies were sore and I was glad I didn’t have to deal with any serious stuff other than kickstarting my bike. I’d been managing occasionally to start it and felt sorry for Theo’s right bum each time he limped over to get mine going.

I’m sure I’ll miss my road bike and the buzz of racing along, pushing yourself to the limit through a sweep but my introduction to offroading scored a big adrenalin rush and I can’t wait for more.