Monday Motivation: Picking Up Speed

Monday Motivation, Inspiration for Women, Female Athletes, Women Entrepreneurs

When you are greeted by a 3-year-old boy who is jumping up and down in his motorcycle clothing because he’s been waiting for you all day to try his grandmother’s backyard motorcross field, you know the experience will be energetic, enthusiastic, and perfectly safe. If my buddy Alden can jump on his motorcycle without fear and zoom off confidently, you can too.

Inspiration comes in different sizes and my experience riding a motorcycle for the first time, be it a small motorcycle, in the ten-acre backyard of the Quigleys in Macedon, was thrilling. Motorcross was on my list of sports to try and simply posting a question on Facebook as to where I could try it, garnered the chance to do it with my husband’s cousin an hour from our house. They had diverse sizes of bikes, helmets, and clothes for me to wear, just not a pink helmet to fit my head.

I’ve biked 15 miles a day down and up hills by my own power, driven my powered-lawn mower down our back steep hill, and started going up and down ski bumps under the age of ten, so I was pretty confident I could get on a motorcycle and not crash but there is always that apprehension when you try anything new for the first time, especially something that has a motor, that semi-controls your speed and direction.

The Quigley family was waiting for me including four females and four males all zooming around on their own bikes as I arrived. Showing off their talents going up and down big and small dirt jumps built into their property, was thrilling to watch. Making sure I looked the part, I was soon outfitted in blue (sorry Tracy we don’t have pink) pants, top, helmet, and bike. They wanted me to experience it all. Just learning how to put a tight helmet on and off my bald head was a trick.

Safely taking me out on a Kubota to show me the course first and places I shouldn’t go, I returned to motorcycle instructions, which weren’t that hard to follow, and off I went following the women in the family on their bikes. Alden, the 3-year-old hotshot, speed past us with no fear. The thrill of the bike taking off made me say “Yahoo!” as soon as the bike advanced. Oh, it was fun!

I was trying not to go too fast, as an 85-mph regular driver on the highway, until I truly got the hang of the bike, and then asked them if I could try to go up and down a jump. I was ready! They were a wee bit surprised by my attitude and skills and off we went off one smaller jump and then bigger ones. No fear of jumps or hills came from learning to ski when I was 5-years-old and eventually doing the moguls on ski days. Bring it on, I said to myself in the quietness of my blue helmet.

Like all fun things in life, the ride came to an end too short for me, signifying this was another sport I wanted to try again after trying it once. My love for speed made motorcrossing my kind of sport. Am I willing to buy a $7,000 motorcycle to keep doing it? I’m not sure of that. Will I do it again if I have the opportunity given to me, yes! And that’s what trying a new sport brings to the table for anyone daring enough to try a new one.

Motorcross Take-aways:
* In life or business, you have to speed up if you want to accomplish bigger tasks or goals. You can’t stay in neutral too long.
* The harder you push yourself in unknown territories of life, the more resilient you become.
* Life and business aren’t for the faint of heart, so realize you need to push beyond your traditional limits.
* Experiences are more fun when you do it with other people, especially women. Get involved, ask, say yes, and join other women in any life or business adventures.

You can’t assume you know the pleasure a new sport or experience can bring you if you don’t give it a try. Onto the next adventure…

P.S. If you have a sport you want me to try that you do, let me know!