Bama Rides

Posts Tagged ‘alabama’

Fat Lady Sings No More

“You gonna get another one?” and/or “Are you gonna keep riding?” These are two questions I have had to answer literally hundreds of times since April when I shattered my ankle and crushed my right foot.

The accident required surgery to implant a steel plate and six screws to pull the various pieces of my ankle together and four five inch “pins” to realign my four dislocated toes and two crushed metatarsal heads. I am supposed to walk with a cane and I will probably have a permanent, albeit, slight limp for the rest of my life.

My immediate answer to everyone was, “Yes, of course..” followed by chest beating and other manly things.. but a small voice in the back of my head whispered, “maybe, maybe not.. I am really hurt and honestly a little scared”. Even though we’re not supposed to admit our fears, so as to not make them real, I had to be honest with myself and compare the weight of my fear with the weight of the pleasure I get from riding.

Anyone who has ever had a fear of something and faced it head on and conquered it knows what I was up against and what I stood to gain. Those who have not can still understand how overwhelming fear can be, what are you scared of? Rational fears (fear of pain, fear of snakes) can be overcome by doing the thing that causes us fear, irrational fears (such as fear of death or open spaces) are sometimes harder to overcome without counseling or at times medication. Take flying for instance, I was terrified of flying because of an irrational belief that dreams come true and I had dreamt of plane crashes my entire life.. since childhood.

Being both a rational fear of heights (ingrained in us through evolution as a survival instinct) as well as an irrational fear of flying I decided to face my fears and took flying lessons. Once I soloed I no longer feared flying and was able to fly commercial airlines without sedation.

Riding a motorcycle after my accident was a goal, but one I was not ready to rush into for various reasons: fear, physical limitations of my ankle/foot, financial.. etc. I could have used any of the ‘reasons’ to not ride if I let fear dictate my actions. I lived with irrational fears for years and years due to emotional abuse from a tyrannical step-father and once I got a handle on how to erase those fears I swore I would not live in fear another day.. I had to ride again, even if just for a day.

I won’t drown you in the minute details but after our last unofficial Meet & Greet at Lonestar in Trussville Don (administrator and co-founder of Bama Rides) offered to lend me one of his bikes if I wanted to get out of the house and get back in the saddle. I was in a great mood and of course I accepted his offer but in the back of my mind I was thinking, “Are you ready to ride? It’s a different bike.. what if you wreck, what if someone pulls out in front of you and what if this and what if that..?” I could almost talk myself out of it.. with my wife’s help it would have been very easy, she was against it for numerous reasons, fear of me getting hurt was the primary reason of course but there was a touch of jealousy too. To keep the peace.. I cancelled the ride.

The next day I met Don for lunch and we discussed the various reasons for me to ride and why my wife wouldn’t want me to ride. So we invited her to lunch and was able to explain to her how important it was for our own riding future for me to get back at it as soon as possible. Losing time on two wheels means losing skills.. ask someone who’s not ridden in years about the first time they jumped back on a bike.. fun, yes.. like riding a bicycle, maybe.. rusty? No comment. You lose your edge pretty quickly.. and after 10 years, it’s a new world of riding.

Needless to say I got back in the saddle. It was Don’s sportbike, which is hundreds of pounds lighter than my cruiser and had much more power, drastically different handling as well.. but I was smiling nonetheless.

We rode some nice twisties and we took it over Hwy 25 and around 231 for a while before stopping to meet Val at 29 Dreams for a couple of sweet teas and some respite for my aching butt. But I digress.

We have all at one time or another questioned whether we had the intestinal fortitude to do something. From simple things like standing up to a school bully to moments of intense fear in a foxhole before going over the top into an uncertain future. My fear was not just getting on a bike and riding but that I was not going to be able to get on a bike and enjoy it.

But I was.. and I loved it.

Lewis Applequist 2009