RandyRandy
01-18-2006, 11:19 PM
OK, this has nothin' to do with motorcycles, but it is much more "available" in the cold climate of Chicagoland in the mid winter than is motorcycle riding...
As a kid I played ice hockey from about age 7 to age 14. It was something I looked forward to every Winter. I was an OK player, but not great... but I hustled and I could skate faster than most. Then I broke my knee, got more interesting in unhealthy activities, then got less interested in them, and developed other interests and the years just kept rollin' on... I went 20 years without even owning a pair of ice skates.
And then... I bought a pair of new ice skates. This past November, out of the blue, a fellow at work issued a "call for players" for a new company sponsored team. So I answered, "hell yes" and I went and bought all the gear and we've played 9 games so far this Winter. I really sucked the first couple of games but I'm getting the old hang of it and contributing more now... even if just to give the other players time off the ice to rest betweeen shifts. Look out Gretzky, I'm coming after your records!
What a blast! I like hockey for reasons exactly opposite to what I like motorcycling. I like being alone on the motorcycle... just going places by myself without any other "intrusions" of life. I like the non-competitive nature of riding by myself and the access to adventure and travel that it can provide. If I want to keep on going... I would just go... and go... and go... the the ends of the Earth. I like those possibilities...
The competitive nature of hockey and the presence of team-mates really presses one to exert all of one's physical abilities to the shared goal of winning. The camraderie is great and the "atta-boy"s from team-mates are a real boost when you know that your play really did contribute. At the end of the game, I'm drenched in sweat and exausted -- a much more intense cardio-vascular workout than I can manage to muster at the Gym.
Anybody else get started on an old hobby or passion that has been collecting dust on the shelf for too long? Or just thinking about it...
RandyRandy
As a kid I played ice hockey from about age 7 to age 14. It was something I looked forward to every Winter. I was an OK player, but not great... but I hustled and I could skate faster than most. Then I broke my knee, got more interesting in unhealthy activities, then got less interested in them, and developed other interests and the years just kept rollin' on... I went 20 years without even owning a pair of ice skates.
And then... I bought a pair of new ice skates. This past November, out of the blue, a fellow at work issued a "call for players" for a new company sponsored team. So I answered, "hell yes" and I went and bought all the gear and we've played 9 games so far this Winter. I really sucked the first couple of games but I'm getting the old hang of it and contributing more now... even if just to give the other players time off the ice to rest betweeen shifts. Look out Gretzky, I'm coming after your records!
What a blast! I like hockey for reasons exactly opposite to what I like motorcycling. I like being alone on the motorcycle... just going places by myself without any other "intrusions" of life. I like the non-competitive nature of riding by myself and the access to adventure and travel that it can provide. If I want to keep on going... I would just go... and go... and go... the the ends of the Earth. I like those possibilities...
The competitive nature of hockey and the presence of team-mates really presses one to exert all of one's physical abilities to the shared goal of winning. The camraderie is great and the "atta-boy"s from team-mates are a real boost when you know that your play really did contribute. At the end of the game, I'm drenched in sweat and exausted -- a much more intense cardio-vascular workout than I can manage to muster at the Gym.
Anybody else get started on an old hobby or passion that has been collecting dust on the shelf for too long? Or just thinking about it...
RandyRandy