Thursday, August 30, 2012

Look Behind You

Just a short ride on dirt county roads to clear my mind from a particularly nasty day at work.  I rode till I thought no more of the idiocy, the failure to have a common technical language understood by both sides, the selfishness of project managers and the frustrations endemic with my present contract.

Valencia, my 2011 Ural Patrol worked her soothing magic upon me as usual and soon I was enjoying the ride and not obsessing about work.

The skies even brightened as I reached calmness, the motorcycling gods must have been kind or at least empathetic to my day......

Gray lighting illustrated my mind's mood at the start of the ride above

The heavens clear and the sun breaks out, as my mood improved with the riding above

Continuing the analogy, my work-related issues are left behind in the stormy looking clouds behind me.

I returned home a happier man, to a family who has seen me in worse states.....good therapy, this riding.

9 comments:

RichardM said...

Riding does seem like good therapy. It takes enough of your attention that all the idiocy of the day seems to fade away by the time I get home. I used to walk a lot for therapy and I hear that many people run for the same reason.

Beautiful photos. Especially the grey skies.

redlegsrides said...

I always appreciate your kind words Richard.

thanks.

Unknown said...

Dom:

the last two photos are particularly stunning. Lots of cloud action.

I too am stressed, but not work related. I cannot ride as it is too much trouble digging my bike out from its hiding place, keeping it away from vandals.

I may pump up the tires on my bicycle this weekend

sometimes it's too bad that your stress may be caused by the people in charge and some things are not easily changed

bob
Riding the Wet Coast
My Flickr // My YouTube

Keith - Circle Blue said...

The commute to and from work is often the best part of my day. I can't remember a time when it was the worst part.
~k

The City Mouse in the Country said...

Funny thing...I had to take the car in yesterday for several reasons and also had a miserable day.

By the time I got home all I wanted to do was get on the Burgie and ride some...despite the fact it was 1:30 in the morning. You have no idea how tempting that was just to get out for a bit.

Bluekat said...

Beautiful skies and nice write up to go with them. Very much agree about the therapy aspect. It's why commuting by bike is such a great idea!

SonjaM said...

It's like Keith says, riding to and from work is the best part of the day. Even if the work day has some nasty surprises for you in store the ride will even it out.

I think this last picture of yours is quite metaphoric in its sense, leaving the dark clouds behind and riding towards blue skies. Lovely shot.

Unknown said...

Dom,

I know I said this, but your photography has gotten better since I started dropping by. I think you should get a tripod (or use your tripod) and start working other 'angles.' An action shot from time to time would be superlative. Just sayin' y'know. I think you've got the scenery, sun, and subjects to make some really good stuff.

Brady
Behind Bars - Motorcycles and Life

Jack Riepe said...

Dear Charlie6 (Dom):

I recently wrote something about how a motorcycle speaks to you. There was a part where I described the language the bike uses. I mentioned that anything behind you is in the past tense, as you can't change it anyway.

The trouble with having a nasty day at work is that there are usually plenty more of them in the future. US companies have taken the stance that they are not getting enough sweat from employees these days if they have two seconds to smile, or anything left to smile at.

The day is coming when upper management is going to lose the upper hand, and the will deserve everything coming to them.

Fondest regards,
Jack Riepe
Twisted Roads