Mindful Motorcycle Culture and Connection

Ben Ruben 0:04

What I think is amazing about motorcycle culture is , like the lack of judgment . I don't really ultimately care what bike you're on . You're on a bike , we're bros , that's it . We're family , right . And I think that part of the camaraderie there is that we all share this bond of essentially like the need for connection . We're all looking for connection and , like , when I'm on my bike , I'm connected to it , I'm connected to the universe , it's connected to me , I'm connected to the ground , hopefully right , two wheels down right , um and like then I see another person . I've never seen them before . I don't know what they're doing . They're on the other side of the road , going the other side of the , in the other direction . All I have to do is throw them two fingers and we have instantly bonded .

Ron 0:58

There were all these quotes I was reading on Instagram , quotes about mindfulness , but , more importantly , about the joy of motorcycling and the joy of the motorcycling community . I reached out to the mindful motorcycle on Instagram and found out it's Ben Rubin , and Ben is a wonderful , wonderful guy who I so enjoy talking with . I know you're going to enjoy the podcast today . Stay tuned . Recorded in beautiful Loveland , colorado . Welcome to Peace , love Moto , the podcast for motorcyclists seeking that peaceful , easy feeling as we cruise through this life together . Are you ready ? Let's go .

Ron 1:53

Well , Ben Rubin , thank you for being with me today , man , me and you . We've already had a conversation , which was great . You know , I almost kick myself sometimes when we have these preliminary conversations every once in a while and I'll come away from it and thinking that , wow , what a great conversation that was . Why didn't I record it ? So we are back together , ben , and we are recording now . So welcome to the Peace , love Moto podcast , thank you . Thank you , really happy to be here . So we found each other , I guess , through Instagram , right ? Happy to be here .

Ron 2:25

So we found each other , I guess through Instagram . Right , yeah , yeah .

Ron 2:31

I actually have no idea how you found me .

Ron 2:35

But as soon as you did , I found you because I loved the whole vibe of everything you had going on . Well , ben , I'm going to definitely circle back to this , but you're known on Instagram as the mindful motorcycle . You're known on Instagram as the mindful motorcycle , and the whole mindfulness thing really fits into in many ways what I try to present in various episodes on the podcast relating to peace of mind . The peace is peace of mind , from Peace , love Moto . And then the love part is learning to love yourself , also kind of related to mindfulness , taking care of yourself . Then once you're able to do that , then you're able to successfully , I think , or you're more equipped to love other people too . So that's where the whole piece love moto thing and then the whole moto moto motorcycling thread . That just brings us together , right ? But yeah , absolutely let's . Let's start back with your journey . So your connection with motorcycling came from where and when ?

Ben Ruben 3:30

All right , so . So I actually don't . I don't know when , I like when I first saw a motorcycle , right , but whenever that was in my life , in my existence , like that's when I was , like that's what I want to do , I want to do that thing .

Ben Ruben 3:51

Maybe it was like I learned how to ride a bicycle and I couldn't go fast enough , or like I you know the sound of an exhaust like bam , like that did it for me . Or or just the fact that , like I mean , let's be honest , people in motorcycle gear look so cool . That's true , you know , it's like , uh , you're , they're like the , the epitome of cool looking rock and rock ship , like all that stuff , and um , so not exactly sure when , like the idea hatched to want to become a motorcyclist , but I can tell you that throughout my life , there was a lot of angst , anxiety around getting on one .

Ron 4:40

Right .

Ben Ruben 4:40

Like getting on one , Like I knew I was going to instantly fall in love with it , but it was a toy , Right , it's not . It's not really something like yeah , OK , you can commute with it , there is some practicality around it . But like even the oh , you'll save money by not buying a car is not actually like . You know , spending so much money on these things . Oh for sure . Amazing woman was like here is a gift certificate for Harley Davidson , here's enough money for you to go and get a motorcycle license and not bother me anymore .

Ron 5:34

That is . That's a . That is an amazing miracle . I think I have never heard of that happening before in that kind of place Never , Never Well yeah , well , so a little bit of background .

Ben Ruben 5:47

There , though , is like she actually had a 450 Honda dual sport back in Brazil . That was like she got to . She was given , like by her job for like a municipality job . So she's actually like would have been a motorcyclist job . So she's actually like would have been a motorcyclist , right , if it wasn't , if it was like it is in brazil , if it was like 75 degrees year round and it never was cold , she would always do it . But , like where you live in maryland , let's be honest and um , she's a speed person , whereas , like , I'm gonna chill on the thing , um , and so I never really we , we never really got to the point where , like she was on it also , I also as we will talk about I'm sure wanted the freedom just letting me be me out there and like with her too , there would have been all sorts of different dynamics that I don't think would have like been what I was looking for in motorcycling . So , um , she was always , would have been supportive and then was supportive because she knows , she knows the thrill too .

Ron 6:55

Yeah , I need the thrill too , yeah that that's cool , and and was , was that something that brought you guys ? I'm just I'm prying a little bit , but I'll just add something that brought you guys . I'm prying a little bit , but I'll just add Something that brought you guys together . I mean not just the motorcycle , but just kind of the mindset of having that kind of unique commonality in personalities .

Ben Ruben 7:16

Well , I think we're both thrill seekers like well , in retrospect I would call it thrill seekers um , uh , romantic naivety . And like we're gonna set the world on fire . And like , um , but by the seat of our pants , right Like I . We met in Atlanta . She was an au pair , she's a nanny , live-in nanny , childcare provider , and I met her . I knew she was going to be going back to Brazil at a certain time . I had to go back and finish school , culinary school at the time so like we were going to be apart for a while . But then I was like I'll just move to Brazil . So like I moved to brazil for a year , um , seat of my pants , I'm gonna make it , it's gonna be fine . Like thrill seeking , um . But I was there for a year and I was like it's not gonna work here , so let's move back to the states . So she moved back to the States , right ? So we did the same thing , and so I guess that was like blind faith . Yeah , one might say we always had that in common , for sure , yeah .

Ron 8:35

Yeah , I'm sorry .

Ben Ruben 8:38

I actually think that you have to have that to get on a two wheeled machine that is essentially you and death , and the other outcome is a joyful experience .

Ron 8:56

So , oh , that just just reminds me I had a wonderful experience interviewing the founder of Go Fast , don't Die , brady McClain . Are you familiar with Go Fast , don't Die ?

Ben Ruben 9:08

No , but I'm going to have to look it up now .

Ron 9:10

You're going to need two or three t-shirts , like I have , and I'm going to mention Brady and Go Fast Don't Die on the notes of this show . But it's interesting in the conversation with Brady where he described the philosophy of what that means , he described it the go fast part is not go completely crazy , but instead of just grab hold of life , because you never know what tomorrow holds , grab hold of life and enjoy it to the fullest and , along the way , be really kind to each other . And I believe the way he described it was the go fast , don't die was an expression either from his mother or his aunt or somebody who would say that kind of as a joke . You know , relating kids going out to play or whatever . But it's turned into a very successful business . But but anyway , yeah , you'll have to check out go fast , don't Die . They are the coolest people .

Ron 10:04

And one other plug for them I don't get sponsorship from anybody , so I want to plug them anyway , but they have a Sunday email . That's fabulous , it's wonderful , it's just so well-crafted . And so , anyway , a plug for Go Fast there . But so you're riding , tell me about the bike that you're riding today and your riding style and all that good stuff right .

Ben Ruben 10:30

So I today I have a d-strom 650 xt . Um , I got it fully kitted from the factory .

Ben Ruben 10:38

Like I haven't customized it at all , well , I put stickers on it , yeah I put stickers on my bags and I have , um , I put a center stand on it so I could , I can work on it . Eventually it's I . I'm like , in one sense , I'm like embarrassed to say this , but on the other side , I'm like proud to say it . Uh , I've had it for a little over a year and I have about 5,000 miles on it . Okay , yeah , right , but considering like for three or four months of the year , we really can't be riding here because of ice . I think that's pretty good yeah .

Ron 11:18

Sure , sure , yeah .

Exploring Dual Sport Motorcycle Adventures

Ron 11:22

And so , based on where you're at , what opportunities of types of roads do you go on and what do you ?

Ben Ruben 11:27

Oh , yeah , okay so oh , here's a cool thing . It just makes me excited . I did my first water crossing , oh yeah , on it . That's a type of road , right ? So I love where I live because it's temperate , right , not temperate like Colorado , like you , right , but like I get all four seasons . They are very distinct , right ?

Ben Ruben 11:48

So , like I was in , uh , colorado springs two week , a week ago , and like I woke up and it was snowing and by the end of the day it was like set , it's like 60 degrees , and I was like this is in denver . It's like this is crazy , right , um , yeah , it Um . But like , when it's cold here , it's cold , um , you know , and it's going to be cold for a while , and , um , it's shorter than other places . We're in the mid Atlantic , so like , uh , but like you said , what are the riding styles ? So it takes me about an hour plus , let's say , an hour and a half , to get to anywhere . That's off road , okay , the trail , um , um , the trails are largely fire roads , um , and loops which is really nice actually , um , that's partly why I got the bike .

Ben Ruben 12:39

This bike , right , is I wanted essentially like the suv of motorcycles . Yep , um , I had a v-straw , uh , a v-star , uh , yamaha v-star 1100 , custom , you know , uh , cruiser , as my first bike and it was great , but it like had a kind of a singular purpose yeah , well , when you're friends and you see this just wonderful tree-lined road that's dirt , and all your friends just take off and you just sit there too .

Ron 13:17

I used to ride a hond , exclusively . I rode a hond goldwing for years and that's what I would experience over and over again going down the highway highway , long trips , oh man , I was the king of the road . And then my friends would go up a dirt road and I'm screwed , I'm just sitting there , yeah , so , so , yeah , as you , as I think I described , I ride a BMW GS is my dual sport bike , and then I've got a Triumph , uh , triumph Bonneville , on the grass too , but mys is my go-to bike for the swiss army knife of motorcycles .

Ben Ruben 13:48

Right , just like what you're , yeah , yeah I mean yours is like a a bit more mature than mine . I mean yours is like heavy and a 1200 . Yeah right , it's , it's a 1250 . It's massive .

Ben Ruben 14:05

It is massive , Absolutely Um in every way , shape or form . But what's really nice about yours , uh , from like a my perspective is like I'm pretty short , so the low center of gravity on yours is really nice uh , to keep like someone like me grounded , but uh , it's really heavy still from ergonomics , again , like I'm short , so I've got to find a bike that I can like get on and it's cool . I love my bike . I actually I think I told you this last time I ride with a bunch of guys and like they're always talking about other bikes , like the next thing they're going to put on their bike , or the next bike they're going to get , or like what's . And I'm I have , I do . I don't have that feeling at all . Like this , is it ? I'm good ? You know , my wife reminds me too Like this is it , I'm good .

Ron 15:06

You know , my wife reminds me too that this is it , I'm good at this point .

Ben Ruben 15:12

Yeah , yeah .

Ron 15:14

Yeah .

Ben Ruben 15:15

Yeah , so like it fits it . I try to be relatively minimalist as far as like a person goes and like I have one bike to rule them all right . Oh , here's a cool thing . I actually one of the things I've wanted to do with it . I wanted to do with it was , um , go camping , moto camping . Yeah , yeah , um , I want to do they . Just , they just completed , I think , the east coast bdr . Oh , right , right , I think they like just finished it and so I need to put new tires on .

Ben Ruben 15:47

I just talked about not putting anything on my car , on my bike but like I need to put off-road tires on um and I have this really cool rig that's called . It's called the haven um tent . It's a tent system , but it's a hammock .

Ron 16:05

Oh yeah , sure , I've seen those and it's not like a regular sling hammock , but it's a lay flat . I have seen something like that , are you ?

Ben Ruben 16:20

familiar with a YouTuber by the name of Rob Hamilton . Nope , I love this . You give me more things to look up .

Ron 16:23

This is great , I love it . Yes , I interviewed rob um quite a while back too . A wonderful guy . I ran across his youtube videos of moto camping and , um , he , he has used the reason that came to mind is he has used exactly what you're describing , that kind of uh , of a hammock type of deal , but but it has a real bed , solid bed or whatever you want to call it that you configure and then it's extremely stabilized and he demonstrates how it works . By the way , again , I'll put it under the plug for Rob , because he does amazing videos and it's just a heck of a nice guy , but Rob never says a word in his videos . Never says word . It's just all the sounds of nature he mixes in music . Um , yeah , I'll send you a link to rob stuff , but he's , yeah , where does he live ? He is based out of australia .

Ben Ruben 17:20

Oh snap , yeah , yeah , good okay , so , yeah , so that's

The Practice of Mindful Motorcycling

Ben Ruben 17:26

um . So riding style is uh like relaxed . I like to like upright is great . I have back problems . Upright's great , but cruising not so great , like cruisers , like I love a standard , standard position . Standard riding position is perfect . Um , and I have a limitation of my bike , which is its own limitation of being only a 650 cc bike yeah , well , there's a lot of advantages of having a lighter back , especially for agility .

Ron 17:56

Yeah , able to , uh , yeah , not , not worry about the thing falling over on you and staying on top of you until help comes , you know so yeah yeah , it's in the back of my mind quite often , but yeah , I'm really .

Ben Ruben 18:08

I like I did a lot of due diligence and a lot , of , a lot of trial and and studying to figure out what the best bike was for me , and uh , I went like Cadillac Triumph Tiger 900 fully loaded um . I did try that one , I tried the GS750 and I feel like that's kind of like the , the mid between this one and then I like ultimately ended on like the Casio watch of motorcycles rock solid too .

Ben Ruben 18:44

A long history , yeah uh , great bike , yeah , I love it . And um , and I've actually gotten I was thinking about this , uh , last week actually I've gotten really comfortable with dropping it oh , that's good .

Ron 18:58

Yeah , I plan to wait until my neighbor my neighbor's got a gs adventure , like mine too . They're identical bikes , practically and i'm'm going to his name's , brian , and I'm going to work a deal with Brian where we're going to get in one of our garages and put down padding and each of us are going to slowly lay down our bikes and then we're going to pick them back up again . I have not done that on my GS as of yet , and I know there's going to be a day I'm going to be able to . I'm going to need to somehow comfortably , without throwing out my back like I've done a hundred times pick that thing back up . So I have been watching all sorts of YouTube videos on the technique for doing it , but it's times like that that I'm thinking , yeah , 650 , that would be nice .

Ben Ruben 19:38

Also , you know , because you , we rarely ride out there out where we might drop it alone . You , we rarely ride out there out where we might drop it alone . Yeah , and like there is a benefit of having a partner with you for them to counterbalance as you're learning to like , because it's essentially a squat lift if you have somebody on the other side of it that does that as you lift it . It's something I learned at a off-road school . But DC Dirt Camp there's a plug . Oh , okay , dc Dirt Camp , it's a female owned . It's in , I think , winchester , virginia . She's all over the place . I haven't ever actually . It was besides like talking to her about scheduling for the class . We haven't really ever talked , but like she's probably , she'd be probably a cool person to talk to .

Ron 20:36

Yeah , I'm just making a note . Yeah , I will reach out , I will reach out . So , ben , one of the things that was posted on your account on Instagram , and this is what it said we can't remove those parts of us that send us spiraling , but through mindfulness practice we can get quicker at recognizing them as they are and allowing them their passage in time . Man , that's a lot to unpack . Yeah , that's a lot to unpack . So let's circle around this little orbit thing . Yeah , so for one thing , you've got one of the most catchy names on Instagram ever . I think that's wonderful the mindful motorcycle . So how about we start there ? Tell me a little bit about that , and then maybe we can come back to this quote or quotes like it . And what does that mean to you ? What does what does the whole mindful practice mean to you ?

Ben Ruben 21:38

Well , okay , all right , cool , Well , um , so my license plate is mindful , by the way , m N , d , f , l , like that's , it worked out really great . Um , I never thought I'd have a vanity plate but , and like someone that's like trying to be Zen , having a vanity plates kind of seems funny . Um , the . So I found one day riding short story right I was out one day riding and I found going 60 miles an hour , looking down at the pavement I know we're not supposed to look down at the pavement , but , like you know , realizing that I'm like four feet off of the pavement that's moving 65 miles an hour behind me , that , um , I felt the same feel with the wind and the noise and the everything going on . I actually had the same kind of sensation I got when I meditate , right , and like I am a meditate meditator , meditator , I meditate daily .

Ben Ruben 22:40

Um , I've been to a retreat , a 10 day silent meditation retreat . Um , I consider myself a mindful individual . Um , and I actually think that everyone is actually already a mindful individual because , like , how many times a day do you think about yourself ? All the time , we're always thinking about ourselves . Um , it's , it's human nature and what I think .

Ben Ruben 23:15

We on a motorcycle . You're forced , like you have to . It's like life or death that you are acutely aware of everything that's going on around you . Right , right , you are the definition of mindful by default on a motorcycle . Goal of meditation is not to sit and and clear your head and live in a empty space that is peace and quiet , but like the goal of meditation to there isn't really a goal , but like it's , it's all about just the practice , like doing something with regularity that you are just practicing for the sake of doing it right and like , yeah , okay , motorcycling is a blast , right , but you have to practice at that , it is a practice you know , um , sitting on a stool or on a little bench that I have , or on a on the floor , on a pillow or in a chair or anywhere , and like doing nothing .

Ben Ruben 24:30

Air quotes is so hard , oh it is .

Ben Ruben 24:35

It is . And so the idea that what what happens is just like on a motorcycle and just like when meditating your mind goes out and you start to get distracted and you're like , oh , wait , wait , I'm doing something . I'm doing something and you've got to bring it back , and then inevitably it goes out . Oh , I've got to do something . Ok , and like I think that some practitioners of meditation would say the key is that's the practice , that's what you're trying to get better at , and you're trying to get better at that without beating yourself up about it .

Ron 25:14

That's . That's the key , isn't it ? You know , and I don't think I've ever heard anyone express it that way Adding the part without beating yourself up . I have never heard that before . Just now , that makes so much sense because I'm the one trying to breathe and know that I'm breathing . You know , when I'm meditating , usually it's going to be early in the morning , really early . I usually have my coffee ready to start making a little after five o'clock in the morning , so by 5.15 , I'm down there , I have my coffee and I'm taking my deep breaths and dog jumps over my lap or whatever , but where does my brain go ?

Ron 25:54

My brain goes to the 6 am meeting that's coming up . What am I going to say ? I've got some very hard , difficult tasks in front of me . I feel like I don't know what I'm doing a lot of times and here I'm drifting off out to work , you know already , while I'm still in my pajamas , supposed to be relaxing , drinking a really wonderful cup of coffee , but I'm at work already in my head .

Ben Ruben 26:17

Uh-huh . So then , what do you do ? I beat myself up because of that right , Sorry what .

Ron 26:22

I beat myself up because of that , yes , because of that right . Sorry what I beat myself up ? Because of that , yes , I focus Uh-huh .

Ben Ruben 26:28

Well , so here's what's interesting . There's something , a psychological modality that's called IFS internal family systems and I mean a lot of different modalities . Talk about this where there's lots of parts of us we have a concept of , like we are a single , being Right , but like I have found multiple things that exist in my . I call it the committee , like I got a committee that lives in my head .

Ron 27:02

Yeah .

Ben Ruben 27:02

You know , and , and sometimes , sometimes some parts of the committee are yelling and screaming and other parts are sitting at the .

Ben Ruben 27:11

it's like a boardroom and they're like sitting at the table and other times , the , the , someone stands up and it's like you guys settle down over there Like this is what we're going to do next , or um , you know , most of the time the loudest voice in the room is someone being critical of me . Yeah , and , and that guy's got a team of that . Guy's got a team of cronies , right . There's like the pusher that's like you got to do more . There's the perfectionist that's like you got to be perfect and you've got um , got um , the the over the overlord of this that I've actually . This is super funny but like mine actually looks like the , the uh , the bad witch in , uh , the maleficent , oh yeah , but not the angelina jolie version , the classic Disney animated version . That's what mine kind of looks like , and I've named her Ursula sometimes .

Ben Ruben 28:11

So , not the right character name because that's like Little Mermaid , I'll follow you this other and Ursula . But also sometimes I just call her Jerry or Justin , because I think that's think that's a funny . That's funny to call her that too . Yeah , cause I got to make fun of it , like you know . Um , like , oh , justin , but like Justin looks like this crazy , scary witch . Well , um , serious .

Ron 28:37

Is it fair to say that this is serious business for some people too , who , uh , whether it's people too , who , whether it's related to depression or some kind of anxieties of you know either , an anxiety about , you're just never good enough . Maybe they were raised in a family that just always told them that , or had a spouse that always told them that , or others , you know , growing up you're just not quite good enough and people beat themselves up so much that they're destroyed right , so well society is .

Ben Ruben 29:12

I don't want to like get too like uh , uh , outside of the realm of like mindfulness stuff , but like again , kind of bringing that like .

Ben Ruben 29:23

Once you really dive into mindfulness practices you awaken , like there's in Buddhism you know they talk about an awakening , right there were spiritual awakenings right , or that the Buddha was awake or woke up or whatever , but like it's always happening . Once you , and once you realize these things , you become , you awaken and it's a it's like an always thing and sometimes you you shut down again , you go back to sleep and you know it's always moving , but like , and you know it's always moving , but like Society , consumerism tells us we're not enough , we don't have enough , we need more Right , our jobs tell us you have to perform better . You know what happened to , I guess , and I don't know if this ever existed , but like I'm doing the best I can with what I've got . You know , and our critic in my head part of the committee is telling me all the time like you messed up or you're not good enough or you're , but like good enough for what , man ? Yeah , yeah , like .

Ron 30:43

I don't have enough of what man .

Ben Ruben 30:44

Yeah , yeah , Like I don't have enough of what , Like what do I need more for Right ? But like All of that is an unconsciousness , like a lack of consciousness .

Discovering Mindfulness Through Gratitude

Ben Ruben 30:59

You know , Eckhart Tolle has a book , the Power of Now .

Ron 31:03

I'm familiar with that . Eckhart Tolle has a book , the Power of Now . I'm familiar with that .

Ben Ruben 31:05

And in that book like in , I guess , the intro or something he talks about like all of a sudden everything became clear , because he hit right now , right now , like , right , this second I am safe . Right , nothing is directly . Like , right now , nothing is directly impacting my safety . Right In a week , when I move into an apartment and I can't afford it , then I'll be , then I'll worry about financial destitution , you know , or if I get sick down the road , like projection of future or like regret and remorse of the past . But like , fundamentally , right now I'm great . Yeah , what happens when you're on the motorcycle ? You're like , oh my god , this is amazing , yeah .

Ben Ruben 32:09

And then like a car comes , you're like oh man , you like move out of the way and you're like , oh , I hate that car , like what is that guy doing , you know ?

Ben Ruben 32:15

like you flip him the bird or you want to punch off his side view mirror or whatever it is , or you speed up and you like look at him , you know , and um , but then , like , you come back to , like , you come back to your space and at some point you might beat yourself up about having just done that um , in a way , you actually just like , put yourself more in danger by being reactive , um , which you may beat yourself up about , but , like , had you had the presence of mind to be like , oh you know what , even though that thing just happened past , I am fundamentally safe right now and I can enjoy the right now because I'm on two wheels and I'm just cruising down the highway . Like in the span of two years , I um , and I'm just cruising down the highway , like in the span of two years , I went to a meditation retreat 10 days and it came out of it like a new person or like an evolved person . Three weeks later , my now ex-wife still friend asked me for a divorce . Five months later , I moved out of my marital home into my parents' home at like 36 years old . I lost my job , uh , a month before she divorced me , um , and then I got a new job and the new job required me to take tests , and I'm not very good at testing , test taking and um , so on a daily basis was failing .

Ben Ruben 33:47

Yeah , like you hit the button and it's red and it says fail . Yeah , and like somewhere through all of that , I found gratitude . Well , it found me . This is what's funny , I think , like it found me . This is what's funny , I think , like it found me . A lot of things find me , find us right . So , all of a sudden , I didn't have an attitude of gratitude and all of a sudden , like I started seeing roses and pink clouds , it was like a feeling of gratitude all of a sudden like showed up and , maybe because I'm mindful of my existence , I was able to feel it .

Ron 34:36

I may have mentioned when we were visiting before that , especially this past year , I've had a very hectic business travel schedule . You know , I work in IT full-time corporate America , so I just do this . I do this for fun and it makes me very , very happy to do this and motorcycling and all that stuff , but anyway . So every week I was on a flight , every Tuesday morning going out , usually Thursday night coming back , and , frankly , I would just get get by the end of the week . I was just so exhausted , a competent , a combination of being exhausted and , frankly , just sometimes pissed off at the world at everything . But then I would get in my the uber , the lady or gentleman coming to pick me up and taking my roller bag from me and putting it in their trunk , their personal trunk , and just saying , hey , it's good to see you . And a total stranger , never seen them before . But they say hey , it's good to see you . I heard that any number of times . I don't know if that's in Uber training or not , but any number of times I heard that and I think , if I did anything right , maybe it was the mindfulness practices that I had experienced through work . That had been something that was sponsored by top executives within our company is mindfulness practices . I really fell in love with it , but I could have stayed mad . I could have stayed mad and thinking I cannot wait to get out of this Uber , get on the plane , get off the plane , take the shuttle bus home , get home , hug my wife , go to bed and then I'm going to be happy . But instead , what I learned is that you know what and in most cases it was true this Uber driver seems to care about me . In most cases it was true , this Uber driver seems to care about me now , and I think it's not that they want that . They're fishing for a big tip . Maybe that's part of it . But I pick up genuineness and in most cases I end up talking with the Uber driver the whole way , the whole time , and any number of times I've gotten a comment from a driver who says I'm so glad you talked with me . Most people just put in their earbuds and ignore me completely , and I've just heard this any number of times and I would really like to have a conversation because I'm so bored . You know , and we've we've had that . So I don't know , maybe I'm really fishing for some relations here , but if it had not been for the fact that I learned that just breathe and know that you're breathing , like the old mindfulness adage , and take a breath and think , just like what you're saying .

Ron 37:21

You know , I'm really grateful I've got a job . It requires me to travel , but I've got a job . I've got enough money to pay for this air . You know the trip . For the most part I can give the Uber driver a nice tip and this guy or gal happens to be really nice to a total stranger me , and that's a lot , that's a whole lot there , especially as I sit in the back seat and I'm looking around all over the place and passing under bridges , where there's people sleeping under the bridge , you know . Then I'm thinking again yeah , life is pretty good , I don't need to be pissed off all the time , like I feel , like I am sometimes .

Ben Ruben 38:03

I am sometimes yeah , well , what's interesting about that story that you just told me or us , the listeners , everybody the world is like mindfulness was present even before you got grateful , like you , the , you started your story with very specific details . Like you got off the plane , you were pissed off , so you're aware , you're mindful of the fact that you're pissed off . You get to the Uber driver . You interacted with the Uber driver driver . You hand the uber driver your rolling pack . The rolling pack goes into the car , the car you talk to . The uber driver says how are you ? Or the interaction with the uber driver , like all of those things that you described as part of that story , you were acutely aware that they were happening . So , going back to that , like there are parts of us . There was a part of you that was doing the thing . There was a part of you that was feeling the things . There was a part of you that was recording the things so that you could relay them to us , right , um , there were probably other parts , like if I said to you , what did it smell like , you could probably like oh , yeah , know what it smells like , right , because we are this really amazing , um , like composite of all of these different parts and like you're tapped into them and at a point gratitude shows up for you . In this case , and because you're kind of already on the way , you're all . You were like you were ready to receive it . In a way Like I had a guy tell me once that he asked me why do I meditate ?

Ben Ruben 40:09

And I said , well , I'm trying to find peace , I'm trying to get peaceful . And he's like , well , have you ever experienced peace before ? And I was like not really . He's like well , how are you going to know what it is when it shows up in meditation If you've never experienced it out of meditation ? And I was like huh , and then one day it found me . You know , I had to , I had to let go .

Ben Ruben 40:38

Like in your case , you kind of like let go of your , of your energy . You're like how you were feeling . You had to like give it away . And then what came in was almost the polar opposite of that energy . Right , like that kind of like self-centered , high , strong . Woe is me . I'm angry at the world .

Ben Ruben 41:01

And what came in because somebody gave you niceness , peace , love and and potential motorcycle in the future yeah , you received it because you were already on the way to getting there , you were aware of what was going on and at that point , there it was , but , like , it doesn't stay there all the time , which is a beautiful thing about life , it's always moving . And so , like , okay , you like were grateful for that ride and you remember that ride and you now get to pass it forward , right , you get to continue to give the gift that was given to you . And here we go , I you told me a story . I think you've told me a couple of stories when we were , when we were talking the first time about , um , some of your adventures out on the motorcycles , and you talk , talk to me about a guy at a coffee shop and a bed and a picnic table .

Ron 42:01

Yes , yes . So that was when um at met this .

The Power of Mindful Motorcycling

Ron 42:07

Here's the brief story that I've shared on the podcast . Before . I was just out for a solo ride not too far from my house , stopped at a gas station to top off and there was a guy with a brand new ducati who was sitting on a bench brand new bike , he and he was decked out too . He had all this ducati gear and stuff sitting there on a bench went over and talked to him for a second and he said well , I think I'm going to ride to a coffee shop . And I said I know one of my favorites and I know a back way to get there . That's wonderful . Would you like to come along with me , ride with me ? He said , sure . So he hops on his bike and we start cruising up through the canyon . And I'm watching him in my rear view mirror . We had never ridden together . Obviously he's staying up just fine . So we're twisting through the canyon just having a blast through there . We stop midway , check in with each other . He said I'm having a blast .

Ron 42:56

Here's the cut to the point of this story . We get over to the coffee shop . We get over to the coffee shop and he said by the way , thanks for coming by to say hello , because my wife died two weeks ago and she asked that , after everything was settled with her , that I go and buy a motorcycle . So I just bought this bike . I just rode it off the showroom floor , I topped off with gas here and I just became so bike . I just wrote it off the showroom floor , I topped off with gas here and I just became so sad . I couldn't move . And then you came over and said you want to go for a ride , you want to go get a cup of coffee . And I had no idea . I had no idea . But anyway , I think that that was a story , that I was trying .

Ben Ruben 43:42

Yeah Like do you think the Uber driver knew your state when he said hey ?

Ben Ruben 43:47

no they don't right , but like , that's kind of the power of it's kind of the power of what we do on motorcycles , right , we're like unassuming that the other person is anything but what they are , right , but like . What I think is amazing about motorcycle culture is , like , the lack of judgment . Yeah Right , like we don't . I don't really ultimately care what bike you're on . You're on a bike , we're bros , that's it . Or we're family , right , um , you're in a car , that might be a different story , but if it's like a cool vintage car , okay , we're good , um , you know , but like and I think that part of the camaraderie there is that we all share this bond of essentially like the need for both , the like , the thrill , like connection . We're all looking for connection and like , when I'm on my bike , I'm connected to it , I'm connected to the universe , it's connected to me , I'm connected to the ground , hopefully , right , two wheels down , right , and like . Then I see another person I had . I've never seen them before , I don't know what they're doing . They're on the other side of the road , going the other side of the other direction . All I have to do is throw them two fingers and we instantly bonded . That's it , that's it . And like and like oh man , this is wild , I've been talking about this all week . Like the world is in a constant state of both chaos and a want for no chaos . Right , like , as a individual , I both don't trust anyone , but I really want to connect with people and trust that they are trustworthy simultaneously . Like that's how the universe operates .

Ben Ruben 45:53

My dad was like dude . That's just like the , the plight of the planet , that's like our the existence of the planet is a simultaneous like pushing against that . It's like it's what Alan , like Alan Watts , that it's like it's what Alan , like Alan Watts talks about . It's like that's what Zen is right . Like it's this . It's this uh , duality of existence where , like simultaneously is chaotic but it's the need . It's the piece , the rumble of a motorcycle . You're flying at a hundred miles an hour down the road and everything is like quiet , like you dialed in , that's it . You know , yeah , and so like that is . That is why mindful motorcycle , right , that is why I think I mean I , I think that's my purpose is to bring this thing , whatever this thing is , to all the people . Let's go back to the quote . What was the quote ? Again , can you read that quote ?

Ron 46:58

We'll read it again . Sure , we can't remove those parts of us that send us spiraling . Remove those parts of us that send us spiraling . But through mindfulness practice we can get quicker at recognizing them as they are and allowing them their passage in time .

Ben Ruben 47:16

Yeah , right . So , um , like I am , I've got this , we're all , are all , uh , some of our parts and , like a lot of times I talk about me try to kind of get frustrated that I can't get rid of my anxiety , like I can't get rid of my anger or my fear or , to be honest , sometimes my like love that's like so vulnerable and like makes me feel like kind of guilty and shameful . Like I'm this dude that like loves deeply , like I cried while watching a Disney movie on a sales conference amongst my like peers .

Ron 48:11

That's great man , that's genuineness .

Ben Ruben 48:14

And I'm like , I'm like , why do I want to hide my tears ? Right , you feel like you went through an emotional washing machine and you come out feeling great , no matter what they were for , right , um . And and like , why do I want to get rid ? I can't get rid of those parts I can't , right , um . And so allowing them the space to just be like acceptance is the key to my happiness . Just be like acceptance is the key to my happiness , right , and I ? Well , maybe not happiness , we talked about this a little bit . Acceptance is how I is the key to my joy . Yeah , today , right , because if I accept that I'm sad , I can be joyful of my acceptance . If I accept that I'm happy , I can , I can be joyful of the fact that I'm happy . Right , if I accept that I don't have a lot of money , I can find joy in the fact that the simple things are of such great value , right , um .

Ben Ruben 49:22

And so I think that I was probably hurting when I wrote that um , for I don't know what , what are the many things that I've hurt myself or like I've allowed in ? But like , giving it its space , it will move . The lincoln quote right , this too shall pass . Yeah , right and oh , this is funny . So monday night I taught , I teach tai chi and um , another mindfulness practice which is the complete opposite of motorcycling right , slow . And this woman I was teaching this woman who has fibromyalgia , so she's in pain constantly , like her skin is on fire all the time and her joints , like her body hates her and like she is not ever going to not feel those things , but like if you accept once she accepted them , she can kind of move through it and say , well , is this a reason for me to stop finding the joys in my life or seeking things ? And like Just putting her focus mindfully on something else for a little while Helps .

Ben Ruben 51:01

Yeah , yeah yeah , yeah , and like that's the key to to not being grumpy all the time , or to like experiencing gratitude , like realizing what we've got and being grateful for it is like saying , all right , this thing is this thing , and I know it's gonna pass and then another thing will come . Yeah , yeah , you ever been stuck in the rain on a motorcycle ? Oh , yeah .

Ron 51:37

Are you angry at the ?

Ben Ruben 51:39

rain ? Not at all , no , it's actually pretty effing amazing .

Ron 51:44

Yeah , yeah , yeah . I'll say this real quickly . I have been trying to figure out for years . Maybe a listener will know . There was a quote in a movie . In the movie scene there is an older man , as I picture it , standing on a cliff , overlooking , I think , an ocean , and there's a massive storm out there , just this massive storm that's coming his way . The air is moving past him and he , with a smile , says show me the power .

Ben Ruben 52:22

A lot of suffering . A lot of suffering is perceived , suffering because you're looking at the storm and you don't want to deal with it . Yeah , inevitability , you can , you , you are , we are so strong Like we have weathered so many storms already and we will weather more storms . So take your bike and point it at the storm and say that's not going to stop my ride today .

Ron 53:09

Yeah .

Ben Ruben 53:09

You know I've got I will dry out . You know clothing dries . There are things called towels . You can wipe down your bike . You can gloss it up . You know I hate wet socks and my shoes are destroyed . But like , whatever right I learned at some point . Do you know ?

Ben Ruben 53:33

Buffalo point themselves into storms innately because they have something that tells them the fastest way through is through . If you think about it , what causes the most suffering is like if I'm running away from the storm , it's on my back . I'm looking over my shoulder , it's inevitably going to come . Yeah , right , it's inevitably going to get to me . So , like I can either continue to run away from it , which causes more suffering , or I can just stop and like put my feet down and say like all right , whatever it is , it's that's what it's going to be . And like that's metaphoric for life . Right , I have to deal with tough stuff . I have to deal with tough emotions . Like we have to deal with traffic on our motorcycles when it's 80 degrees and we're in full gear . Yeah , you know , discomfort is everywhere . For us to have the expectation that we are going to be comfortable ever is a setup right . I'm actually rarely comfortable on my motorcycle . It's not a comfortable place to be , but like I am working through discomfort in order to have to find joy .

Ben Ruben 55:11

Yeah , and that is probably why anyone ever buys a triumph thruxton understand that yeah you know , like it cannot be comfortable to ride as a cafe in a cafe racer position , yeah , but like they do it because it's joyful , right , and like . So some people invite , discomfort Motorcyclists , absolutely . I mean , I don't know if we talk about this a little bit , but like I think that Motorcycling is , I mean motorcyclists we are the most vulnerable people out there .

Ron 55:50

Oh , absolutely , and I think that that's one of the things that attract us together . Even from a biker wave standpoint , you're waving to another individual who's putting up with the risk , with the wind , with the heat , with the cold . Who's putting up with the risk with the wind , with the heat , with the cold . There's just a ton in common with this .

Ben Ruben 56:09

That individual who's passing the opposite direction at 60 miles an hour , yeah , so that just suggests to me that we're all sensitive , yeah , and so I think it's funny that , like the gruff motorcyclist who's angry and aggressive and all that like biker gang stuff is comes back to that like chaos and peace thing , those guys are not inherently angry or aggressive . It's that we're vulnerable and we might not know how to express our feelings of vulnerability , which is why we ride . You know , we ride for whatever reason , but we're seeking adventure , we're seeking stuff .

Ron 57:09

And man , is it cool , it is so that's long story for that quote .

Ben Ruben 57:12

We have other quotes .

Ron 57:14

Not in front of me at the moment . Okay , good , because that's tough , that was intense , that was a deep one there , hey . But relating to this , again , you picked a super good name to go for Instagram and stuff and we talked about this a little bit , but I'd be curious to know where do you want to go from here ? You're an influencer . I would consider you very much an influencer . You were an influencer to me , following you on Instagram , and what you posted there and what I read was really insightful . What you posted there and what I read was really insightful . And again , it maps back to what I'm reading every Sunday from Go Fast , don't Die , from that company and Brady McLean and his team Just wonderful , positive stuff , insightful I should say insightful stuff . Where do you see yourself taking this ? Do you want to keep going with it ? I know you've got a day job , just like I do too , but what do you want to do next ?

Ben Ruben 58:11

Ben All right . So I talked to . So when I first had the idea for this , I reached out to some people that I respected in YouTube land and I was amazed that they responded to me . Right , not only did they respond to me , but they were like that's a good idea . I've never even thought about something like that . That's a super cool concept of like looking at the mindfulness aspect of motorcycling . And , um , then I thought so I said , okay , that's cool . So I'm going to throw a probe out there and I'm going to see . I'm going to just like create this account on Instagram and see what happens . So I did that and like it grew pretty quickly .

Ben Ruben 59:06

I mean , it's not like you know these massive massive , but like for little me , uh , you know , having a decent following was like , oh , that's cool , um , and like it's very cool

Inner Joy Amid Life's Challenges

Ben Ruben 59:19

. And so I was like , okay , so there's some some confirmation that I'm on the right track too . And then , um , I was like something told me , like this year is something I should . I should do something with it this year , right ? And um , then you reached out and it's like oh .

Ben Ruben 59:41

I thought , oh , you know what I thought ? I thought maybe I should try it like as a podcast format , just to get some more content out there . And then you reached out , like what ? Three weeks ago , a month ago ? And we talked and we were going to do this . A week ago a buddy of mine said hey man , I've been working with this client , he's in audiovisual , he does documented stuff , and he's like I've got a client who has a podcast studio that needs someone to do dry runs . And I'm like , okay , that's , here's another one , right . And ultimately , what I would love to do is put stuff out in the world on YouTube . I would love to read books on this stuff and talk to people about their mindfulness experience all the time .

Ron 1:00:33

Yeah , yeah .

Ben Ruben 1:00:36

That's what I would love to do . I would love to be the monk on a motorcycle .

Ron 1:00:41

You know , ben , I see a need for that , I really really do . I see this wave . So , putting back on my corporate IT hat between artificial intelligence , what that's expected to be able to do in the future , between that and globalization , where jobs , frankly , will go to different places impacting people , I think there's going to be a lot of people , both males and females , finding themselves stranded from a career standpoint , because we're at this really I don't know what you would call it revolutionary time with AI and with a combination of social media and a whole bunch of stuff where I do feel like that , there's going to be a lot of people feeling really , really desperate , and those are people that I want to try to encourage by just telling them my story in the same way you tell your story , and that , at least for me , motorcycling has fixed a lot of issues for me and it does it continuously . I had a chance to ride again just yesterday , so we were on vacation for a while and hadn't ridden in quite a while . Then we'd had some bad weather and stuff , but the weather was good yesterday , so late yesterday , after I finished up some work from my day job , I hopped on the bike , rode out about 20 miles to this little coffee shop where I go to , and I swear I didn't have to even do one rotation of those tires before I started feeling better . I started feeling better . I started feeling better when I put my helmet on and all of a sudden I'm back to my old self , who's not mad at the world anymore , similar to the conversation with Uber drivers .

Ron 1:02:36

So that's among many things . That's what I love about motorcycling is that I know what it does for me and has done for me since I was a little kid . And getting the opportunity , the privilege to meet people like you and there's so many like you , you and me in the motorcycling community that do have the similar attitude that , yeah , we're broken people , we are screwed up at times , but we have something we found that really makes us happy , brings us a real smile , and our hope is that other people can find that or something similar . That's kind of my current philosophy , I guess .

Ben Ruben 1:03:20

I have to challenge you , man . Okay , because the thing that you , I think that and this might be a little bit down downer , but I think there's a sliver of gold in it , no-transcript . And so what happens to you when you go to put your helmet on , or probably before you put your helmet on , when you wake up and you're like , oh , the weather is going to be great today , yeah Right , the challenge I guess I would put to you is like when does your ride start ? Oh , yeah , yeah , yeah , guess I would put to you is like when does your ride start .

Ron 1:04:26

Oh , yeah , yeah , yeah .

Ben Ruben 1:04:27

I hear you . I hear you . And then the question is does your ride start when you're feeling miserable ? Because if your ride starts when you're feeling miserable , wouldn't then miserable be a great place to be ? Right , when you are at the pinnacle of your ride , you're at that coffee shop or you're cruising down the highway . It's going to end soon . Yeah , you're already in it . So , like , is that the best part Is that where the joy or the happiness really is Right , and this kind of goes back to like ebbs and flows of life .

Ben Ruben 1:05:14

Right , like you said , there are going to be people that are going to be desperate , they're going to be miserable , they're going to be sad , they're going to be scared , they're going to lose their jobs , they're going to lose their lives , they're going to lose a lot of stuff . And , like , if we can't figure out what's inside of us that brings us joy , then nothing outside is going to do it . Yeah , and like , my guess is based on your story , what brings you joy isn't actually riding the motorcycle right now , or putting the helmet on right now , or having a motorcycle right now , or being miserable ahead of getting on the motorcycle . It's actually the part that you said after that , which is that it's done this for you since you were a little kid .

Ron 1:06:09

True , I have used the expression many times and it's absolutely true that in many ways going out for a ride as a 62-year-old now I go back to my 11-year-old self . I go back to my 11 year old self where the world was simple and it was just a joy to feel that those two wheels with a motor underneath me and and go .

Ben Ruben 1:06:35

So that's that self , that's the part of you . We're a collection of parts . That's the part of you that if you cultivate , if you help that part grow , blossom , like you water that flower , not courtesy of buying more motorcycles or , you know , getting the flashier thing , or whatever it is that we think might make us happy realizing that there's a part of us that once didn't need all that stuff , when life was simpler .

Ben Ruben 1:07:19

Then it doesn't matter what state of being we are , because , like , that part of us is always there and that part of us is always like yeah , you know , like I'm going to , I'm going to scrape my knee and get back up . Yeah , right , cause , like what happens when you can't ride anymore , True .

Ben Ruben 1:07:38

You know , you get from a miserable curmudgeon or you like oh , I remember when I used to ride and now I can't ride anymore . So I'm a miserable person , right . But like God forbid , we all , we fall . You know , in many ways that's a metaphorical statement , right , we fall all the time we fail . We fall , we get back up , we scrape our knees , we lose our jobs , our people get sick . Like life is like 80% crappy and like it's not fair to life or to ourselves to think that life is always going to be that 5% of blissful happy . So what do we do about the reality ? Give it its space , you know . Let it , let it work itself out .

Ron 1:08:35

And that's exactly what you wrote yeah .

Ben Ruben 1:08:40

I mean you don't , like we can't control any of that stuff and like , so you know that's . I mean you don't like we can't control any of that stuff and like , so you know that's , I think , for all those people is like , you know , maybe you thought that your job gave yourself worse . But you remember when you were a little kid and you liked doing finger painting . You know , or like remember when you were in high kid and you liked doing finger painting . You know , or like remember when you were in high school and you loved dancing . Or before life took , before life moved you away from the now and a mindful presence of like here , look at my feet , you know there's . In yoga , you got child's pose where you're just laying on your back , playing with your feet .

Ben Ruben 1:09:33

Before life took kind of like took that away from us . There was happiness , there was joy , there was peace , right , and like those , the , the , the people who are miserable will unfortunately , always be miserable until they can allow this stuff to happen inside of them , like I had . The way that it felt for me when my wife told me that I was getting it , that she wanted to divorce me three weeks after I lost my job , was like my entire , like I'm sitting in a room and all of the whole house is on fire and burning to the ground and here I am , I'm just like sitting there in like a meditative position , just letting it burn . I mean , I'm not letting it burn , it's going to burn and like what I can do is recognize my role in it is recognize my role in it , and sometimes my role is I have no control , I had no control .

Ben Ruben 1:10:55

You know , people have had some really messed up lives , childhoods and all that stuff . Release that into the universe and chalk it up as like a I could be mad about this thing and hold onto it . There's a . There's a story about a truck , a coal that's on fire . You know , there's a guy who's , there's a monk who I don't know if the monk is holding I think in the monk comes upon a guy and the guy is holding a burning lump of coal in his hand and the monk is like dude , why are you holding that burning lump of coal ? And he's like well , I'm waiting for this guy who wronged me to come by so I can throw it at him .

Ben Ruben 1:11:39

I see where you're going with this , like so we can hold onto those things and keep burning ourselves and causing ourselves suffering , waiting to light ourselves on fire and hope the other person catches on fire , you know , or we can be like okay , and drop it , put it down , right , um , that's very hard . I'm not saying that's the easy thing , it's not like an easy thing to do , but like that takes work . But you know , after doing that and realizing that , like things fall apart , they break , and then the pieces come back together in a different way Maybe , yeah .

Ben Ruben 1:12:37

And like I guess this kind of goes back to meditation Like you can't beat yourself up for things falling apart . You have to just bring them back together as best you can and not beat yourself up over it .

Ron 1:12:50

I , I think that's , uh , one of many things that I just so appreciate about , appreciate about you is that that recognizing that , uh , not only what you've discovered in yourself , what's been helpful for yourself , lessons learned , hard knocks and all that stuff but your willingness to share it with somebody else , like you're sharing it with me right now , and your willingness to listen and give me feedback and correction too , you know , with your opinion of what . Maybe you should be thinking about this differently , and so forth . You know , when I described the Peace Love Moto podcast again I'll just kind of repeat it maybe as we kind of wrap up but peace of mind , that's where the peace comes from . That we all and I used to use the expression , maybe I still should , but we it's the peace of mind we seek from the seat of a motorcycle and sometimes find from the seat of a motorcycle . But what I have felt in this conversation is the love piece that you cared enough to articulate well , what you think would be helpful for me and my listeners , what you think would be helpful , and it's because you care and that means a lot , that is , that's huge .

Ron 1:14:09

I think there's so many people like I said that and it's just getting worse . They're just kind of going through life just absolutely , absolutely miserable . Some people are even killing themselves and we , as best we can , if we can stand out there through social media or in whatever way , and stand out there and just express , in whatever way it looks like , that we care , that we do care maybe that will be someone's lifeline that they really were looking for . So I want to thank you for that , for your spirit , for the kind of guy you are , for the mindfulness Instagram account that you have right now . You know the mindful motorcycle and whatever you do in the future on the mindful motorcycle and , uh , whatever you do in the future , uh , if I could be of help , I'd love to and , uh , I'd be reaching out to you for help on my side too , whatever happens next with the podcast .

Ben Ruben 1:15:15

Yeah , and thank you , and , and like , thank you for that , and like letting me be here , right , um , just kind of continuing to work through it all . Right , like , this is a , this is a start for for me , um , I guess it's always a start , right , um , but your questions help me think differently also , right , and I love what you do . I think it's awesome , like I've .

Motorcycle Community Connection and Kinship

Ben Ruben 1:16:00

I listened to some of the episodes and you have a lot of episodes . Yeah , you have a lot of episodes and I mean they're great , you know , but you're right , like we're all , I think , fundamentally looking for connection . Yeah , yeah , you know , and so I want to be here , like you for others . Right , the care that you describe I care for others is like , how about we just sit ? Brene Brown talks about it and Pema Chodron , these people are like , how about we just sit ? Brene Brown talks about it , and Pema Chodron , these people are like you have to know your own darkness and be comfortable sitting in the darkness . To go sit with somebody else in the dark . Yeah , you know , and some people walk into a room and turn the light on . That's like not really the answer yeah , but like okay , great story , if you know .

Ben Ruben 1:17:16

There's a guy who falls in a pit , and I first oh , this is crazy . Actually this made me cry the first time . I heard it on the West Wing . Okay , okay . And a guy falls in a pit and he's looking up from the pit and he sees , let's call it , a firefighter . Firefighter walks by the pit and he goes hey , man , can you help me out of here ? And firefighter goes oh , yeah , sure , yeah , totally watch out . And he throws an uh , an axe down in the pit and he walks away . And then the guy goes what am I going to do with this axe ? And he sees a priest walk by and he goes yo , hey , priest man , can you help me out of here ? And the priest goes yes , I can , my son . And he rips a page , page out of his bible and he tosses it down to him and the guy's like what am I going to do with this verse ? And then the guy sees his friend walk by and he goes hey , man , like I'm down in this pit , I'm down in this hole , can you ?

Ron 1:18:15

help me get out and the guy goes , oh yeah , sure .

Ben Ruben 1:18:16

And he jumps in and the dude's like dude , what are we going to do ? We're both down in this pit now . And his friend's like yeah , I've been here before , I know how to get out .

Ron 1:18:33

Oh , that's beautiful .

Ben Ruben 1:18:36

That's beautiful . I mean , that's what we do , right ? Yeah , I mean , we do it on motorcycles . You know who doesn't stop for ?

Ron 1:18:53

a fellow motorcyclist on the side of the road . Exactly , I mentioned that in the last episode that I just published . Yep , that's what we do .

Ben Ruben 1:19:00

I ran out of gas once and some guy comes up to me and he goes . He like goes by and then turns around and comes back and he goes hey man , what's up ? I'm like I think I'm out of gas . He's like well , okay , cool , have you called somebody ? Do you need any help ? And I'm like no , I'm good . I mean I called somebody . He's coming , coming to get me and then he'll follow me home . Guy's like all right , well , well , like cool man .

Ron 1:19:26

So what , what's up ? And he's like yeah , I'll just wait with you . Yeah , that's great , that's like we've all been there maybe not running out of gas we've been talking about this whole time .

Ron 1:19:37

There is something special about this motorcycling community that encourages us to wave at every the other rider that passes by , the total stranger . No matter what mood we may be in , we're going to give them a wave all over if they're on the side of the road , and it's because it's this kinship that we recognize that we have , and I couldn't feel more fortunate for that .

Ben Ruben 1:20:04

Yeah , and like what's cool is like to be able to do that for or with somebody else , with no expectation , unconditional right , but that's just because , like we've been there before , either in this exact moment or like experience , or , you know , emotionally or vulnerably or whatever it is , so we can , we've been here before . Let's connect . It's like , you know , humanity , experience , like whatever . Whatever , let's all do it and that's , I think , the most powerful thing that we've got going for us and that's where you and I and all these people that are out there doing motorcycly things with these platforms , ultimately what we're doing , we found our purpose and our purpose is to help others that's it .

Heartfelt Connection and Brotherhood

Ron 1:21:11

That's it , man ben . I can't thank you enough . I thank you for your uh , not only willingness to communicate with me in our initial initial connection , but I appreciate you're a good man and , uh , you're somebody I really want to go go for a ride with , go to a coffee shop with , and and uh , we'll start with a big hug and go from there . How about that ?

Ben Ruben 1:21:36

Sounds , sounds great , um , sounds great . I'm going to have to , so I'm going to have to have you on my podcast . Sure , love to when I do something , or I ultimately would love to , like you said , get out there and ride , and I think formatically it will come with some form of pre-ride discussion and then we can ride and not talk because we don't have bluetooth headsets . Right ? And then , uh , enjoy our peaceful ride and then hit a coffee shop and then see where it goes from there , man let's , let's do it , ben .

Ron 1:22:16

Thanks again . Great , so good to connect with you and we'll be talking more beautiful .

Ben Ruben 1:22:21

yeah , you have a good one .

Ron 1:22:37

I am so grateful for a brother on the bike that I would consider Ben to be . Now that we've gotten to know each other , I so look forward to riding with him in person someday again , sharing that hug and having a cup of coffee and a wonderful conversation . Just like you , I'm so proud to be a part of this community of motorcycle riders . Those who really care care for each other , and we care for ourselves as well . That's so very , very important , as demonstrated with mindfulness practices and gratitude and gratitude . Thank you so much for joining us today . Again , thank you , Ben . I wish you peace . I wish you love . Thank you .