Mild Weather And A Long Ride

Ron 0:05

Hey friends, thank you for joining me today. You know, these past few days, we've had very mild weather here in northern Colorado, most days with highs in the 50s, which has allowed me to get out on my motorcycle since I'm retired and don't have anything else to do, right? About 175 miles today. I was staying in the lower elevations out of the ice and snow, which is in the high mountains just to the west of us, but had a great day. Cold? Yeah. But that's where the quality gear comes to

Defining Quality On The Road

Ron 0:36

the rescue. And we're going to be talking about that word quality today. I've owned the same Gerbering brand heated jacket, I think for 25 years, if not more. Still works great. I just plug it into my bike and yeah, it works great. The word, that concept of quality, is one of the core messages, actually, from Robert Persig's classic book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. If you've not read it, yeah, quality is a core part of that. But what does quality really have to do with our search for fun and relaxation? And better yet, our search for peace of mind out on a motorcycle that we talk about here all the time. Well, quality. Let's talk about that. Thank you for joining me today. Stay tuned. Recorded in beautiful, lovely Colorado, welcome to Pizza Love Moto, the podcast for motorcyclists seeking that peaceful, easy feeling as we cruise through this life together. Are you ready? Let's go.

Arriving At Peace, Not Escaping

Ron 2:14

I ride to get away from it all, to escape the noise of the world. But have you ever considered that? Just maybe, the truth is actually the opposite. That we don't ride to leave, we ride to arrive. To arrive at a place in our heart and in our mind, a place of not complacency, but of peace, of quality. A place where we can find peace of mind. We might call that quality time. Here's where I'm going with this. In this classic book called Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Persig talks about quality with a capital Q. And for most of us, quality sounds like a marketing term, but not to Persig, not in this book. Quality, for example, is a well-built engine, a chrome finish

Quality With A Capital Q

Ron 3:15

that doesn't flake over time, or a pristine paint job done by hand. Persig saw that it was something more profound, this quality thing. He argued that quality isn't just out there on the bike, but it's in here in our thoughts. Quality is found in every relationship between the two of you. You and your bike. No, in that moment, in that turn, the distractions vanish because you and your bike are a single unit flowing through space. That moment of perfect, effortless connection. What do you call

Motorcycle Mindfulness And Flow

Ron 4:13

that? Well, you can call that motorcycle mindfulness, which happens to be the subject we were talking about in an interview with Ben Rubin last week. It's exactly what we talked about. It's like this sacred connection between the beauty of moving through the wind and where that meets the precision and engineering of the machine that's taking you there.

Rethinking Efficiency Through Care

Ron 5:03

Because efficiency, quote, should, end quote, should result in cost savings and higher customer satisfaction. But since I've stepped away from that life and leaned more into relaxation and focus on this podcast and time with reading and time on my bike, time with a cup of coffee at a great coffee shop, I've come to realize that true efficiency doesn't come from the clock or dollars saved. It comes from care. It comes from, at least for me, doing fewer things with a focus on quality, quality time spent, quality thoughts, focus on nothing but the moment.

Zen In The Garage

Ron 6:00

You see, Pursing suggests that even the simplest act, like tightening a bolt, is a meditative process. If you approach your bike with frustration or have this, well, let's get this over with attitude, that's when you over-tighten and break an expensive tiny little part. And now you'll have to go online or go over to your local dealership and try to find a replacement for it. And that's when the parts guy behind the counter at the dealership says, Well, I've never seen anyone break that part before. Oh man. Yeah. Basically, you start screwing things up that didn't need to get screwed up at all if you'd only calmly taken your time. You see, if you approach the job of taking care of your bike with calm, with presence, with respect, you're actually practicing Zen riding even before you pull out of the garage. And in many ways, you become one with the technology that you're taking care of. Because that technology that you're writing, that's the technology that takes you to your happy place. It may even be able to take you to where you can find your peace of mind that the whole world's seeking.

From Machine To Trusted Friend

Ron 7:45

Something shifts once you start stacking up the miles and stacking up the stories, conversations, and things you see. After many miles and through all kinds of weather, that bike stops being just a piece of technology and starts becoming a friend that knows exactly how you lean into a corner and it never fails to start every time you need an escape. It's a quality machine that gives you back quality time. And more often than not, somehow, it knows how to give you a smile. And for that, my friends, we can be very, very grateful.

Gratitude And A Wish For Peace

Ron 8:32

So until we visit again, get out there, have some quality time. I wish you peace out there, and I wish you love it.