Born To Be Wild

Ron 0:11

Oh, the absolute thrill of it. I can see him now. He can feel the raw power underneath him, the rhythm of the road. His head is held high and his long hair is blowing wildly in the wind, completely untamed. He is the image of Cool, the true rebel, ready to take on the world in a love embrace, as the song says, completely alive in the rush of the open air. And you know the words, get your motor running, head out on the highway looking for adventure in whatever comes our way. Yes, that's exactly how your dog feels when they're riding shotgun in the car, head hanging completely out of the passenger window, its long hair blowing back, and its long drooling tongue hanging out, pushing to the side as the wind rushes by. You see, we motorcycle riders think that we invented the thrill of having our head out in the wind. But honestly, our dogs are really the ones born to be wild. They really are, aren't they?

Why Dogs Don’t Belong On Trails

Ron 1:43

Dogs are canines. They're part of the wolf family. People ask me from time to time in our leading tours in Rocky Mountain National Park, well, why can't I take my dog out on the trail? Well, my answer is true and simple. Your dog, no matter what size it is, is a canine. It's a predator born to be wild. And the other real animals out there in the forest know that, and they'll either run or attack your dog if they see it. That usually gets through to them. Now you may have a miniature poodle with bows in its hair at home. And yep, even that little guy has the heart of an adventurous hunter. Yeah, even with bows in its hair. There is a far side cartoon that was done by Gary Larson years ago. It's one of my favorites, is showing a jungle scene and a bunch of toy poodles with bows in their hairs sitting amongst the jungle vines. And the caption reads, Toy Poodles released back into the wild. That's hilarious. There's a lot we can learn from our dogs, I think. Things we can learn about our motorcycle rides and perhaps our lives too. I think there's some parallels there. How we could or should live our lives. See, if you watch a dog in a moving car, they're typically not looking backwards at the house where they just left. They aren't staring at the floorboards, and they're certainly not looking at their smartphones, checking the news or worrying about what message they may have missed. No, their head is dialed in, straightforward, eyes locked on the horizon, facing directly into the oncoming wind. Exactly like us on our motorcycle rides. Their ears are pinned back though, and their eyes are wide open with wonder. And if you look closely, you can almost see that they've got this massive, goofy smile on their face. Again, maybe that's just like us in our helmets. Scientists who study animal behavior actually say that dogs do this, staring into the wind type of thing, because the moving air is a completely sensory overload for them. Tons and tons of information they're grabbing from the wind, going right into their nose. I guess in the same sense, dogs by nature are not necessarily meant to go 40 miles an hour. And think about this. Maybe we weren't either. Because there's just so much information out there, and maybe we're not meant to take it in so fast. Yeah, you see, dogs experience the world mostly through their nose. To a dog, a gust of wind at 40 miles an hour is just it's not just air, it's this explosion of senses, of history of other dogs who walked and probably peed there. It's this fast-moving story written

The Wind As A Sensory Story

Ron 4:44

in the air. And they are trying to consume all of this in real time. That's why their head is stuck out there. More than science, though, I think, no, I'm certain, they're just having a great time out there, just this uncomplicated joy, just like we feel when we're out for a ride. If only we, as humans, could hold on to that kind of joy all the time when we just walk outside and look up, or look at the stars, or look at the trees, or watch the squirrels play.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Hmm.

Ron 5:19

Maybe that joy is what heaven holds for us. Who knows.

Sally And The Freedom Machine

Ron 5:34

Right now, as I'm writing down these ideas for this episode, that free-spirited co-pilot of mine is just to my left. Sally. That's my dog. She's 13. We got Sally as a puppy. She was a rescue. Sometimes Karen and I ask, who rescued who? She's such a sweet girl. She makes all sorts of noises when she dreams. She's doing that right now. I scratch her on the head, and she wakes up for a second, and the next second she's back to her dream. Maybe she's dreaming about our rides in the old Jeep. It's a 1997 Wrangler, four-cylinder, soft top, no radio, no air conditioner, no power at all. I love that Jeep. And for Sally, it's her freedom machine. She's too old to jump into it herself like she used to, so we lift her up and put her into a seat, but she still loves it. So even right now, sleeping and dreaming, Sally, she's not worried about the weather forecast for tomorrow afternoon, or for this afternoon for that matter. She isn't stressing over a mistake that she made three years ago or wondering if she barked at the neighbor in the right way yesterday. You see, some of our dogs might have come from perfect, safe, and happy homes from day one, and others, like little rescues, they may have come from tougher experiences before they found their way to our home in this case. But the beautiful thing about a dog is that the moment that they're with you, especially with their head hanging out the window as you drive along, the past doesn't matter at all. They think of nothing but the present. About being with you and hanging their head out the window. What will happen in five minutes is of no concern of theirs. What will happen in five years? Well, what's that, they think.

Leave The Past And Future Behind

Ron 7:58

What if we lived our lives and rode our motorcycle in the same way a dog lives their lives? Well, sounds a little strange, but let's give it a try. Think about how much stress-filled mental baggage we carry around in our heads most of the time. We live in a world today of constant noise, the worry about a world gone crazy with social injustice, war, economic worries, financial stresses, you name it. We put on our helmets and we put on our gloves and we get on our bike and we get rolling, but admit it, a lot of the time we drag the future and the past right along with us. We're sitting at a stoplight, but mentally we're worried about the traffic 40 miles down the road that we're gonna go through. Or we're playing a stressful conversation over and over in ahead that we had at work this past week. Yeah, I know how that feels. I've often used the expression for a motorcycle ride. If the motor starts, that's the beginning of a very good ride. You know, honestly, I guess I've never had a bad ride. I'm using air quotes for bad here. Nah, some challenging rides due to the number of miles, due to the weather, other things. Nah, I've never had a bad day on a motorcycle. Not in 50 plus years. I don't believe I have. Think about how much freedom is in that single thought that you never had a bad day on a motorcycle. Once that engine starts and the bike starts to warm up and the ultimate destination, well, it doesn't really matter at all. The bills on the counter, well, they don't matter, yeah, but they're not going to overpower you today. There is the only thing that's happening is your ride. The steady resistance of the wind pressing against your chest and the open road unfolding exactly where your headlights are pointing you. Now, who am I to know really? But I can't help believe that's how our dog feels when their head is stuck out of the window, riding along with their best friend, and all in the world is good.

You Don’t Have Time Not To Ride

Ron 11:10

Now you might be listening to this and saying, hey Ron, that's all sounds nice in theory, but you don't know my life. I've got too many responsibilities, too many tasks, too much pressure to just take a mental vacation like you're describing. No, I can't even take a few minutes on the motorcycle anymore. It's just too much going on in my life right now. Well, my friend, I hear you. I do. But I truly think that you can't afford not to get on your bike as quickly as you can if life is that tough right now. Time constraints, you don't have time not to go for a ride right now. You see, we all have this misconception, I think, that taking a break means shutting down. That it means not being productive. But when you're out on your motorcycle, your brain's not turning off. Well, I hope not, right? No, it's not going dormant at all. No, out on your bike, when you're finally turned off from the modern distractions, the texts, the emails, the demands from everybody else all around you, turning off all that clutter, this is exactly when your brain can do its very best work and be most productive. When you clear out the static, you create an open space where your brain can thrive, where problems can get solved, where it can formulate and present to you solutions, and that's when the magic happens. That's mindfulness, problem solving, clarity, and if you're lucky, peace of mind, it all falls into place in that quiet space that you have to make in your helmet riding down the road. It's a complete shift in perspective, isn't it? It's a new way of seeing things. This idea that you don't have time not to go for a ride when things get their busiest and most stressful. There are too many issues to get solved, which can get solved, out on the road. It starts by intentionally narrowing your field of vision to the immediate patch of road right in front of you at 60 miles an hour. See, when a dog has their head out the window, they aren't analyzing the topology of the landscape or worrying about the geology of the mountains. They're just out there feeling it. And they're loving it. Who knows what they're thinking about. But I can't help but think it's really, really good stuff.

A Simple Focus Practice On Wheels

Ron 14:10

Maybe on your next ride. Let's try exactly the same thing. When you find your mind wandering back to the news, your to-do list, your budget, your daily worries, catch yourself. Don't be frustrated. Just gently consciously bring your focus back to the physical, tactical sensations of this ride you're on. It's your ride, no one else's, and it's your bike. The bike that you love. So imagine yourself too, as a dog. Maybe your dog, with its head hanging out the window. Feel the sudden slight drop in the temperatures as you drop into a shady valley and listen to the distinct hum of that specific engine type that you've chosen. Notice the precise way the chassis of the bike, his geometry, its design, responds to the slightest, most subtle pressure on your handlebars as you lean into the corner. Of course, the dog's not going to get all that, but that's just a bonus for you, right? Because I think that when we lock our minds into these physical realities, we effectively stop time. We stop living in this anxious, unpredictable future, and we stop dragging along the unchangeable past, and we become entirely beautifully living in, seeing, smelling, feeling the beautiful world around us right now. So the next time you walk out to your garage and walk over your motorcycle, I'll ask you to make a conscious choice. Take all that mental baggage, all those future worries and past regrets, and leave them right there on the concrete floor. They aren't going anywhere. They'll be there when you get back. But they don't belong on your motorcycle ride. No, they're not going along on this ride. Remember the dog logic? If the motor fires up, the universe has just handed you this perfect unearned gift. The rest of the day, the rest of the miles, hey, that's all that matters. That's all that matters. So stick your nose right into the wind. Put that big, goofy, beautiful smile on your face and just go for a ride.

Nose Into The Wind And Closing

Ron 16:59

Once again, I want to thank my friends at Viking Bags for their product support of this podcast. And if you too would like to support the podcast, just check the show notes for some options there. Thanks for sharing your journey with me today and my dog Sally. And until next time, keep your wheels turning, keep your mind quiet, keep that goofy smile on your face. I'll see you out there. Peace.