Why 60 is the new 40 in Australia.
I’ve just returned from a 3-day trip on my motorcycle, supporting friends and a police charity on the annual Australian ‘Wall to Wall’ rally. It’s a way of marking, remembering and helping the families of police officers who have lost their life in the course of their duties, whilst protecting us. This year, over 2,000 riders descended on the capital – Canberra – arriving from all 7 states and territories.
The full trip is 10 days, but due to my work commitments and volunteer Coast Guard duties, this year I couldn’t undertake the full adventure; and 2 days riding with friends from Brisbane towards Canberra, meant a return journey of just under 600 kms, in one day, on my own.
I loved it.
Why do we motorcycle? It can be cold, wet, treacherous, and when it goes wrong, tragically unforgiving. (We forget that at our peril.)
But it also gives a unique sense of joie de vivre and a glorious, precious freedom that I have treasured for more than 50 years… (I was riding off-road bikes as a teenager, before I was old enough for a road bike; and for me, the pleasure never, ever, wears off.) The thing is, I feel more in touch with ‘me’ – and with who or what I am – on a motorcycle, than anywhere else on earth.
And I doubt that there are better roads, or scenery, anywhere else on earth compared to the spectacular landscapes and light that are found in Australia.
Robert Pirsig’s 1970s classic book ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ was inspirational to many. For me, as a young electronics graduate in the 1980s, it completely changed the direction of my life; and immeasurably for the better. I changed the nature of my career, and most importantly, I started to pay attention to what I wanted to do, and not what was expected of me by others or by social norms.
Perhaps motorcycling keeps me young… My long ride last week certainly put me in the mind of how I felt when I first read Robert Pirsig’s narrative, happily alone with my thoughts for 10 hours on the bike.
So how come 60 is the new 40, you ask?
That’s easy: 60 kph in Australia is 40 mph in the UK – so I like to think I’ve shed 20 years by emigrating.
Mind you, if age was measured like temperature, in Celsius rather than Fahrenheit, I’m only 15 years old. And guess what? I’m quite happy with that.
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