Free Flow: Riding free

I feel enslaved. Not because Bert and Shumi are the B' and S' in BDSM bosses, they are far from it (I've been told to say that. Sorry masters!). Or that I'm swamped with mundane work, quite the contrary, being an auto journalist is truly one of the best jobs in the world. What is getting me down is that working in a metro has kicked me off my lackadaisical backside and made me a slave to time. Everything has time factored into it, get up at this time, leave for work at that time and clock out at another. While this time management is great for getting things done I find, at the end of the day, there seems to be less time for me. This has also brought about a change in the way I ride and I do not like it at all. I'm always riding somewhere for something and have to be there at a particular time and most of the time I'm already late! This also means that I'm rushed and darting in and out of traffic and not enjoying the ride.

I want to get back to my freeriding days. The days when there was nowhere to go, nothing to do and no stopwatch running in the back of my mind. Days when you would just get out and ride for the joy of riding, enjoying your machine and the feeling of freedom. It's a concept so old that even kings and noblemen would ride through their forested estates taking in the outdoors and enjoying being in full control of one horsepower between their legs. Its a form of rebellion as well, breaking away from the restrictions that we have ingrained into our daily life. Freedom has become entirely relative and there seems little place for individualism in this web we have wound.

Having moved from a desk job to a where travel is part of my daily routine, driving some amazing machines and riding bikes I had only dreamed of is a change that has literally happened overnight. My mind is still catching up, I feel. I do remember a time when riding home, a distance of just five kilometres, could take an hour. No, not because of traffic and I'm no slow poke, but because I didn't actually take the five kilometre straight road. I took a turn and found a clear road and blasted along as fast as I could, then slowed down to take a quiet winding road that would meander around the city. I would then reach home having covered over 20 km and feeling more charged up than when I started out. This was around the time when I was in college and had no set plan and nowhere to go. Strangely I went for more rides with nowhere to go than now when I ride a bike for a living.

This is what I want to change, armed with my new time management' skills and a work environment conducive to road trips I plan to get out and ride. Its something that I found relaxing and therapeutic and I need to start freeriding again. After I finish penning this, my first column, its one quick shot of energy drink straight to my brain. Can Red Bull set you free?