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 Photo by Nadine Shaabana. I loved the perspective of the ball and inverted image of the landscape. Perspectives have power. How you see the world will shape your opinion and galvanise you into action or subdue you into apathy. How you see the world will depend on your family, friends, your culture, your diet, your upbringing, your biology and especially what period in history you were born into. Two people can have entirely different perspectives and die for their beliefs. But which, if either, is right? And can they be wrong at the time but right when viewed from a new angle during another decade? Yes, of course they can. For a while anyway.
At the moment we have a few large shocks rippling through our planet. The Covid-19 pandemic can be seen by some as a global cleansing. By others, a divine retribution, by yet others as the worst thing to have ever happened to the human race. To some we need to do more, to some much less. It's just humans being human. Having and sharing their individual perspectives on the world. We're just being us. In general, when we have formed a strong opinion we stick with it, no matter what. We are subject to 'confirmation bias' - we look for others who agree with us and for facts that fit our views. Being brave enough to look at something from another viewpoint and to weight a counter argument on its merits is quite rare. That's because we often become identified with our opinions and changing them would mean admitting we were wrong or distancing ourselves from people we care about or the group we find affinity with. Ultimately we risk undermining our sense of self. But it is possible to change your opinion, if you cultivate an open mind and challenge yourself and your thoughts.
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 Stanley Kubrick, while filming 2001: A space oddity It's odd to think that pearls of wisdom can be found next to pornography. But yes, it can happen. Admittedly it is less likely to happen now that the internet has become the go-to place for stills and videos of people getting together but when magazines used to be king for thrills they sometimes had more than just ladies to interest the men, they had thoughtful pieces too. Playboy magazine, 1968 contains an extract from a very interesting interview with Stanley Kubrick, the director. I really liked his perspective, he's clearly an existentialist and talks lucidly about how it is each of us that creates our own meaning through the choices we make. Playboy: “If life is so purposeless, do you feel it’s worth living?” Kubrick: “Yes, for those who manage somehow to cope with our mortality. The very meaninglessness of life forces a man to create his own meaning. Children, of course, begin life with an untarnished sense of wonder, a capacity to experience total joy at something as simple as the greenness of a leaf; but as they grow older, the awareness of death and decay begins to impinge on their consciousness and subtly erode their joie de vivre (a keen enjoyment of living), their idealism - and their assumption of immortality. The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent; As a child matures, he sees death and pain everywhere about him, and begins to lose faith in the ultimate goodness of man. But if he’s reasonably strong - and lucky - he can emerge from this twilight of the soul into a rebirth of life’s élan (enthusiastic and assured vigour and liveliness).
Both because of and in spite of his awareness of the meaninglessness of life, he can forge a fresh sense of purpose and affirmation. He may not recapture the same pure sense of wonder he was born with, but he can shape something far more enduring and sustaining. The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death - however mutable man may be able to make them - our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfilment. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.” The full article is quite staggering, considering when it was written. It's definitely worth checking out, if nothing else to ponder the scale of what we don't know and to realise that what we do know is so infinitesimally small that to draw conclusions is futile. It's best just to wonder and smile and admire the vastness of possibilities and be glad that, in universal terms, everything is as it should be. Full article can be found here. The final part of the story behind how I got to ride on the Salt Flats during Speed Week 2019. Part 3 can be found here   Where do we go from here? Just a few hours left and we had so much to get done... Tired and emotional
We needed to move fast now, really fast. The Hayabusa had failed tech inspection because the tire valve stems had to be metal, not rubber. But the good news was, that was the only failure. So, we hastily rolled the bike back onto the trailer and quickly researched local tire and motorbike workshops. Although Wendover the town just off the speedway was not right next door, it wasn't a long drive away so 30 minutes later and we had managed to find what we needed. Next stop the tire fitting shop. We pulled up to S&R Auto on Wendover Boulevard to find a hive of activity in the oily workshop. Eventually we tracked down the frazzled owner who scratched his head with a greasy finger and said it'd be a couple of hours before they could sort it. There must have been a horrified look on our faces because he quickly followed up apologetically telling us the reason - tbe fire chief's truck was being seen to and it was an emergency and nothing, just nothing and no-one, could jump the queue.
The continuation of the story behind how I got to ride on the Salt Flats during Speed Week. Part 1 can be found here
Back to Pendine Beach in Wales to meet up with some friends and try my luck at some landspeed records. As you do.
 It all boiled down to a single moment, as so many things in my life have. I sat there cooking in leathers at the start line on the five mile long course on the Salt Flats at Bonneville, ready to pull back the throttle hand and put fear aside for just a minute or so. I was willing and ready to risk my life for this moment in a distant land, on unfamiliar ground. I would have done whatever it took to do what I had to do. I imagine a similar feeling of total conviction probably descends upon a mother or father when they see a car on fire and their child inside.
I would not let anything get in my way that day - so woe betide anything that tried to stop me! All the events that had led to this, the life changing moments, the pain, the doubt, the chance meetings, all the people I'd met, all the twists and turns of my recent life meant me to be at that start line. At that point in time. It was a certainty I still feel in my very core.
"Do you need any help?" Was the first thing I asked to the Women Rider's World Relay contact button on Facebook. It all then snowballed like crazy and led to some of the most incredible experiences and opportunities of my life. I had no idea that within four weeks I'd be taking a major role in planning and executing a ride across Italy with a bunch of beautiful, crazy, wild girls and having meetings that would change my life forever and launch me into a motor racing career.  Receiving the baton from France on the start of the Relay across Italy. The start of an adventure.  On the flats in 2018. I think 2019 will be our lucky year.. Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? It might well be because what I'm about to tell you feels utterly unreal. I have just been accepted on to a race team as a pilot in a land speed world record attempt at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in August during Speed Week. Yep. Me. Who only took up proper biking two years ago after becoming a grandmother. Who was afraid to go over 50mph on the motorway. Who nearly gave up in the pouring rain in Germany. How absurdly fantastical is that? Just like Burt Munro, immortalised in The World's Fastest Indian, whose land speed record still stands today, no-one would have believed two years ago the turn of events that would take me, of all people, to Bonneville with the big boys of racing. Yet, here I am and, as much as anything else can be real, this is my reality. The Bike The ride is a beauty. A red-lipstick coloured, partially streamlined, 1000cc LPG powered bike (only LPG racer in the world), built by the great Dino Romano, one of Italy's foremost bike customisers, as part of the Eyes Open Dream Racing Team. Things like this don't happen to ordinary people like me, do they? It seems they do. How did this happen? Did I trip and fall into a vat of dream fluid?  Not a bad little runabout... |
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