Kelly’s Korner: Dirt Biking for Thanksgiving? Please and Thank You
Last Updated: November 29th, 2020
How do you play? Take a moment to identify the activities that release and refresh you.
If several ideas flowed to you right away, that’s awesome. And if you’re having a hard time pinpointing anything, you’re not alone. I’m on the downhill slope to 40, and just now figuring out, for various reasons, what play is and what it means to me. I’m also learning why it’s so important and how to incorporate it as an essential element of my life. As part of that discovery process, I work to stay open to new ideas, even when they go against expectations. Case in point: A few weeks ago, Tealdo (he goes by “T” sometimes) asked what I thought of the two of us dirt biking on Thanksgiving Day, rather than cooking and baking and driving (ourselves crazy?) and eating ourselves into comas. I thought about this for a few moments. People would be disappointed. They’d think we’re antisocial. They’d think we don’t like them. Then I considered my feelings and what would be best for me – spending the day stressed and busy, or riding in the great outdoors with my best friend? “Count me in,“ I said. So, on Thanksgiving Day, we borrowed two bikes and hit the Four Peaks trails for my second time ever dirt biking.
Last month I wrote about the joy I experienced on Horse Thief Mile at Willow Springs on a 150 supermoto (LINK TO ARTICLE). Dirt biking transcended that, by far. Zipping over rocks and bumps, jumping little hills, taking a really technical side trail, sliding around corners, going over the “whoops” course – I tapped into deep, primal thrills and fulfillment that street and track riding have yet to deliver to me.
“T” and I rode 43.2 miles on Thanksgiving, ending in the late afternoon exhausted and so, so happy. It’s the kind of contentment and fatigue that only comes with playing hard, losing track of the sense of time, and letting the mind go into that subconscious state where it solves problems on its own. I already knew I enjoyed dirt biking, but two years had passed since my previous, first-ever and short-lived, excursion. This year, on a day when most Americans gathered around tables and TVs, I played for hours on a dirt bike, bringing my whole heart and body to the experience.
I can’t recall feeling that way in childhood, which now means that instead of trying to relive some kind of glory days, I get the gift of finding out what “play” is for me.
Fewer adults are feeding the play drive. But it’s an instinct we must honor. When you feel depressed or choice-less, beaten down in a job or other responsibilities, look for opportunities to play. This is how we enliven ourselves. Stuart Brown discusses this at length in his book, Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul. Keep in mind, the point is not that we can or should play all the time – that’s not realistic. Instead, the goal is to pursue interests that end up reinvigorating our daily lives. According to Brown, these activities:
- Are done for their own sake
- Are voluntary
- Inherently appeal to the participant
- Provide freedom from time
- Reduce or eliminate the ego need to think about how we look or come off to others
- Require no one right way to be done
- Instill a “continuation desire”
For me, dirt biking accomplishes every single bullet point. I cannot wait for my Ninja to sell so I can buy a dirt bike that also can be turned into a supermoto for the track.
And if literally screaming down dirt roads and around sand-filled corners sounds fun to you, check out TEAM Arizona’s dirt biking school. No, they did not ask me to add that – I want you to know what resources are available to facilitate this particular form of play. In fact, if the philosophy and pursuit of play intrigue you, these books can help you start down your own play path:
- Stuart Brown’s Play
- Mark Sisson’s The Primal Blueprint
- Brené Brown’s The Gifts of Imperfection
As we head into the frenetic, expectation-filled holiday season, I wish you the gift of play. I could not be more grateful and excited to add dirt biking to the nascent, slowly forming list of activities that constitute “play” for me. In fact, Thanksgiving dirt biking has been declared the official new tradition in the Teal home. Feel free to join us.
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