Ah, "contemplation time" "creative staring"
It finally was, and is, like a curse
it started back in the day when I was racing. The guy I most hung and rode with was an incessant talker- used to bother me a bit on rides cause he was always there two abreast and pissing off cars.
But he lived a long time on a schoolbus out in a field with a wood stove for heating, and we were always sitting around stoned in the bus chattering about bike equipment. He kept breaking Campy crank arms cause he went up the steep hills of southern Indiana in such a big gear all the time-
Anyway, by the downside of my racing career I started feeling a bit too mesmerized by my bike stuff- when it was there in my line of vision I was either mentally reappraising it all or thinking about riding it-
It was all fine then still, but as I grew older- and tending to live in smaller not-the-most- expansive of dwellings- and that in part to my preoccupation and cycling escapism, I started to think of it more as my own mental liability somehow-
and now- when I can- I tend to try to keep the bikes out of my view- so I can better spend my time and energies on something else once and awhile
The motorbikes have been a real regression- I discovered them the Spring of 09, after being flooded out of my house in Indiana the summer before, and then landing in a small noisy overpriced second story one bedroom apartment in Jacksonville. I started peddling again more that Fall of 08 when I landed, because I was finally in a climate where that was more possible- there was a bike lane right outside my window- and within a year or so I had four bikes- two with motors- in the small apartment with me- so they were in view ALL THE TIME and I was spending probably too much money on bike parts perfecting the motorbikes I was then obsessing on as much as when I raced-
Oh well- They have been of great practical value and saved me a lot of fuel expenses as well as the pleasure aspect
And now I'm in a house again and they all have their own room so I can shut the door and not think of them and play guitar and keyboard more.
They only fuss when I forget to tuck them in at night.....