Slow is ugly.
So the last weekend, I was cornerworking at the CMRA race at TWS, College Station, Tx, US:-)
(Cornerworking is the concept of having a person in each corner during a road race who coordinates with the control center to ensure a smooth conduct of the race by showing appropriate flags, informing control center in case of a crash in that corner, helping the crashed rider etc). I was in Turn 1, which is no.1 in notoriety for the speed at which a racer enters that corner (~170mph=~270kmph) and no.2 in notoriety for spectacular (and sometimes ugly)crashes( no.1 at TWS is certainly 'the wall' in turn 8a).
SO the day starts, minis (small bikes with small engines) are in for practice. I am sitting there, twitching and restless. I attribute my twitching to my general lack of patience and to my general tendency to rather do stuff rather than just sit and watch it. It has happened to me before, while watching tv, while going to a movie, while sitting with people talking junk.....
But this one time, I notice something amiss, something different. I am not twitchy in my usual way. I was not just hating sitting there having to watch races instead of racing. I realized I was actually hating racing itself in a way. I was hating it when those minis were coming off the Nascar oval into the turn. I was hating it when they were turning into the corner. I was hating it when they were going by me. And this, to me, was as scary a thought as it could be. I could not believe that I was actually hating racing. And that at that moment, all I wanted to was get lost from there. I was hating the sound those bikes were making, I was hating the bikes, the riders, everything about them. I stood there, walkie-talkie in one hand, yellow flag in another, puzzled and unable to understand what was going on. After all, it could not be possible that I was hating racing. It just could not be possible!
But then slowly, minis practice ends, and its time for big bike practice. Novices ( Riders who are relatively new, and hence usually slower) come out, they pass by. I felt that I felt a bit better. They pass by second time, third time, fourth time and I m feeling a lil bit better with every time. I attributed my earlier twitching to the usual impatience and thought that I was now feeling better becuase I was settling down for the day. I felt better, and relieved.
And then, its time for experts practice. They come out. Pass by me once, and then again, and again. I am now feeling much better. Actually I am almost begining to fell elated. And joyful. Howard, Myers, Spradling they all pass by and I am realizing something different. I am realizing that instead of hating, I am loving it when they are coming off the banking. That I am loving the sound that the bikes are making now. That the riders, and their bikes, are looking beautiful now.
And then I started laughing. I laughed when I realized that I now realized what was happening. My twitching, my hating, my loving, they were all making sense. I was not hating those minis, or those riders, or those bikes, I was just hating THE SLOW. I was hating them because I was hating them being slow. They looked ugly not becuase they were, but because they were slow. It is slow that is ugly! and it is fast that is beautiful!!
(Although this post is kinda dramatic, its mostly that way becuase the whole thing was REALLY dramatic for me. However, a litttttle of the drama could be just me trying to make it all sound juicy, and entertaining:-))
(Cornerworking is the concept of having a person in each corner during a road race who coordinates with the control center to ensure a smooth conduct of the race by showing appropriate flags, informing control center in case of a crash in that corner, helping the crashed rider etc). I was in Turn 1, which is no.1 in notoriety for the speed at which a racer enters that corner (~170mph=~270kmph) and no.2 in notoriety for spectacular (and sometimes ugly)crashes( no.1 at TWS is certainly 'the wall' in turn 8a).
SO the day starts, minis (small bikes with small engines) are in for practice. I am sitting there, twitching and restless. I attribute my twitching to my general lack of patience and to my general tendency to rather do stuff rather than just sit and watch it. It has happened to me before, while watching tv, while going to a movie, while sitting with people talking junk.....
But this one time, I notice something amiss, something different. I am not twitchy in my usual way. I was not just hating sitting there having to watch races instead of racing. I realized I was actually hating racing itself in a way. I was hating it when those minis were coming off the Nascar oval into the turn. I was hating it when they were turning into the corner. I was hating it when they were going by me. And this, to me, was as scary a thought as it could be. I could not believe that I was actually hating racing. And that at that moment, all I wanted to was get lost from there. I was hating the sound those bikes were making, I was hating the bikes, the riders, everything about them. I stood there, walkie-talkie in one hand, yellow flag in another, puzzled and unable to understand what was going on. After all, it could not be possible that I was hating racing. It just could not be possible!
But then slowly, minis practice ends, and its time for big bike practice. Novices ( Riders who are relatively new, and hence usually slower) come out, they pass by. I felt that I felt a bit better. They pass by second time, third time, fourth time and I m feeling a lil bit better with every time. I attributed my earlier twitching to the usual impatience and thought that I was now feeling better becuase I was settling down for the day. I felt better, and relieved.
And then, its time for experts practice. They come out. Pass by me once, and then again, and again. I am now feeling much better. Actually I am almost begining to fell elated. And joyful. Howard, Myers, Spradling they all pass by and I am realizing something different. I am realizing that instead of hating, I am loving it when they are coming off the banking. That I am loving the sound that the bikes are making now. That the riders, and their bikes, are looking beautiful now.
And then I started laughing. I laughed when I realized that I now realized what was happening. My twitching, my hating, my loving, they were all making sense. I was not hating those minis, or those riders, or those bikes, I was just hating THE SLOW. I was hating them because I was hating them being slow. They looked ugly not becuase they were, but because they were slow. It is slow that is ugly! and it is fast that is beautiful!!
(Although this post is kinda dramatic, its mostly that way becuase the whole thing was REALLY dramatic for me. However, a litttttle of the drama could be just me trying to make it all sound juicy, and entertaining:-))
posted by Kalkat at 12:54 PM
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