So I took my busa out for the first time since this all happened. It was good and bad and fun and scary all at the same time but it needed done. Nothing like twisting the wick on the highway on ramp to put your balls in your throat and remind you just how very alive you are!
It still needs some more doing but I'm going to take it slow & do it at my pace. This has hit me a lot deeper then my own wreck.
I'll go on to ride and I'll go on to race but right now, I'm just taking a step back and taking my time to absorb all that has come with this.
Ironically I do some of my best, clearest thinking while I'm riding. It sounds like the last place you should be distracted by thinking but somehow that heightened sense of awareness gives me a clear path to think.
Well anyway my thoughts wandered to some great DaveO memories. One that I hold dear is how much he believed in my abilities to ride. Not quite enough to let me ride HIS bike,
but enough so that he pitched me as a rider for another team. In fact, Friday night at dinner he reiterated that to me. "You should have been riding that bike and I told them that". Wow, is there any greater compliment? I always said to hubby I'll know I made it as a racer the day DaveO lets me ride his bike! LOL We all knew that was like asking to take out his teenage daughter! lol (no he doesn't have a teenage daughter, it's a figure of speech) If you read back through old posts you'll see me continually torment him with "when you gonna let me ride your bike?" It was an ongoing joke with us. I actually really didn't want to ride his bike nor did I feel confident enough to even seriously ask. I would have been a ball of nerves if I ever did knowing how much he cherished his bike!
But at any rate, all of those thoughts led me back in my memories from earlier this year on an unbelievable offer Dave made to me. I thought I'd share it with y'all cause it's a testament to how giving he was! He knew how hard I was working to get into the 2 club. He knew I really wanted to do it on my bike. We were all pretty sure I could get it done but there was always that chance I'd suffer an unrecoverable melt down. His offer to me was if I couldn't get it done with what I had that he was willing to pull his engine out of his bike and let me put it in mine to ride and get in the 2 club. I was absolutely astounded when he offered! He did all this thinking and checking on his own to come up with a backup plan for me. I really didn't have a back up plan. This was a make or break thing for my bike. I knew if I melted it down the game was over so we gave it our best shot. I just can't even put into words how big that was for him to offer me the use of the heart of his bike. Wow! I loved Dave like a big brother and I know he loved me back just the same. I miss him but I'll never forget what a big heart he had!
Debbie
