Perceived Invincibility Diminishes with Age
I received an e-mail that my RoadID shipped today; however, I'm not quite sure how I feel about it.
RoadID is a tag that you wear on your person that contains pertinent information should something happen to you while you're out running, cycling, adventuring, etc... It's a great concept and one of those simple, yet ingenious ideas that makes you think, "Hey, why didn't I think of that!"
But that doesn't really explain my apprehension.
I've been riding bikes for close to thirty-four years including some pretty long stints in racing, bicycle motocross and mountain biking. I also have spent a lot of time out on America's roadways, with the cars and trucks, experiencing my share of close calls but nothing that ever diminished my fearlessness.
That is until this year.
For whatever reason, I've become a little skittish and definitely pre-occupied with getting picked off by one of those big construction trucks, that for whatever reason, fail to recognize the rights of cyclists to be out on the roads (sorry to generalize).
Some of it probably has to do with rust, since it's been close to two and half years since I did some serious riding. Part of it is maybe the amount of traffic that is traversing the old county farm roads on which I've ridden for quite a few years. And lastly, maybe a little bit is age, which seems to diminish ones perceived invincibility.
As I explained to Nancy the other day, I love the idea of having some type of identification on me in case something happens, to which she concurred, but in the same breath I wondered if I was just playing into my fears. Feeding the paranoid beast who seems to enter my mind the first five or ten minutes of my ride and then slowly recedes as the miles pass.
So here's to keeping the RoadID mojo on the light side of The Force and the mental gremlins at bay. - ~Thrive~