Advice: Growing old

Growing old

I think I'm getting old. The big four zero is just around the corner, my waist line seems to be growing at an alarming rate and I'm about to become a dad once again. Note to self: figure out what's causing that and stop it - the growing waist line I mean...

Business issues seem to fill my brain most of the waking hours and I generally collapse of an evening after my first little one is tucked in bed and sleeping soundly. I'd happily trade a night out with the boys for a quiet night at home with my wife and a warm cup of cocoa before bed. Hmmm - maybe that's why it keeps growing - the waist line I mean!

Life has changed. Although I'm far from ready to be shipped off to an old folks home, I just don't want to do the things that seemed so 'necessary' in my youth.

One of the 'necessary' goals involved trying to become a professional road racer. No, I don't mean just dreaming about it like every other young male, I mean actually trying to become one. My whole life revolved around racing. I was so focussed on it that everything else was secondary. (At this point I probably should apologise to my employers of the time, as well as my friends and family. I put them through things they definitely didn't deserve). Did I succeed you may ask? Let me ask you - am I writing this column from my apartment in Monaco shortly before flying my helicopter out for the next MotoGP round? No? Is that enough information for you? Sadly, it doesn't look as though you'll watch me valiantly steal the race from Valentino Rossi on the last corner.

Interestingly I notice my age and my stage of life the most when on the bike. I still love riding and think I always will. I love my job (who wouldn't?) but I'm just not prepared to do the things I used to.

Fifteen years ago, if I entered a corner a little too fast and the bike slid and I just managed to save it, I would have tried to go a little faster the next lap. If it's right on the edge of traction, then that means I'm approaching the limit of the bike, suspension and tyres. If you wanna win races, that's what you have to do. Now if the bike gets a little loose in a turn, I tend to slow down a little and try not to recreate it. Previously, for the week leading up to a race, I could think of nothing else. Now I arrive at the track and try to remember which of the controls makes it go.

Having said all that, how come guys like Jeremy McWilliams and Pier Francesco Chilli can still compete at world level? They are almost as old as me (and considerably better looking, I might add) bastards. How do they do it? Easy. I might be getting old, but it has nothing to do with how many years I've been on the planet.

It has everything to do with how I've decided to live my life. If I wanted to spend every waking moment trying to be a road racer and if I'd been blessed considerably more talent, I could probably do it too. Be a professional racer now? I don't think so. Your willingness to subject yourself to frequent pain and soiling of underwear will be determined by you stage of life you are at and how important riding motorcycles is to you.

Me, I just want to enjoy it and ride at a pace that gets the adrenaline flowing without having it overflow down my leg and into my boots.

Good luck with your riding...

Steve Brouggy is the owner of the

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