"....one of the most innovative and effective motorcycle rider development resources available offering personal coaching for your journey through life - on and off the bike...."

THE ROAD™
Introduction

Because you have a need, THE ROAD™ has an approach that means that you can learn those things now, that you have always, like most riders, been wanting to learn....

Ever wondered what it is that makes the difference between those riders who ride effortlessly through any road situation and those who find it more challenging? Given two riders on identical bikes and put them through the same advanced test route and one will do it more easily than another. Why? It’s a matter of skill, of course, but also of  underlying ways of thinking about riding.

Many riders are coming back to riding after some time; they have skills that need to be advanced to cope with today’s varying road conditions; they have ways of thinking that maybe lead to frustration rather than pleasure in riding. 

Can you see that? Sounds like you?

Do you need Advanced Motorcycle Training?

CLICK BELOW TO:

• take a quiz to find out!

Take responsibility for where you are

This is really important, because, to the extent that you don’t take responsibility for the way you ride, you rob yourself of the power to ride the way you want to. To the extent that you don’t take responsibility, you deny your ability to have what you want in the future. So, whether or not you are responsible, act as though you are, because it gives you the power to choose how you want it to be.

Taking personal responsibility to navigate one’s way through life is a lesson that one can learn from motorcycling. On some level, many motorcyclists tend to have an innate understanding of personal responsibility; they have to for their own safety. The act of riding is one that demands a sense of individual mastery that many motorcyclists take pride in. In this way, motorcycling is a metaphor for life. Being inauthentic refers to not accepting the responsibility to discover your authentic self and make self-directed choices. Living an inauthentic life basically means allowing others to choose for you and then blaming them for the choice, like riding the way you always did, not being happy with it, but not actually doing something about it!

Riding motorcycles and the meaning of life

Life in-and-of itself basically has no meaning. It is up to each individual to take personal responsibility and invest life with meaning. To live an authentic life (that is, a life in which we as individuals assume responsibility for our own choices) we must utilise our individual freedom to choose among alternatives.

Each individual has both the freedom and responsibility to interpret and create a self-significant, authentic identity. Often, being a motorcyclist is an authentic identity component. Be careful that you do not devalue the significance that motorcycling may add to your life. Since riding is generally thought of as a recreational activity, people can be of the mind that it is not very important. Non-riders can be particularly persuasive in convincing motorcyclists that riding is an inessential thing.

However, if being a motorcyclist is a part of your identity, do not fall into the trap of believing that it is not important.  Remember that being an authentic self means that you hold onto your own inner beliefs, which may not be the same as the beliefs of others. Freud said that people need three things in life, “love, work and play”. Play is an important part of life. From play we learn about life and about ourselves. Recreation gives people a sense of rejuvenation. And, even though this may be difficult for some people to understand, for many motorcyclists riding becomes more than play.

The struggle for meaning in life is very much a part of our industrialised society. Industrialization made leisure time possible. From leisure comes a certain freedom; a freedom to choose among options. In some ways this complicates life. We now have greater personal responsibility to create individual identity and meaning. In pre-industrialized civilizations, people may have been less likely to experience a crisis of meaning. This is because, in pre-industrialized civilizations, individual lives were filled with arduous tasks of daily living. Things that we take for granted today, had to be done by hand. People had to make their own soap, paper and clothing. Basic survival was paramount Leisure time was scarce. Moreover, societal roles were handed to people instead of chosen. Religion dominated their collective world view, science dominates ours. Pre-industrialized people had a feeling of belonging to a larger unit without having to discover one for themselves. Their responsibilities were great. Ours are great too, but in a more internal, individualized way. So, an individual’s passion for motorcycles can be seen as a struggle for meaning in the midst of leisure time.

For some, motorcycling is not an important part of their identity. Often these people were urged to ride by husbands, wives or friends who are avid motorcyclists. If this is you, now is the time to take personal responsibility for having allowed yourself to have been persuaded. It is useless to blame another if it was you who allowed yourself to be nudged into something that really didn’t interest you in the first place.

Why THE ROAD™?

We are all travelling on a journey through life which is also a journey towards personal growth and wholeness. Like any road, it has its ups and downs, twists and turns, potholes and obstructions. Sometimes the journey is rough, sometimes smooth. We can get stuck or get lost. We can travel alone or in community and either way maybe right for us.

It is when things are not going so well that we lose sight of where we are, where we are going, wonder why we are going there at all, or ask with whom we should be travelling.

It is at these tough times when we get depressed, angry, sad, guilty, afraid or stressed. It is then that our relationships suffer. It is then that we cease to grow personally. I'm sure you have experienced some of these.

Who doesn't sometimes feel depressed, anxious, stressed, guilty or afraid? Who doesn't have a phobia? Who doesn't see life as a series of problems and difficulties? Who doesn't struggle in their relationships?

And even as you do, travelling along life's road, you want to change. You do? Now, you can change with THE ROAD™ so you are:

• flexibly coping with life's problems and pain;

• experiencing more loving relationships;

• growing personally and spiritually.

You can, can't you?

THE ROAD™ approach is solution-oriented. This means that, while acknowledging past limitations and weaknesses, it concentrates on developing strengths and possibilities. It will take you beyond explanations and problems, towards solutions, competence and capabilities.

Begin your future now. With THE ROAD™ you can have it be the way you want it to be. Continue to explore the Resources available by clicking on the links in the menu-bars, the index panel to the left of this frame, or any of the buttons below:

Resources

The Thinking Motorcyclist Advanced Motorcycle Training	Motorcycle Riding Breakthrough Online: THE ROAD™ To Your Future
Personal Breakthrough Online From Tad James' The Secret of Creating Your Future 〈譯文〉	Road Rage and Aggressive Driving From John Larson's Road Rage to Road Wise
Personal Development Course From M Scott Peck's The Road Less Travelled	Stages of Spiritual Growth
Solution Focus Method for Drug and Alcohol Problems From Scott D. Miller & Insoo Kim Berg's The Miracle Method	Relationship Evaluation From Leslie Cameron-Bandler's Solutions
Introduction to Community From M Scott Peck's The Different Drum	Caregivers' Skills Program From David Stein's Ritalin is Not the Answer
Out of the Patterns of Depression From Michael Yapko's Breaking the Patterns of Depression	Assertion Skills From Robert Bolton's People Skills

E-mail THE ROAD™ This page last modified on: 26 November 2010 ©1996-2010 THE ROAD™ THE ROAD™ is a trademark of Alec Gore