Matt H;27441 wrote: Interesting thread. Lots of good input, and lots of opinions. I'll note a couple of things adding to this.
EVERYTHING changes with kids. While parents, siblings, and friends will miss you, they generally aren't dependent on you. Even a spouse is their own grown person and is generally capable of carrying on their well-being without you. Nothing is the same once you have kids. If you are blessed to have them, you understand. And if you noticed, I used the term "generally" a lot. Every circumstance is unique. There are exceptional cases in all directions that I'm sure most of us have one of.
Money isn't everything. Even if you have life insurance that gives them $10 billion dollars, your kids are still growing up without a parent should something happen.
I too believe that you can't live life in a bubble, but with a family you can't be quite so brash as when you were on your own. Your actions HUGELY affect other dependent people's lives, and more than just monetarily. What is important in my opinion, is finding the balance that works for you. You may not get everything you want, but you need to BALANCE the "need to live" and the responsibilities you have. This line will be different for everyone. And in addition to finding this balance in your own mind is coming to an agreement with your spouse on that line. You have a life together, and many or your responsibilities are yours collectively (e.g. the kids and their future). Make sure that the decisions you can live with, are the decision that they can live with too.
Bottom line to me is that this is a dangerous hobby. No two-ways about it. Now we can do things to reduce this danger (whether choosing to not ride on the street, choosing to not race, choosing organizations with a certain structure that benefits safety), but it is still dangerous and something bad can still happen. Just be cognisant of the choices you are making, and prepared and accepting of their possible outcomes.
Matt, Very well written my man!
This is something on my mind continually. I've been blessed with a great life, I have a beautiful 8 year old daughter that loves her dad. A wife that is still hot after being married to me 24 years, she still thinks I am a stud, (she just doesn't know any better, that's why I keep her away from you guys!). I also own a successful business that pays the bills if I work or not. Obviously this all didn't happen overnight and not without a lot of work and sacrifices. I just started doing track days with NESBA three seasons ago, and I really enjoy the track. The first year I did about 4 days, the second about 8, and this last season about 15. You see a trend here!
This season I took a pretty good spill and broke my collar. I'm thankful that's all that happened, I hit the ground so hard I felt like I broke every bone in me. I remember laying on the ground and the first thought I had was let me breath, I got the wind knocked out of me and it took some time before I could get my breath. But the second thing I thought after I got my breath was I'm glad I can feel all my fingers and toes, and I'm not dead. My wife and daughter would be really pissed! I have plenty of Life Insurance, I own a Life Insurance marketing company. I have so much life insurance on me that when I die the life insurance company that insures me will probably have to file bankruptcy.
That is not the point, you said it best, even 10 billion doesn't replace a parent. This really got me thinking, the more I get into this sport the more I want to improve my skills, and the faster I want to try to go. So knowing all that I seriously considered selling my bikes and all my gear and quitting. I actually put my ZX-10 up for sale, I just couldn't pull the trigger on selling the trailer and the ZX-6R.
We walk a fine line between being good providers and parents, and enjoying our lives too! Even now I can't wait until next season, I've already picked my track days for 2009. I do realize when I am on that track I am not only responsible for my safety, but the safety of guys around me. I am very aware of this. We all have tremendous value to someone other than ourselves, I feel this is a common concern from the rest of the NESBAIN members. I hope I can continue to enjoy this sport for many more years to come, I enjoy the friendships I have been able to create with the guys at the track. At some point I suppose the risk factor and the effort put forth to participate in track days will out weigh the thrill of it all, but that ain't happened yet! I will see you next season.
Thanks for allowing me to share my thoughts.
