Motorcycle Maintenance, less Zen

My adviser, Dr. Bradley received a book last year for a gift. The book was titled, “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.” I had never heard of it. It peaked my interest as a book I wanted to read solely because I do a lot of motorcycle maintenance myself. I have two motorcycles, one off-road and one on-road. Because I am constantly busy with school I do not keep up with the maintenance as much as I would like. Today, I needed to get up from the computer and I decided to do some things I had been putting off on the bikes.

The dirt bike needed the air filter cleaned and replaced, the spark plug cleaned, and the gas tank drained. The tank needed to be drained due to my lack of math skills resulting in a miscalculation in the oil/fuel mix but that is another story. I went out to the garage and started removing the plastics and getting to work.

I have been a home mechanic for a long time now. I started wrenching on cars when I was 16 and I watched my brother work on bikes since I was 7 years old. I know a thing or two. Typically however, I am always rushed working on my cars and bikes and it is never a relaxing and fun time. This is why when I heard the title of the book I figured the author must be crazy. Today was different. I had no time pressures, and if I did not get the bike finished I could simply leave it in the garage and come back to it. It was extremely relaxing.

I kicked on some music, and got to work. I finished the necessary maintenance in just over an hour and it is amazing how relaxing it was. Even when I removed the air filter and discovered it was crumbling I was not angry at all. I simply made a note to remind myself to order a new filter.

I need to learn to set aside time to work on things I used to enjoy. I love my research and I love school work but I miss the bikes.