You Can't Coach That

Motorcycle racing and life

I spent quite a bit of the weekend watching the Australian round of the World Superbikes from Philip Island. Part of the ritual for the day was to fool myself into thinking that I was doing more than wasting time so I came up with the following observations about the similarities between life and motorcycle racing:

• Different people take different lines through corners but generally get where they need to go
• Bravery is generally a pre-requisite
• Sometimes you get caught in other people’s accidents
• Sitting in a fast rider’s slipstream can give you the help you need
• There is always someone younger and faster coming along but experience often tells in the long run
• Everyone gets similar but subtly different equipment - what you do with it matters
• Sometimes you just have to pick yourself up and get going again
• Sometimes you need the help of the marshals to pick yourself up
• Starting out too fast can hurt you in the long run

Aussies on the podium and no-one got hurt = a good day

“You can’t coach that”