Rider

The Crash ( edited.)

March 2014

Freedom.

Define this with me for a moment. The freedom I am talking about isn't the one justified for America, or a dictionary definition. I'm talking about the feeling of freedom, that rush of empowerment and it courses through your body. You can feel it spiraling all around inside of it you, vining its way around every fiber. Until it reaches your heart, completely engulfing it and squeezing it so tight, telling you to just let it out. Burst threw every pore until you have this moment of complete calm and relaxation that you never imagined feeling.

Judgement.

One of the most dangerous elements of human the human mind. It's a split second or it's an be a matter of years. Judgement comes in all different forms, the one I talk about is the one that has to be a split second decision. That moment of sheer panic and fear. It's a darkness that surrounds everything around you with just the two answer swirling around. The world just seems to come to a stand still, knowing if you don't make the right choice; you will die. It's a fear that encases every atom in your body; but helps you pick what could save your life.

Patience

The one we call a virtue. The simplicity of being at peace with whatever is happening around you. The one thing that could take you from blood thirsty tiger to a happy teddy bear in a split second. The patience I'm talking about is the tunnel. That moment when something seems so much further away, but it's really in front of. Aching and gasping to reach the end but never quite getting there, you have the urge to give up or slow down. Then patience sets in, and you push and push and break through the wall blocking you. Chipping away but then smashing you entire body through it, making it to the end.

One race, can be filled with all of this. Never all at once.

The race is always filled with excitement. New people and the same old people, all together in one place, for the same prize. Which makes a new challenge for the people putting the races together. Generally, we have the same starting line and the same finish line, but the course always changes. We start way out in the country side and just a mile into the city limits. Drivers are smart, that's why the course always has to change so no one can figure it out. No challenge is a real challenge unless every event is different. I was one of the very smart racers, but if I don't get up; I'm going to miss the next one.

"Peter!" Joey yelled up to me from the downstairs, even though he has been here for a while yelling at me constantly to get me moving. "Peter get down here before I come up there! You don't want to know what happens when I come up there." I rolled my eyes, if I knew anything about Joey. He wouldn't mess with a racer even if his life depended on it.

He understands that racing is a specific craft. Though Joey hasn't raced in a long time; we both fixed the car up that I use now. She was a real piece of work when we first got her together, but in the end she was perfect. Racing has been in both of our bloods since diapers. I would always play with hot wheels on race tracks and always try to find new ways to make my car faster than everyone else's cars.

Just a small obsession.

Okay maybe not quite as small as you think. I put bottle rockets on hot wheel to see how fast I could make them go. Even ask Joey he was right there with me. Given that I was in seventh grade though I was willing to do anything to make a car go fast. Joey has been my friend for about maybe five years now. We became friends because he was and awkward kid in shop class that everyone picked on for being black. I saw him as just another person and we have been friends ever since.

"Oh lighten up Joey, we aren't going to be late and it's not like we have a time limit on when we have to be there." I slipped on my jean jacket, coming down the stairs patting him on the back and scooping up the keys into my pocket. "Besides, we can make it there in seconds if we wanted to anyways."