In the first post of this blog I said that this road trip of Southern California wasn't a mid-life crisis. I stand by that, though what I will say is that one of the motivating factors was the sense of one's own mortality, which comes with age. And on the 29th of May 2014, I was going to reach my 50th birthday.
If you are anything like approaching my age then, the chances are you have lost someone close to you, a family member, a friend you grew up with or even a childhood hero or icon that was the same age or younger. I have. I've lost both my parents now. I lost one of my earliest skateboarding friends to a motorcycle accident. My friends and myself lost a beautiful friend to cancer a few years ago, another to a broken heart, and I've lost count of the times I've read stories of people much younger than myself who have lost their lives far too young. This is something that was going to come into focus again just before I left on my journey.
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| Solid Surf Skatepark in Southport - 1978 |
When you're young, perhaps you don't notice it as much, but now, each time I hear sad news like this, it stirs something inside me. I find myself thinking that none of us ever know when we won't be able to do the things we always wanted to do anymore. I find myself thinking that time really is precious and we should take advantage of the time we have, when we have it. All those cliche's that appear on social media sites like "One Life : Live it" and "Today is a gift" suddenly come sharply into focus and don't seem quite so cliched. Dirty pots can be washed when it's dark or wet outside. Dirty laundry can wait for a rainy day. But if the sun is out and the sky is blue and work has given you a day off, then it's time to play.
At some point in 2011/2012, I decided that I had to live my dream. I didn't want to get to a point in my life where I would look back and think "I wish I'd made it to California", or worse, lose the opportunity to even think that through some misfortune or other. So I made a promise to myself, that on my 50th birthday, in 2014, I would wake up in Santa Monica. Now, it's important that readers of this blog don't think that this was something I could just do at will, because I'm wealthy enough to do things like that. Far from it. For most of my life I never thought I would ever be able to afford to travel to California. But, in 2004 I took out an insurance policy that would mature after 10 years, when I was 50. I paid £13 a month into this policy. At one point, I nearly broke into it to pay for some building work on my house, but managed to avoid it, thankfully. That was, of course, before I had formulated my plan. So I was able to start to think about my dream journey, in the knowledge that this policy would fund it in 2014, and I wouldn't have to use any other savings. That certainly helped, but at this early stage, it still remained a promise to myself, but without any structure. That started to develop in mid 2013.
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| A Honda 250N Superdream, identical to my first bike |
So, my initial idea was to wake up in Santa Monica on the 29th of May 2014, my 50th birthday. Once it became a firm commitment though, I found myself looking at other dates. Skateboarding was my initial motivation for wanting to go to California, but over the years I've also become a biker myself too. I got my first motorbike, a Honda 250 Superdream when I was 17 and now I ride a Triumph Daytona 675. I'm a HUGE fan of motorcycle racing and regularly watch Moto GP, World Superbike and British Superbike racing on television, and occasionally get to the odd circuit or two to watch the racing live. So this got me thinking."What date is the California Moto GP at Laguna Seca going to be in 2014?" The Mazda Raceway circuit at Laguna Seca has always been one of my favourite tracks to watch the racing from, and Valentino Rossi, the Italian legend has long been a huge motorcycle racing idol for me. So the opportunity to see Valentino race on the circuit and especially through the legendary 'corkscrew' turn, seemed too good an opportunity to miss. There were two hurdles to overcome to make this happen. Firstly, when was the race going to be? And secondly, where exactly IS The Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca? The second question was the first to be answered. A quick google search and I found the circuit, just outside Monterey, far further up the coast than Santa Monica. The question of 'when', was a bigger issue, as the date had not yet been announced. I found myself waiting for weeks for the announcement, but when it came, the news was not good.
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| Rossi overtaking Casey Stoner at Laguna Seca corkscrew, 2008 |
After 15 years of racing at Laguna Seca, Moto GP, the Formula 1 of motorcycle racing, scratched Laguna Seca from the schedule! After 15 years, the year I was planning to go, the race is pulled. I was GUTTED! Although the bike racing hadn't been in my initial idea, once it had become a possibility it became a real focal point. There was an alternative though.
The World Superbike Championship had begun racing at The Mazda Raceway. So I decided to wait for the announcement of the dates for that race weekend and then plan the rest of my journey around that.
I had to wait till September for the dates to be announced but eventually, Friday July 11th - Sunday 13th were confirmed.
I had the dates for the centre piece of my trip. Now it was time to plan my skateboarding dreams for the rest of my journey.
Next time: Making it real
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