My Bike vs. My Priorities!

[Sandjunky]

In April, I read The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and it gave me a new perspective about life and finances. I had a plan that we would pay off all of our bills in a 22 month timeframe. In May my wife and I discovered that we were expecting after trying for less than a month. We want her to be a stay at home mom (we figured that if our kids end up screwed up then we want to know it was our fault) so we accelerated our plan and now in November we are debt free, except our house. I sold my truck and some other stuff, started a handyman service on the side, and we paid off $34K in 8 months!

When I found out that we were going to have a baby I went through what I can only call a phenomenon. I was afraid to ride. I was worried about getting hurt and jeopordizing our plan. I put my bike in the paper and had some offers, but I never sold it. I almost did, but the guy decided he would rather have a 4 stroke, which is good because I still have my bike.

Now that we have reached our goal I have been itching to ride. Its like a switch went off in my head. Anytime I am driving I am fantasizing about riding down the side of the road. The good news: I still have my bike! The bad news: my bike has a blown fork seal and I have no truck or trailer. I'm taking my forks down to the shop next week and I'm going to build a hitch caddy for my Blazer if I ever have time. I haven't been riding since May! I'm still worried about getting hurt, but I guess I'll just have to take it easy. I know I won't have much time to ride, especially after my daughter is born, but I still want to have at least that.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Question: Has anyone else ever gone through this? How long have you gone without riding?

 

[Moose]

The longest I've gone without riding is probably going to be this winter. Oct-Apr/May

Congrats on the new life plan, and the new baby. Nice to hear. Glad you kept the bike also!

 

[SpeedyManiac]

Congrats on the new addition to the family and paying off the debt.

I only get to ride for 4 months of the year (damn school) so I feel your pain about not riding much. I haven't ridden since August and am going through some serious riding withdrawl. Thank god I'm almost done my degree and will get to extend my riding season a lot once I'm done school.

 

[kmccune]

You have to have you goals and all, but you also have to live your life or else your just a work zombie and then one day you die. You have achieved a very commendable situation for your family, just remember that kids need to see their dad too. Start a dirt bike fund, be realistic about the amount. And remember that they build little dirt bikes too :) So for now build that bumper carrier, go riding.

 

[Sandjunky]

Thanks kmccune. It has been a busy year, but I definitely plan to slow down once my daughter is born. I'm taking at least two weeks off my primary job and I plan to take a couple of months off from the side business as well. I'm working my butt off right now to build an emergency fund of 5 months to have for a rainy day like a lay off or something, but once that goal is achieved then the side business will be like a bonus every once in a while to supplement the single income. I've got my forks ready to take down to the shop and I've got money set aside to build the carrier so hopefully some time in December I will be able to go riding again. It fealt great just to work on my bike again.

 

[Crunch]

Congrats on the pregnancy and carrying through the financial plan. :cool: It's nice to not be strapped with debt. Have fun riding.

 

[WaltCMoto]

Junky,
First, congrats on the prego and financial independance. I went through a similar thing with worrying about getting hurt last year. My biggest psycological hurdal to get over was having to ride at 90-100 % to have fun. Now I am completely happy just cruising thru the trails at a comftorble pace. If I get a little out of control, or have a close call with a tree, I back off a bit. I have nothing to prove as far as speed goes. I also think that the more you ride, the faster you need to go to have the thrill factor. I often go a month without riding, then it takes a little while to get in the groove again. Just get out there and ride at a "safe" pace, and your worries will go away.

 

[MXGirl230]

Congrats on the baby and no debt!

In April, I read The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and it gave me a new perspective about life and finances. I had a plan that we would pay off all of our bills in a 22 month timeframe.

Phil has been listening to Dave Ramsey. Gets him all motivated to get stuff paid off We have a plan all set up and are working towards being debt free. Our biggest thing being our student loans...

 

[Sandjunky]

Congrats on the baby and no debt!




Phil has been listening to Dave Ramsey. Gets him all motivated to get stuff paid off We have a plan all set up and are working towards being debt free. Our biggest thing being our student loans...

It's hard not to get motivated after listening to Dave Ramsey. I read his book first and then found him on the radio (until the station changed venue). His plan is so simple, but it takes commitment and a willingness to challenge the status quo. Thanks to Dave's plan, and our commitment, my wife will be a stay at home mom and we'll be contributing 5% to our daughter's college fund by the time she is 2 months old! I would have never thought that was possible. We stopped using credit and our lifestyle really hasn't changed very much, but we have a lot less stress and a lot more hope. We don't ever fight about money and our relationship has never been stronger.

 

[Octane250F]

Just because you are a father that doesnt mean you should give up living your life. I know lots of guys who have familes and still ride. The only difference now is that they dont ride as much and they dont do the big jumps as often.

 

[Tony Eeds]

It's hard not to get motivated after listening to Dave Ramsey.

Dave is great.

Congratulations on getting a GRIP on things before they become the debt that becomes the totally consuming focus of your lives.

Babies can be quite costly. I love mine to death and would lay my life down for them without question. They will be 34 next week ...

I received the following while writing this response ...

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings.

Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the garage with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other.

What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time.

Let me tell you about it:

I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind; he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whomever he was talking with something about "a thousand marbles." I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say.

"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet.

It's too bad you missed your daughter's "dance recital" he continued.

"Let me tell you something that has helped me keep my own priorities."

And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles."

"You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years.

"Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime.

Now, stick with me, Tom, I'm getting to the important part.

It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail", he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays." "I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear."

"Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life.

There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight."

"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast.

This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure that if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time."

"It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. This is a 75 Year old Man, K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!"

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter..

Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss.

"C'mon honey,I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast." "What brought this on?" she asked with a smile. "Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. And hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles...

A friend sent this to me, so I to you, my friend.

And so, as one smart bear once said..."If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you." - Winnie the Pooh.

Pass this on to all of your FRIENDS, even if it means sending it to the person that sent it to you.

And if you receive this e-mail many times from many different people, it only means that you have many FRIENDS.

And if you get it but once, do not be discouraged for you will know that you have at least one good friend ... and that would be ME.

There are good ships,
and there are wood ships,

The ships that sail the sea.

But the best ships are friendships,
and may they always be.

The the most blessed things fall into our lives we we most need them, all we have to do is learn to listen.

 

[evenslower]

Gongrats sandjunky, on gaining a baby and losing the debt. My wife and I made the decision to have her stay home at least until my girls were in school before my first was born, she'll be 5 in a few days. I have to say that I appreciate and love my wife for it. Without question it keeps our family sane and well grounded. Life isn't as hectic as it would be otherwise.

It may be daunting to look at the possibility of losing her income but belive me its very doable and you've already made a big adjustment in behavior that makes it so much easier. Its nice to actually own what you own.

With regards to the riding, I've been there. A couple times for different reasons. I went a year w/o riding due to a work related move and it sucked, but I lived and am riding again. After my kids were born I went through a period where I wasn't that excited about riding. I was more interested in them, I'd piddle around and wrench on the bikes until eventually my wife would kick me in the butt to go ride and I'd ease back into it.

The paradigm you view the world through will change the instant you hold that little miracle in your arms so don't get too gung-ho about making long-term decisions right now. Oh, and short-term ones too, I'm getting real picky about jumps.

 

[Sandjunky]

Thanks again guys. Well I just got back from my wife's doctors appointment and for the first time we got a little scare. She is 31 weeks along and she seems to have stopped putting on weight. They decided to do an ultrasound and the baby seemed to be healthy. They hooked her up to a fetal heart monitor and listened for 20 minutes. The doctor finally decided that the baby was indeed healthy, but it was a nerve racking morning that put things back into perspective. Suddenly, riding is the furthest thing from my mind for now.