While in the shower the other day, “Alexa” decided to play Creed’s “My Sacrifice.” I’m not sure why because I’ve never, not even once, asked her to play anything by Creed. Creed-ence Clearwater Revival once in a while, but never Creed.
As I rinsed the shampoo out of my hair and thought of another song to suggest, Scott Stapp belted out his lyrics:
When you are with me, I’m free
I’m careless, I believe
Careless? Suddenly, it occurred to me that Stapp’s reference to being careless is a positive. Not “careless” as in reckless. Not careless as in failing to give the required attention or thought to your actions or words. “Careless” as in carefree…without a care. Free from stress and anxiety.
Careless is a contronym or Janus word. Janus was an ancient Roman god with two faces that looked in opposite directions, and a Janus word is one that has two opposite meanings. By the way, Janus is also the origin of the word “January” since the month both looks back on the past year and ahead to the new year.
A few other contronyms are overlook, which can mean “to fail to notice, perceive, or consider” or, conversely, “to look after, oversee, or supervise”; lease, meaning “to rent property” or, quite the opposite, “to offer property for rent”; and dust, which can mean to remove dust or, on the other hand, “to sprinkle with dust.”
But back to the word careless. Scott Stapp’s lyrics in “My Sacrifice” are sound advice to motorcycle road racers.
You win races by being careless.
Ask virtually any of our riders in the MotoAmerica paddock what they are thinking about when they race. A majority of them will answer “Nothing. I don’t think about anything.”
Of course, it’s a physiological impossibility to think about absolutely nothing. As humans, we are always thinking about something. But what racers mean by “nothing” is that they are not thinking about the fight they had with their significant other the night before, what they’re going to have for dinner, or how they’re going to pay their tire bill. Successful riders put that stuff out of their minds when they race because racing demands that you be in the moment and focused. Out on the track, if you think about how much it would suck to crash and yard-sale your bike, you will crash and yard-sale your bike.
In a lot of the interviews Josh Hayes has done over the years, I cannot begin to tell you how many times I would hear him tell people, when he is going into a corner, he closes his eyes. Of course, he’s being facetious, but what he really means is that he rides without a care in the world, even when he is weighed down by all the cares in the world. He is careless when he races because that’s how you go fast. That’s how you win.
Don’t think about what position you are in, what your lap time will be, who’s ahead of you or behind you, or if you are going to have enough money to make it to the next round.
Be careless.
Free your mind, and the rest will follow.
Oh, crap. Those are some of the lyrics to that song by En Vogue. I’ve gotta get this shampoo out of my eyes. Alexa!
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