Goals, dreams and wishes - Part 2

This is where goals come into play. If you have a dream and do something to get there, well now you have something.I've had some dreams in the past. I took steps to get there. I didn't always succeed though. That's OK.I wanted to get to Alaska -- north to the Arctic Sea.I bent a front wheel instead.I wanted to get up to Goose Bay.I wrote off a bike instead.Every time I went out again I went out a little better prepared. Live and learn. The real deal is to get yourself out there.Let's dream big. Let's dream f***ing big!Embarrassingly big in fact. What about running Dakar? Am I too old for it? Dunno. Just a few clicks found me a 52 year old from Australia. I have a bit of time until I'm there.Will I win?The Dakar? No. Of course not. I'm not in the same league as the winners. Even a top 10 on a stage would be too much to hope for. Finishing is the only win I would need.There are decisions to make. The move to California plays into this as well. My expenses go up, but so does the opportunity to ride. Not only ride, but ride in the type of terrain that I'll see out there. Other things like what to spend money on. What not to.Hell... people make resolutions to "work out." Working out isn't a goal unless you simply want to get sweaty. Ok, you might look better and that is a goal. The resolve goes to getting to the goal, not path to it. That being said I need to work out to get in shape to even train to do this.I also need to get a dirt bike. And train on it.Isn't this stupid? A pipe dream?Stupid? Of course. It's lunacy to want to throw myself into two weeks of misery. And it's two weeks if I finish without breaking the bike or me. I was listening to an interview of a woman I was following from Adv: Jenifer Morgan who started the race. She crashed out with a broken leg. You could tell the complete lack of regret in her voice. Even with everything that happened. I'm more than proud that she got as far as she did.Why Dakar? Why the moon?Something to shoot for.When En and I went on our trips there were times I was bitching up a storm. Pissed off at me. At her. At the bike. At the f***ing trip.The moment we got back I reminisced about the trip."Adventure is hardship recounted at leisure." (Something read on AdvRider.com)One of my coworkers races too. Not bikes, but sailboats. None of this wussy sail around the harbor in Lake Erie (sorry Eric if you're reading this -- I'm not calling you a wuss. Just the comparison I'm about to make here!), but a race from California to Hawaii. Alone.Same thing, different medium.Why? To test your own mettle. To say you've done it; or at least tried.My stretch goal: by the time I'm 50. This trumps even the Stalin-era five year plans. I'm talking nearly 15 here.I think I can do it. At least make it there. On a bike.If you're going to dream, make it big. Look at the NaNoWriMo things I did... 50K words in a month. Insane. Dakar: Insane-er. Just plain out-and-out dumb if you ask me.All the better!Goals are good. Doing is better. If you try and fail at least you learned something for next time. At least you have a good story.Wishing and hoping are for losers.