Erwin is a motorcyclist in the Globe of Steel, at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. He drives 50 miles an hour in a 16-foot globe, according to an article in Snapshot in the New York Times by Glen Collins. (Erwin is on the right, with his brother.)
Here’s what he has to say: “We are obsessive-compulsive about maintaining our bikes…but chains come off, you get flat tires, the engines cut out. The bike could come down. You are going to have an incident here and there.”
A fairly casual way of reminding himself —and you— that unexpected stuff is always going to happen. No matter how thoroughly you prepare, there will be the sudden supplier strike, or your files for the ad vanish, without a trace or a backup, or the logo won’t scale. "You are going to have an incident here and there."
You can’t plan for any specific problem, because usually the ones you plan for are not the ones that cause the predicament. Your best option is to realize it is inevitably going to occur. When it does, fix it the best you can, take the blame, and get on with it. And be thankful you are not on a Yahama going 50 MPH in a steel sphere. (Here’s a slideshow of all the photographs by Damon Winter.)
What do you think?
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