Motorcycling revives spirit

As an entrepreneur putting in 80-hour work weeks, Justin Shorey ’02 found himself succeeding on the outside but suffering on the inside. The owner of Shorey Wireless, which builds cell sites, he found his days filled with business calls, emails and financial pressure as an entrepreneur.

“Everything looked good on paper, but I was miserable,” said Shorey, an English major.

A friend recommended the Wilderness Collective, a group that offers all-inclusive outdoor travel excursions. He signed up for an off-road motorbiking trip, a 300-mile ride from Sequoia National Park to Yosemite National Park. He’d never ridden a dirt bike before.

 “I hinted that I didn’t have a lot of experience, but I didn’t want to say I had no experience,” admitted Shorey. “Everyone was starting their bikes. I looked over at a guy and said, ‘I don’t know how to start the bike.’”

Soon into the trip, he approached a sharp curve, lost control of his bike and tumbled down a 15-foot cliff. Thankfully, his full body armor protected him from any major injury. In those adrenaline-filled moments, the camaraderie of the men and the beauty of nature already had shifted something in his soul.

Seeing how the group of guys would handle a real crisis—going into the ER, someone being injured, working hard and smart but keeping a light spirit and joy,” said Shorey, “it really snapped me out of how I’d been acting.

After some riding lessons, he booked a second trip, a 500-mile ride through the Grand Canyon.

 He says he returns from these trips fully recharged. Relating his bike rides to his work life led to some inner realizations.               

“There’s a thing called ‘target fixation.’ You’ll see an object in your way, and you become fixated on it,” he said. “The problem is, the bike goes where you look, so it can cause you to collide with the object. So in business and in motorcycling, you have to set your eyes on the clear path and be aware of the obstacles without fixating on them.”

While continuing to build his company, Shorey keeps his eyes on the road ahead. The wilderness still calls as he plans to set off on another motorbiking adventure across the U.S. soon, this time with his brother.