All About Mick's World

Herein lies the tale of my cycling life for 2014. Let me preface this with a disclaimer, "Yes, I know this is self-serving, narcissistic, ego-boosting drivel, but I had a fantastic (for me) year on the bike (and nobody's forcing you to read this)." Is anybody still reading? You are? Really? Okay then, I'll continue... As I set out to write this the year is but 2/3 over, but many goals and challenges have already been met, so I want to save these memories while they're still fresh in this old mind. As do many cyclists, I annually set some goals, generally based on past years' performances, hoping to maintain or even improve on those. These improvements can become increasingly difficult as the bar is raised year after year, until I find my peak potential (or due to advancing age, performance begins to wane). In addition to my goals, I have a list of what you could call achievements, or performances of which I am particularly proud. These can be similar to g

THARE In light of some oft-repeated grammar misuse, I propose adding a new word to the  Facebook English language. In spoken communication this word may go unnoticed, but in written Facebook English, it will make life much easier for so many. My proposal: " thare ". The word can have different meanings, depending upon context: 1) It could indicate a specific location. (There) 2) It could mean "they are". (They’re) 3) It could show possession, belonging to them. (Their) Thare has the same pronunciation and meanings of the following words: "there," "their," and "they're." Two accepted spellings are proposed, "thare", and "thair". Tharefore, one need not be concerned with the proper usage, as our new word is not restricted to the rigid rules by which its homonyms are required to abide. No more must we worry which “there” (or “they’re” or “their”) is proper, or how to spell the word (i before e excep

Thirty Days of Mick It all began mid-morning, July 13, 2014, but perhaps a bit of explanation of what led us to this is in order before we delve into the Thirty Days. A few members of the Tri-Sharks club put together two relay teams for the Rodney T Miller Triathlon in Decatur. (Nicely run event, by the way.) One team competing in the men's, and the other in the coed divisions. Naturally there was a bit of good-natured rivalry between the two threesomes of friends. Race day came, wet and dreary, as we traveled south to Decatur. The radar showed that the rain was passing, but would be our unwanted companion for a time. It was still raining lightly upon our arrival, so we checked in, got our race packets, and waited, all the while gazing forlornly at the western sky as it lazily lightened up. Upon our arrival we were notified that due to lake conditions, the swim portion of the race would now be replaced with a one mile run. Neither team was ecstatic with this turn of events, but