All About Mick's World

CHAPTER ONE The Ride One of my very few cycling goals this year was a fixed-gear century. I’ve had this particular fixie for almost two years, and it’s time to break the three-digit barrier. Oh, I suppose I ought to define a couple terms here for some of my readers: Fixed-gear (aka fixie): A peculiar subset of road bicycles. Has only one gear, as opposed to as many as 22 gears on some others. It also has no coasting mechanism, so whenever the bike is moving, the pedals are turning. This all means that when riding this bike, I cannot shift to a different gear to match my pedaling speed to the bike’s speed, nor can I stop pedaling and rest. I can only increase or decrease my pedaling speed, which does limit my high speeds as well as my low speeds. Century: Many bike ride distances are given names relating to the ride’s distance. In this case, a century denotes a ride of 100 (or more) miles. By strict definition, 99.99 miles is NOT a century, but that’s a subject for another blo

Math Is Hard A few days ago, my lovely wife and I were out to dinner with good friends. We chose one of our favorite places, with good food and drinks. Our timing was perhaps less-than-ideal (Friday evening at 5:30), but we got one of the last open tables, and our drinks came quickly as we perused the menu. Food was ordered, and we all sat around the table catching up, sharing recent tales from our lives. All laughs and smiles. Our server was attentive, checking on our drinks regularly, bringing fresh when needed. She apologized that our dinner was taking so long. “I’m so sorry for your wait, but the kitchen is backed up. Your food should be going in soon. I’ll take 10% off of your food bill because of the delay.” To be honest, we didn’t find the wait excessively lengthy, especially for peak dining hours on a Friday, but 10% off? Sure! Our meals came, and lived up to our expectations, as they always do at this particular establishment. We dined, chatted, laughed, and enjoy

I’m sure you are familiar with the term “soul-mate”...you know, that one perfect person for you on this earth. That one person out of the 7½ billion on this wide and wonderful and diverse orb we call home. That one person some folks strive to find and then live out their life in pure bliss. That one person who is your perfect match. Ah, what a romantic ideal that is, no? But, being the non-romantic pragmatic that I am, I feel the chance of finding your soul-mate (if said person even exists) is statistically unlikely if not impossible. The likelihood of a person even passing his or her alleged soulmate in a crowd is small indeed. But the chance of meeting, creating a bond, and engaging in a relationship with that rare individual is even more remote. What if that person lives in another city, or another state, or another country, or even an entirely different continent? What if he or she is too old or too young? What if you just don’t find that person attractive? So many potential roadbl