a few things i learned in 2014:

• there is a conversation-starting question almost as good as "what are your interest?". the new question is "what is something you've done recently that you're proud of?". i've already travelled a good number of miles on it and would assert that if you can't get a good conversation out of one or both of those questions, you should cut bait and move on to the next human in your path.
• a road bike is a wildly enjoyable way to experience cycling.
• obstinance, any way you try to dress it up, is a liability.
• my days are markedly improved when i don't have to tie a pair of shoes, someone else's or my own, it doesn't matter.
• our progress and self-satisfaction in life is not measured by the number, quality, or type of good choices we make but instead, and near-fully, by the number of bad choices we make.
• a blurred picture is better than no picture.

here's to the lessons that await us in 2015. may it be a healthy one for all!