12-12-12

When the world is running down, you make the best of what’s still around.

If you’re into numerology, then today is tailor-made for you!  And you’re an idiot.  The universe is unimpressed by our feeble attempts to quantify its movements.  Though modern timekeeping is extremely accurate, it still reaches back to an unknowable past for its point of origin.

But still: 12-12-12.  If I were of the sort who looks for meaning in numbers, then I could find it easily in 12.  My youngest child is 12 years old.  Today is my twelfth December 12 as a resident of West Bend.  Since I was born, there have been 12 leap years.  I wear size 12 shoes … except when I’m cycling.  Then my feet expand to a robust 46 EUR.  On Monday, shortly after 12 p.m., I received an email informing me that Team Pedal Moraine will hold its annual business meeting on Jan. 12.  On Feb. 12 I will begin a 12-week preseason training plan designed to ensure my fitness for the new racing season.  The new WORS season will consist of 12 races, whether I compete in all of them or not.

Back to the present: there’s nothing about 12 that is more or less special than the other numbers.  I include a lot of numbers in this blog and not one has any mystical significance.  Not one taps into some universal truth or clue to our collective destiny.  But sport, like time, demands to be quantified.  My numbers tell me what I’ve accomplished and then motivate me for new efforts.  There’s one more number I want to hit this year: 5,000 miles.  I’m just 50 miles away and we’re going to have reasonably nice weather for a few days.  It would be a great way to finish 2012, the first year in which I have ridden outside in each of the 12 months.