I am typing this offline on the subway so referencing anything is pretty much impossible unless it is archived on the Blackberry. Speaking of which, I was going through my old bike routes that I posted to runningmap.com, I saved a link to each route in my outlook notes. I used to be so impressed with myself that I could ride 75 or 80km. Of course previous to this spring - and buying Amy - the last time I rode my bike in a serious way was the late '90s and back then I did not know better - i.e. use back country roads, clip into the pedals. Oh and a steel frame 12 speed with friction downtube shifters is not nearly as easy, or sweet as carbon fibre, Look pedals with STI shifters. Back to my routes though, July 6 of this year is a big date, not that I tried to remember at the time, it was a Sunday, it was also the first time I rode a century.
Here is a thought, I have never done a century without bonking. Well not exactly. The July 6 ride I bonked at about 145~150km, after peeling off from the group and just taking it easy coming home, I though I was tired, it turns out I bonked but I did not know better at the time. A few weeks later we did the Simcoe ride, I think Dan and I both bonked, well maybe Dan was tired but looking back I am pretty sure I bonked, again at around 145km, but I never made a century that time, I got a lift home from Elgin Mills and Woodbine (yes I hang my head in shame). The next century was the ride with Aaron and Sigrid, that was 196.5km, I bonked again around 145km, that time I recall Aaron said "no offence but I think you bonked" Well Aaron none taken, I will go a step further, I was an idiot. I should have been refilling with carbs, every stop I bought, or got, water (bottled or tap) until after I bonked. After I polished off the Endurox I was toast in the making, although I did not have to be. I had granola bars I never touched - oops! The recent 200km ride I did with Aaron I bonked again, although I am pleased to report I was well clear of my 155km barrier, I made it to about 180 or 190km before the tank ran dry, so I did make a century, just not the full ride.
Here is another thought, I am quite possibly the most anal retentive person I know. I lock my bike up underground in the building parking lot, it is a secure location, except that executives also park their cars there. Just because these people can make off or defraud millions of dollars from hard working stiffs and little old ladies does not mean they can drive or park their cars worth shit. Yes, my bike, Erin, got clipped. I want someone to explain to me what moron managed to clip anything that is more than 10meters from the nearest parking spot? The damage is all to the left control leaver, it is all cosmetic, but it is there and it is really upsetting. Time to start a revolution, throw the fat cats into the sea! (Or at least get them to buy me a new control leaver.) Live free, or with a shiny new bike! I am gonna start writing... a little red book. Maybe I better not.
Has anyone ever read Quotations of Chairman Mao? I did. Its actually... well it is exactly what I expected. Mostly, work hard, have lots of children. But I have to confess I was really just interested in seeing how many references there were to Dr. Bethune, I could find just one. It is sad actually in his early years Mao did a lot of good for China, but after the revolution of 1949, the best thing Mao could have done is step aside, but after working so hard to gain power, to step aside would have been impossible.
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Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
On Rantings from a socialist
Sorry for the lack of recent content, I have been rather busy lately.
Anyway I have done a couple group rides since my last post. Friday morning my neighbour and I went for a very short ride, we had to work after all. But we got to climb Brimley out on the bluffs and that is a brutal climb, 20% at times - so nearly as bad as Rattlesnake point. Here is the route or see below.
My neighbour wants to do a 40km ride this Friday, which will probably mean waking up at some insane hour like 3:30 or something... argh!
Saturday I helped my uncle cut lumber at the cottage, they have a wood burning stove for winter heat and no connection to the grid for water or electricity. My brother brought his neighbour up, who had a little too much fun with the chain saw - every dead tree for miles - is now under the cottage in a size suitable for the wood burning stove.
Sunday I went on a BCC group ride, here is the route we took, or see below.
It was a beautiful ride, except for Vivian road. Truth be told, I would tend to think we would be better off turning on Aurora Rd from Leslie and then taking Woodbine north to Vivian. Around Newmarket Vivian (or Mulock as it is called there) is an ugly road, so is Leslie actually, too much traffic. But the ride down 9'th Concession made it all worthwhile. There was a massive wind from the North, made the ride that way pretty hard, but coming south I literally was not even turning but when I looked at my GPS I was clocking in a steady 45km/h. When I started turning I managed to hit 60km/h. The spin around Musselman was a blast, there was a sharp turn that I had to brake for, the posted limit was 20km/h and I was doing over 40, then I started to push, hard and was quickly up over 40 again and had to tilt way over to follow the curve in the road.
On the ride home I was talking with someone and I mentioned to him that there were an awful lot of Stupid Ugly Vehicles. He liked the acronym and pointed out that with the rise in gas prices SUVs were particularly stupid, but at least global warming would be good for us cyclists in Canada - with all the rain climate change has caused, I am not so sure. I came up with a new acronym, it occurs to me that I have a Sport Utility Vehicle, I used it to commute to work, to buy groceries, so it is a utility vehicle and I use it for sport because my SUV is a bicycle I call Erin! Hey she's even black just like the big behemoths that turn our roads into potholed disasters.
Anyway I have done a couple group rides since my last post. Friday morning my neighbour and I went for a very short ride, we had to work after all. But we got to climb Brimley out on the bluffs and that is a brutal climb, 20% at times - so nearly as bad as Rattlesnake point. Here is the route or see below.
My neighbour wants to do a 40km ride this Friday, which will probably mean waking up at some insane hour like 3:30 or something... argh!
Saturday I helped my uncle cut lumber at the cottage, they have a wood burning stove for winter heat and no connection to the grid for water or electricity. My brother brought his neighbour up, who had a little too much fun with the chain saw - every dead tree for miles - is now under the cottage in a size suitable for the wood burning stove.
Sunday I went on a BCC group ride, here is the route we took, or see below.
It was a beautiful ride, except for Vivian road. Truth be told, I would tend to think we would be better off turning on Aurora Rd from Leslie and then taking Woodbine north to Vivian. Around Newmarket Vivian (or Mulock as it is called there) is an ugly road, so is Leslie actually, too much traffic. But the ride down 9'th Concession made it all worthwhile. There was a massive wind from the North, made the ride that way pretty hard, but coming south I literally was not even turning but when I looked at my GPS I was clocking in a steady 45km/h. When I started turning I managed to hit 60km/h. The spin around Musselman was a blast, there was a sharp turn that I had to brake for, the posted limit was 20km/h and I was doing over 40, then I started to push, hard and was quickly up over 40 again and had to tilt way over to follow the curve in the road.
On the ride home I was talking with someone and I mentioned to him that there were an awful lot of Stupid Ugly Vehicles. He liked the acronym and pointed out that with the rise in gas prices SUVs were particularly stupid, but at least global warming would be good for us cyclists in Canada - with all the rain climate change has caused, I am not so sure. I came up with a new acronym, it occurs to me that I have a Sport Utility Vehicle, I used it to commute to work, to buy groceries, so it is a utility vehicle and I use it for sport because my SUV is a bicycle I call Erin! Hey she's even black just like the big behemoths that turn our roads into potholed disasters.
What ride would be complete without pictures, sadly most of the ones I am in I look like I was in the middle of being stung by a bee.
I really was not in that much pain. (Actually I was not in much pain at all.)
Okay here is a story that happens to be true. Republican, or at least conservative columnists have found a way to blame the latest banking crisis on the democrats. It seems some minor legislation passed in the late 1970s which required banks to consider making loans to black people is the cause of the multi-hundred billion dollar subprime loan fiasco. In other news, Jews now being blamed for World War II and the bubonic plague! (Damned neo-conservatives, in another time or place they would be call holy inquisitors. You know the more I think about it the more truth their is in that remark, the Inquisition did not care for facts, did not have a problem with torture, believed they were doing gods work...)
Anyway I posted a response on an American political cartoonist blog where one such column was printed, my post is below. (Spelling and crammer mostly fixed up here.)
Someone just forwarded me a column by a Massachusetts 'conservative' (I use quotes since there really isn't very much that is conservative in the batch of neo-cons running DC these days) columnist. The talking points, in fact the entire article was virtually identical to this one. Holy smokes, do Republicans have only one modus operandi?
The problem is greed, pure and simple. Everyone wants more, the $400 million executive bonus, to the subprime loan for a new car (or to pay medical bills?) Regulation to put a check on greed and prevent bubbles, such as the Glass-Steagall act repealed by the Republican congress of the late 1990s is critical. There is in a word blame enough for all, but truly a lot of the blame can be placed squarely on the shoulders of those who drafted banking law over the last ten or so years (the banking lobby) and those who embolded them by enacting these laws (the Republican congress.)
Anyway would republican columnists just shut up. They (the Republicans) destroyed this country's standing in the World. They destroyed much of the military capacity of this country, they are destroying the economy, what can they possibly do next? Just shut up and move to Beijing please!
Thursday, September 25, 2008
On working too hard and decent drivers
Its easy, too easy, to bitch about all the inconsiderate drivers, of which this city is over crowded, but today I ought to tip my hat to the guy (or woman?) in a Nissan Murano. They had an Ironman finisher border around the licence plate and they... you may need to sit down for this bit... they yielded to me! I was in the bike lane on the right hand side of the road, I had to turn left, and they let me in. It was a really cool experience, not feeling like a big target to drivers.
I have come to an important realisation regarding my body, if I exercise too hard, be it skate, cycle, swim or run, when I am near the wall my body throws out a sudden burst of power and then gives out almost completely. I've seen it happen a million times, well not a million, but a whole lot, while skating and it has happened once or twice riding. (Probably swimming too, but I hardly swim anymore, ever since I became a certified lifeguard I pretty much stopped swimming.) On a recent ride I was falling to the back of the pack, suddenly that burst kicked in and I was in front, way in front and then I hit a red light and that was that, from there to the coffee break I was struggling to keep above 20km/h, getting dropped was unavoidable despite generous offers from other guys in the BCC.
The same thing has happened in skating, actually a lot more often, the burst then the drop. I need to find a way to know, this burst is it, after that I am spent, unlike the other more modest bursts. If I knew that I could better ration my strength. Something for me to think about.
Okay I have to rant for a second on US Politics. It seems the Senior Senator from Arizona and Republican nomination for President has decided to suspend his campaign because he feels he cannot cope with the pressures of being a presidential nominee and manage the vast US economy (as one of the one hundred US Senators) at the same time. I've got to ask, what is he going to do if he is elected president and there is a foreign crisis during a period of poor economic performance? If ever there was a person less qualified to be president... his name would be George Walker Bush, governor of Texas circa February of 2000 through to the present time.
I have come to an important realisation regarding my body, if I exercise too hard, be it skate, cycle, swim or run, when I am near the wall my body throws out a sudden burst of power and then gives out almost completely. I've seen it happen a million times, well not a million, but a whole lot, while skating and it has happened once or twice riding. (Probably swimming too, but I hardly swim anymore, ever since I became a certified lifeguard I pretty much stopped swimming.) On a recent ride I was falling to the back of the pack, suddenly that burst kicked in and I was in front, way in front and then I hit a red light and that was that, from there to the coffee break I was struggling to keep above 20km/h, getting dropped was unavoidable despite generous offers from other guys in the BCC.
The same thing has happened in skating, actually a lot more often, the burst then the drop. I need to find a way to know, this burst is it, after that I am spent, unlike the other more modest bursts. If I knew that I could better ration my strength. Something for me to think about.
Okay I have to rant for a second on US Politics. It seems the Senior Senator from Arizona and Republican nomination for President has decided to suspend his campaign because he feels he cannot cope with the pressures of being a presidential nominee and manage the vast US economy (as one of the one hundred US Senators) at the same time. I've got to ask, what is he going to do if he is elected president and there is a foreign crisis during a period of poor economic performance? If ever there was a person less qualified to be president... his name would be George Walker Bush, governor of Texas circa February of 2000 through to the present time.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
On Missing An Escape The Don Ride
First a video I have posted to YouTube. Since I am no good at video editing (well I could hack this, but I'm too busy) I will just say, turn the sound off, you really don't need to hear the wind noise and my lame jokes at the very beginning - and they really are lame, like not even worth groaning about.
And here are a bunch of images in case you have not gotten your fill of Lake Simcoe (or me)!
In unrelated news, I gave blood yesterday, I documented that previously. It was donation number 62, or potentially 186 lives saved. I must admit though, donating blood is a pain from an athletic stand point. Normally I pass three or four street cars every day on my commute into the office. Today I had to really fight just to pass the first tram. Yesterday I was riding up a hill and I got completely winded, now granted I was climbing, but still recovery time is a lot worse and I am frantic for oxygen by the time I finish a sprint - far more frantic than normal. I suppose I should expect this, but it sure would be nice if I could be generous and donate without actually suffering. Oh well, I guess my suffering is pretty small compared with someone who needs a liver transplant.
There was an article in today's paper, the author, John Barber, proposed that Yonge Street be reduced from four lanes to two, one in each direction, then widen the sidewalks and make bike lanes that are physically separated from the road, with planters or something similar. What a great idea, only I've got one better. Reduce Yonge Street to two lanes and then do the same thing on Eglinton and Queen Street. In short make downtown bike accessible to normal people, i.e. people unlike me who are unwilling to ride among the 2 ton killing machines often benignly called cars.
In a perfect world, nobody would drive. But then in a perfect World I wouldn't need to commute.
And here are a bunch of images in case you have not gotten your fill of Lake Simcoe (or me)!
In unrelated news, I gave blood yesterday, I documented that previously. It was donation number 62, or potentially 186 lives saved. I must admit though, donating blood is a pain from an athletic stand point. Normally I pass three or four street cars every day on my commute into the office. Today I had to really fight just to pass the first tram. Yesterday I was riding up a hill and I got completely winded, now granted I was climbing, but still recovery time is a lot worse and I am frantic for oxygen by the time I finish a sprint - far more frantic than normal. I suppose I should expect this, but it sure would be nice if I could be generous and donate without actually suffering. Oh well, I guess my suffering is pretty small compared with someone who needs a liver transplant.
There was an article in today's paper, the author, John Barber, proposed that Yonge Street be reduced from four lanes to two, one in each direction, then widen the sidewalks and make bike lanes that are physically separated from the road, with planters or something similar. What a great idea, only I've got one better. Reduce Yonge Street to two lanes and then do the same thing on Eglinton and Queen Street. In short make downtown bike accessible to normal people, i.e. people unlike me who are unwilling to ride among the 2 ton killing machines often benignly called cars.
In a perfect world, nobody would drive. But then in a perfect World I wouldn't need to commute.
On A Few More Good Photos
All photos were taken by Aaron, I am including my personal favourites - that I have not already included in previous posts. There were almost all taken as we rode along Lake Drive on the south shore of Lake Simcoe. (The image of the water bottles I include mostly for humor value, that one was taken at a Tim Hortons on Dalton road, just south of Lake Drive.) 
I like the last one because a careful eye will notice that my legs are blurred but my upper body is in focus. Aaron managed to keep a very steady hand for that shot, recall he was on a bike as well, that is talent.
I like the last one because a careful eye will notice that my legs are blurred but my upper body is in focus. Aaron managed to keep a very steady hand for that shot, recall he was on a bike as well, that is talent.
Monday, September 22, 2008
On Past Rides and Recovery
I am going to donate blood today so I will be off the saddle for the next couple days, except of course for the commute to and from the office. This is probably a good thing, I need to recover from the Saturday ride. Except I really will miss the freedom that comes with the saddle.
This Saturday (Sept. 27) I have to go to my Aunt and Uncle's cottage to help them prepare it for the Winter, Lesley said I should ride there. The cottage is in Rosseau, about 220km from home, I don't think I can do it. For one thing I would need to find a safe route, for another, the roads near there are not exactly well paved. (That fact that I will have just donated blood makes it even more foolish for me to even consider riding there.) And then by the time I arrived I would be ready to crash, I'd be in no shape to cut wood or whatever else they need help with.
I read the following in Today's Globe And Mail, in the context of Georg's anonymous posts it seems relevant (yes I am still on that crap, but I am getting over it).
Anyway I have an appointment at the clinic, time for me to give up a pint of AB+. If I have time later I'll post some more YouTube videos of the ride from Saturday. Aaron's a good photographer.
This Saturday (Sept. 27) I have to go to my Aunt and Uncle's cottage to help them prepare it for the Winter, Lesley said I should ride there. The cottage is in Rosseau, about 220km from home, I don't think I can do it. For one thing I would need to find a safe route, for another, the roads near there are not exactly well paved. (That fact that I will have just donated blood makes it even more foolish for me to even consider riding there.) And then by the time I arrived I would be ready to crash, I'd be in no shape to cut wood or whatever else they need help with.
I read the following in Today's Globe And Mail, in the context of Georg's anonymous posts it seems relevant (yes I am still on that crap, but I am getting over it).
Our modern culture, come to think of it, is one long string of attack ads – through YouTube videos, satirical Web pages and gotcha e-mails, we are constantly holding up our public figures, and even each other, to scathing ridicule and scorn.
Most times on the Internet we hide behind anonymity to do so. (Will the reader, for instance, who called me “patriarchy's handmaiden” please step forward? Just for a little chat.)
The truth is, even if we're not the ones on the attack, we're all complicit, quickly forwarding the best nasty e-mails or hurrying to YouTube to witness the next takedown. It doesn't say much for our collective humanity, does it, when during elections the political ads that work the best are the most vicious ones?
Anyway I have an appointment at the clinic, time for me to give up a pint of AB+. If I have time later I'll post some more YouTube videos of the ride from Saturday. Aaron's a good photographer.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
On Random Thoughts
This must be my millionth posting on random thoughts. But I have a mishmash of ideas I want to put out in the open.
First the number of people who have told me how much they like my blog is really, and I do mean really flattering. (If I write a book would you guys buy it?) And why didn't anyone come to my defence when Georg was coming after me with the torches and pitch forks. (Actually that was a joke, I wouldn't want to get into a fight like that if someone offered to pay my mortgage, that fight was really dirty... actually if someone were willing to pay my mortgage... hmmm.)
Speaking of Georg, I am going to do something I really don't want to do, I will read his last message to me. I just ate dinner, I might just be returning the dinner very soon to a porcelain god near me.
Alright here it is:
[quote]You've come to our house. It wasn't to your taste. On leaving, you decide to wax negative in your "memoirs".[close quote]
Aaron said something very interesting, that Georg was being metaphorical, the house in this case was skating. If so there is a fundamental flaw in logic. I got Georg to join TISC, we were driving back from Montreal after the 2007 24hour marathon and I told him how good TISC would be for his technique and he started coming a few days or weeks after. Georg may have been thinking of joining TISC on his own, but I am pretty sure I was to Georg's joining TISC what the assassination of Franz Ferdinand was to the start of World War I, I lit the flame, the gas was already all over the place. I remember at one point, at TISC practice, I stopped doing the drills Eric Gee was giving me to help Georg in areas where he needed work. At the 24 hour Georg, who only owned rec skates decided he should buy racing skates, he did not have enough cash so I paid half ($300) on my Visa and he paid me back later on, he does not have a credit card. (I still have the Visa statement, I am sure I can find a $300 charge to ZT Sports that day, right near the smaller charge for the wheels I bought from Gavin, the same day.)
I was already living in 'his' house, before he even moved in, I saw structural flaws, I pointed them out so they could be addressed before the building collapses and some guy comes along and tells me off, nice, real nice. Of course he didn't tell me to my face, no he just slammed me anonymously. If you haven't got the balls to put your name to your opinions you should go bugger off. (I can think of better ways to say that, but I prefer saving those words for car drivers!) Anyway as for the house that skating built, I have pretty much moved out, it is not worth it, I fell in love with road biking and all the politics and gossip that goes on at TISC is ludicrous.
Alright time to talk politics. (I haven't been doing that already?) I am going to let my socialist colours fly - sorry conservatives I might piss you off, although really I am a conservative in the old sense of the word.
Here is what I believe:
1. Budgets should be balanced (except in times of war, which should be almost never)
2. Protection of the environment is critical, to be a conservative you have to conserve things.
3. Looking after the less fortunate among us isn't a nice thing, its a moral imperative, to do otherwise would be "un-christian" (seeing as I was born a Jew and don't practice anything, I will need to find a better term for 'un-christian'.)
4. Political debate should be about policy, not people, about ideas and ideals, not about moral or personal failings except as they reflect a person's ability to run a nation.
5. A democratic system of government requires an educated populace making informed decisions based on their experience and rational good judgment. Emotional appeals to the Id should be ignored in favour of doing what is intellectually the correct thing to do.
Question: Besides the Liberals in Canada is their any other option that seems remotely reasonable this election? (Maybe the BQ, I haven't been following them.)
Obviously the only real option in the United States is Barrack Obama.
I invite my readers to consider those questions and then reply with their own beliefs. Obviously our own prior experiences will tend to push us in different directions but let us have a real policy debate about the important things, a green shift, a balanced budget, not bird poop or lipstick.
Now, as promised, images from my ride to Lake Simoce.
First the number of people who have told me how much they like my blog is really, and I do mean really flattering. (If I write a book would you guys buy it?) And why didn't anyone come to my defence when Georg was coming after me with the torches and pitch forks. (Actually that was a joke, I wouldn't want to get into a fight like that if someone offered to pay my mortgage, that fight was really dirty... actually if someone were willing to pay my mortgage... hmmm.)
Speaking of Georg, I am going to do something I really don't want to do, I will read his last message to me. I just ate dinner, I might just be returning the dinner very soon to a porcelain god near me.
Alright here it is:
[quote]You've come to our house. It wasn't to your taste. On leaving, you decide to wax negative in your "memoirs".[close quote]
Aaron said something very interesting, that Georg was being metaphorical, the house in this case was skating. If so there is a fundamental flaw in logic. I got Georg to join TISC, we were driving back from Montreal after the 2007 24hour marathon and I told him how good TISC would be for his technique and he started coming a few days or weeks after. Georg may have been thinking of joining TISC on his own, but I am pretty sure I was to Georg's joining TISC what the assassination of Franz Ferdinand was to the start of World War I, I lit the flame, the gas was already all over the place. I remember at one point, at TISC practice, I stopped doing the drills Eric Gee was giving me to help Georg in areas where he needed work. At the 24 hour Georg, who only owned rec skates decided he should buy racing skates, he did not have enough cash so I paid half ($300) on my Visa and he paid me back later on, he does not have a credit card. (I still have the Visa statement, I am sure I can find a $300 charge to ZT Sports that day, right near the smaller charge for the wheels I bought from Gavin, the same day.)
I was already living in 'his' house, before he even moved in, I saw structural flaws, I pointed them out so they could be addressed before the building collapses and some guy comes along and tells me off, nice, real nice. Of course he didn't tell me to my face, no he just slammed me anonymously. If you haven't got the balls to put your name to your opinions you should go bugger off. (I can think of better ways to say that, but I prefer saving those words for car drivers!) Anyway as for the house that skating built, I have pretty much moved out, it is not worth it, I fell in love with road biking and all the politics and gossip that goes on at TISC is ludicrous.
Alright time to talk politics. (I haven't been doing that already?) I am going to let my socialist colours fly - sorry conservatives I might piss you off, although really I am a conservative in the old sense of the word.
Here is what I believe:
1. Budgets should be balanced (except in times of war, which should be almost never)
2. Protection of the environment is critical, to be a conservative you have to conserve things.
3. Looking after the less fortunate among us isn't a nice thing, its a moral imperative, to do otherwise would be "un-christian" (seeing as I was born a Jew and don't practice anything, I will need to find a better term for 'un-christian'.)
4. Political debate should be about policy, not people, about ideas and ideals, not about moral or personal failings except as they reflect a person's ability to run a nation.
5. A democratic system of government requires an educated populace making informed decisions based on their experience and rational good judgment. Emotional appeals to the Id should be ignored in favour of doing what is intellectually the correct thing to do.
Question: Besides the Liberals in Canada is their any other option that seems remotely reasonable this election? (Maybe the BQ, I haven't been following them.)
Obviously the only real option in the United States is Barrack Obama.
I invite my readers to consider those questions and then reply with their own beliefs. Obviously our own prior experiences will tend to push us in different directions but let us have a real policy debate about the important things, a green shift, a balanced budget, not bird poop or lipstick.
Now, as promised, images from my ride to Lake Simoce.
So when people pass me they get too see my bike (Erin) from that angle? No wonder every always seems to be in such a rush to pass. ;-)
Aaron, this is the one picture of you, you took it yourself. (I hope you don't mind that I post it, but I figure I gotta show at least a picture of you somewhere here, no?)
I am generating a YouTube video of me on the saddle as shot by Aaron, but it's 145MB as an AVI file so it might take some time to publish. Once its out there I'll throw a link to it.
On An Entierly Awsome Ride
Holy smokes did Aaron make me work today, and it was... awesome!! (Aaron I know I said this a bunch of times but thanks again, that ride was great.) I achieved a major goal, with Aaron pushing me to go faster, get from Lake Ontario to Lake Simcoe and return in one ride, we did it at a fast pace - average speed about 29km/h and literally everything went almost perfectly. I wish more people had come out, but other than that it was entirely great, the weather was almost perfect (albeit we had a nasty headwind on the way home), the roads were mostly clear and we were really booking it. I used my father-in-law's old camera for the first time, well Aaron worked it, he did not want to be in any pictures, he's camera shy. ;) I will post some pictures later on but here is the route and some statistics as gathered up from the Garmin.
(I forgot to hit start on the GPS until I got to Pape and Dundas so I am missing about 5km, but clearly our goal was achieved.)
First the high resolution route, or lower resolution see below:
And here are the statistics:
Total distance (according to the GPS, so add about 3~5km): 199.6km.
Heart rate (avg/max): 141/224 (uh - oh!)
Speed km/h (avg/max): 29.3/60.1
Calories: 8111 (Well holy, no wonder we were so hungry!)
Maybe I'll go to one of the local bakeries and buy a nice cake for desert tonight, to think if I eat the whole thing I'll probably still need another 5000 calories or so (I am assuming all the granola and hammer gel and lunch gives me 1000 Calories.)
Anyway pictures to follow in the days to come.
(I forgot to hit start on the GPS until I got to Pape and Dundas so I am missing about 5km, but clearly our goal was achieved.)
First the high resolution route, or lower resolution see below:
And here are the statistics:
Total distance (according to the GPS, so add about 3~5km): 199.6km.
Heart rate (avg/max): 141/224 (uh - oh!)
Speed km/h (avg/max): 29.3/60.1
Calories: 8111 (Well holy, no wonder we were so hungry!)
Maybe I'll go to one of the local bakeries and buy a nice cake for desert tonight, to think if I eat the whole thing I'll probably still need another 5000 calories or so (I am assuming all the granola and hammer gel and lunch gives me 1000 Calories.)
Anyway pictures to follow in the days to come.
Friday, September 19, 2008
On Being Reborn
Okay, so here's the deal. I was thinking of making this a private diary, but I have a better idea. I am renaming things and changing philosophy.
First and foremost, no more anonymous postings. I allow people to post "anonymously" in the sense that you do not need a Google user ID, but if you post without your name, I delete. You have an opinion, good for you, but you better damned well be willing to put your name behind your opinion if you want me to even read it.
Two I am going to rant, you don't like what I have to say, don't read it. I need an outlet and guess what, this blog is my outlet. I piss you off, that's wonderful, write me an email, phone me, or if you are going to post something here be damned sure you want the whole world to read it. This is my space and I get to say what I want, how I want. Sometimes I am evening going to be offensive without meaning to be, and that's just life!
For example, apparently I insulted Georg's home, judging by his last comment I insulted it when I saw it from the end of his driveway as we moved my things from his car to the taxi. Here's a dirty little secret, we had been on the road from about 10am Sunday morning in Duluth MN until, oh 2am Monday morning in Toronto by that point, and guess what, I still had an hour of taxi riding ahead of me. I was so punchy I am pretty sure you could tell me I was reciting Shakespeare and I wouldn't know it. But I do recall he was giving me a tour of his neighbourhood and I knew enough to stay silent and hope it would end soon so I could get to bed. I am pretty sure besides the standard, "nice house" and "good night" I didn't say much of anything at all. His voice was horse and my throat was dry, so how he claims I insulted his home, well I honestly don't know, but then like I said, I could have said anything, I really don't remember that clearly.
Anyway none of that matters anymore. What matters is this, this is my space, where my opinions live. I may be detestable at times, I may be lovable at others. I will whine, I will rant, I will even say nice things, when I am not feeling like the curmudgeon that I usually am. But if you don't like what I have to write you shouldn't read my blog. If you don't like what I have to say, tell me to my face. But if you don't have the balls to face me and say "Michael I've got a problem with X Y and Z" well then frankly you don't have an opinion that I want to read.
That's my rant and I'm sticking too it.
As an aside, for me its a real shame, I must confess, when I first got the angry anonymous posts I knew the following:
- The person posting was using a mac.
- They lived in Mississauga
- They used Rogers
I suspected George for about a second, then thought to myself, he's too mature and too decent a guy to post that sort of inflammatory thing anonymously. I respected him that much. Wow am I a lousy judge of character. Let me also add, when he stopped posting anonymously and I saw it was Georg it was as if someone had punched me in the stomach, literally I felt physically ill, I am still shocked a day later. That whole fiasco completely blows me away.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Good bye
What can I say? Lesley read over the recent postings and explained to me how what was intended as simple observations are in fact horribly offensive. I realise now that what I need is a private journal, I want to write, I like writing but I cannot dare publish what I want to say to the wide world. I am too offensive, even arrogant at times.
For all of those things I am truly sorry, I apologize from the bottom of my heart to the people, and I suspect its more than just a few who I have offended. I suspect it is far too late now - and I doubt it will do any good at all, but it was not intended.
I have invested too much time into this blog, over 190 posts and scores of images, for me to just throw the whole thing away. I have decided therefore to make this a private blog. Starting shortly it will only be possible to view this site with a login. To anyone who might want to continue reading me - although I have to wonder if there is anyone left to offend - I am willing to grant access to read, but I better warn you, I won't be pulling my punches. I will be rude, I will be offensive, I will even be arrogant because it will be a private journal. (Frankly I think I went into this thing with a mindset of, this is a private journal, and given the low hit count that was actually a reasonably accurate assessment of the situation, I doubt I had more than two or three regular readers besides myself.)
Again I am sorry, I've been a real dick, without intending it which more than anything else tells me, it is time to leave.
Good bye
For all of those things I am truly sorry, I apologize from the bottom of my heart to the people, and I suspect its more than just a few who I have offended. I suspect it is far too late now - and I doubt it will do any good at all, but it was not intended.
I have invested too much time into this blog, over 190 posts and scores of images, for me to just throw the whole thing away. I have decided therefore to make this a private blog. Starting shortly it will only be possible to view this site with a login. To anyone who might want to continue reading me - although I have to wonder if there is anyone left to offend - I am willing to grant access to read, but I better warn you, I won't be pulling my punches. I will be rude, I will be offensive, I will even be arrogant because it will be a private journal. (Frankly I think I went into this thing with a mindset of, this is a private journal, and given the low hit count that was actually a reasonably accurate assessment of the situation, I doubt I had more than two or three regular readers besides myself.)
Again I am sorry, I've been a real dick, without intending it which more than anything else tells me, it is time to leave.
Good bye
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
On Introspection
Obviously recent comments have provoked much thought on my part. I stand by everything I said because it is true. Blunt, perhaps a little brutal but brutally honest.
The sad fact is inline speed skating in North America is a dying sport. Turn out at Duluth declined this year, manufacturers and retailers are pulling out as fast as you can say clearance sale. Even skate clubs are contracting, or disappearing, remember the Cambridge club?
Now we can hide our collective head in the sand on the big issues and rant about whatever it was that so irritated "anonymous", (ironically much as this years presidential election seems to revolve around lipstick - we can also point fingers and call each other names) or we can grow up and start by acknowledging there is a very serious problem with the sport.
I spent years training (I skated for a long time before I joined a club) - yes there was blood and sweat, though not so many tears, and I spent more than a small fortune on inline skating and I really do not have much to show for it. I am angry at the industry for appalling customer service, I am angry at race officials for turning a blind eye to cheating and I am angry at the community writ large for being willing to put up with all that crap. I am angry and I am not willing to take it anymore. What is the point of trying when the best I could ever hope to achieve will be to wear the same skate boots as the winner of the next North Shore Inline Marathon?
There are good people in the sport, heck the overwhelming majority are good and decent people, but that does not matter. Ultimately my perspective is, this is not a serious sport and should not be taken seriously until the stakeholders take it seriously. Now I am a 'retired' inline skater and I actually know a lot of the major players here in North America, not on a first name basis but I know or know of them, to simply dismiss me as a "whiner" is the prerogative of the reader, but remember any new skater (the way to grow a sport) will discover, with time, the same things I have and quit. Now ask yourself how will the sport be served best?
The subject who is truly loyal to the chief magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures.
The sad fact is inline speed skating in North America is a dying sport. Turn out at Duluth declined this year, manufacturers and retailers are pulling out as fast as you can say clearance sale. Even skate clubs are contracting, or disappearing, remember the Cambridge club?
Now we can hide our collective head in the sand on the big issues and rant about whatever it was that so irritated "anonymous", (ironically much as this years presidential election seems to revolve around lipstick - we can also point fingers and call each other names) or we can grow up and start by acknowledging there is a very serious problem with the sport.
I spent years training (I skated for a long time before I joined a club) - yes there was blood and sweat, though not so many tears, and I spent more than a small fortune on inline skating and I really do not have much to show for it. I am angry at the industry for appalling customer service, I am angry at race officials for turning a blind eye to cheating and I am angry at the community writ large for being willing to put up with all that crap. I am angry and I am not willing to take it anymore. What is the point of trying when the best I could ever hope to achieve will be to wear the same skate boots as the winner of the next North Shore Inline Marathon?
There are good people in the sport, heck the overwhelming majority are good and decent people, but that does not matter. Ultimately my perspective is, this is not a serious sport and should not be taken seriously until the stakeholders take it seriously. Now I am a 'retired' inline skater and I actually know a lot of the major players here in North America, not on a first name basis but I know or know of them, to simply dismiss me as a "whiner" is the prerogative of the reader, but remember any new skater (the way to grow a sport) will discover, with time, the same things I have and quit. Now ask yourself how will the sport be served best?
The subject who is truly loyal to the chief magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures.
-Junius
On Pictures form a ride
Dan just posted some pictures that he took from the Escape The Don ride. I am using them without permission, but I don't think Dan will mind. :)
Notice how nervous we all looked? Actually mostly me, I figured I was about to be droped and left to fend for myself out in Mississauga somewhere.
Notice how nervous we all looked? Actually mostly me, I figured I was about to be droped and left to fend for myself out in Mississauga somewhere.
Of course the guys at the BCC are far too kind for that sort of nonesense, they must have gone slowly so that I could feel like I wasn't the slowest guy in the world.
Thanks guys, you're the best! :)
On Talking Without Thinking
I did an Escape The Don ride last night with the Beaches Cycle Club, damn those guys are fast. But I was very pleased to report that I was not dropped, its a great feeling when all the effort finally starts to pay off and I can in fact hold on to the back of the pack if I struggle with the last fibre of my strength. Dan posted the route on the BCC blog, but here is the actual route as captured by my GPS. We averaged over 30km/h and burned over 2900 calories in just over two hours. Last night was a good night for me.
Now I was going to respond to a recent comment in response to this blog post, I was going to go into an angry tirade against someone who didn't have the balls to sign their name in a posting but had the audacity to publicly say to me that I should "get over [my]self" that apparently I am a "whiner". Instead I will say only this, anonymous, if you publicly write an apology in the comment section of this post - and sign your name, I will remove your original comment, because frankly that comment betrays a profound lack of literary comprehension that is... embarrassing. I mean reading the bloody comment is like watching the guy who "humped the pie" on American Pie glue his hand to... himself. Its almost painful to watch, or in this case read. Anyway that is all I am going to say on that subject, sorry for exposing everyone else to that.
Now I was going to respond to a recent comment in response to this blog post, I was going to go into an angry tirade against someone who didn't have the balls to sign their name in a posting but had the audacity to publicly say to me that I should "get over [my]self" that apparently I am a "whiner". Instead I will say only this, anonymous, if you publicly write an apology in the comment section of this post - and sign your name, I will remove your original comment, because frankly that comment betrays a profound lack of literary comprehension that is... embarrassing. I mean reading the bloody comment is like watching the guy who "humped the pie" on American Pie glue his hand to... himself. Its almost painful to watch, or in this case read. Anyway that is all I am going to say on that subject, sorry for exposing everyone else to that.
Monday, September 15, 2008
On The Simcoe Ride
The weather looks good, I am still walking, despite custom skates that do not fit properly, and I am riding to lake Simcoe on Saturday. Its going to be a great ride and I swear I am doing this if I have to go it alone. (Although if that is the case it sure would be nice if I knew that in advance so I know to bring my iPod.) The interested reader is encouraged to see my other blog, Riding Too Far, where I have posted the particulars of the ride.
Anyway last weekend Dan Yang went to Montreal where he saw some 2009 model year bikes. I am going to post one of them here because frankly, its about the sexiest damned thing I have seen since... oh the last time I saw Lesley.
If anyone knows next week's 6/49 numbers can they give me a ring, I need to win a lottery or two.
Anyway last weekend Dan Yang went to Montreal where he saw some 2009 model year bikes. I am going to post one of them here because frankly, its about the sexiest damned thing I have seen since... oh the last time I saw Lesley.
If anyone knows next week's 6/49 numbers can they give me a ring, I need to win a lottery or two.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
On The North Shore Inline Marathon
Here are some statistics from the 2007 North Shore Inline Marathon (Sept. 15, 2007):
I have this to say about biking, holy #$&! I knew biking improved my cardio health, I knew I had lost a lot of fat - not weight, gained an awful lot of muscle. What I did not know was that despite the fact that I skated all of twice since, oh about May 20, my technical weakness - lack of comfort on skates, weak muscle groups that are used skating and not riding - was so totally offset by my cardio strength as to boggle my mind. Eric Gee and Georg N. were right, on the drive to Duluth they kept telling me I would surprise myself. Given the high regard I have for their opinion I figured I would be fine, I did not expect to set any sort of impressive performance records, but I figured I would be fine. I guess the moral of the story is, skaters should bike more.
I would like to point out my average speed at this year's inline marathon, 29.7km/h looks good even on a bike, but on the bike, I stop at red lights, this was a closed course. On a bike I get head winds and tail winds, this was all one direction with a steady, albeit gentle, tail wind. I make sharp turns on a bike, this course had a sum total of three turns of about 90 degrees. Had I been on Erin or Amy my average speed would have been 45km/h or probably a fair bit faster, the rollers are damned modest too, the one hill of any size, not nearly as big this year as last year, must have eroded a lot, no it didn't erode, I got faster.
Will I give up skating? No. I just do not think I will be doing it all that often anymore. I have to admit I am pretty disgusted at the inline industry actually. I mean, here just one story. I have custom made skate boots, they fit my feet and only my feet, except they do not. Well the North America representative of the company that made my skate boots was here so I spoke with him. He told me to take some lipstick to the part of my feet that is rubbing the skate, then put the skate on to mark where the boot needs to be reshaped, then send the boot to him. I replied, "why not just do it right here" after all, I don't exactly need the skate for a few weeks. Well he did not have lipstick. Except he was at the event as an official representative of a very big skate maker, so here is my rant. I have heard of people breaking bike frames by doing things out of warranty, the manufacturer sends a new frame and an apology, no questions asked. I am not asking for a new skate boot, I am asking for the guy to come prepared with a marker or lipstick because I will bet good money I am not the only person in this predicament, in fact I know I am not the only person unhappy with their customs. It seems everyone I talk with, who has a recent custom not made by Eric is fed up. Hey boot makers, you don't grow the sport by treating your customers like crap. (And yes, once upon a time boot makers knew what they were doing, I know people who have boots made years ago who swear by them, it seems that recent customs have issues, old ones are fine.)
And another thing that gets me, consider Riccardo Ricco, anyone who follows road biking does not need to read the Wikipedia article I linked to, they know that name. Here is a guy who is remarkable until it turns out he was on a baned, performance enhancing, substance, EPO. He was thrown out of the Tour De France and his team, Saunier Duva, had to withdraw without their captain. In the Inline Skating world it is no secret that there are people taking performance enhancing substances at some of these big events and nothing is being done about it, at least here in North America. I finish the race and hear about some of the guys that come in with impressive times and frankly I just do not care, I raced clean and suspect everyone else, why shouldn't I? (Then again I also came with no ambition and nothing to prove, but I was unusual that way.) There are so many things that need to be done in the Inline world to bring it up to a reasonable standard, but frankly I just don't see that happening, there is too much momentum to keep things crappy.
What a sorry state for a sport to be in.
- Bib No.: 2256
- Overall rank: 417 out of 2564
- Division Placement: 23 out of 129
- Sex Placement: 353 out of 1499
- Time: 107 min 12 sec
- Time/Mile: 4 min 6 sec (avg)
- Speed (km/h): 23.6km/h
- Bib No.: 1118
- Overall rank: 298 out of 2277
- Division Placement: 18 out of 114
- Sex Placement: 256 out of 1348
- Time: 84min 50 sec
- Time/Mile: 3min 15 sec (avg)
- Speed (km/h): 29.7
I have this to say about biking, holy #$&! I knew biking improved my cardio health, I knew I had lost a lot of fat - not weight, gained an awful lot of muscle. What I did not know was that despite the fact that I skated all of twice since, oh about May 20, my technical weakness - lack of comfort on skates, weak muscle groups that are used skating and not riding - was so totally offset by my cardio strength as to boggle my mind. Eric Gee and Georg N. were right, on the drive to Duluth they kept telling me I would surprise myself. Given the high regard I have for their opinion I figured I would be fine, I did not expect to set any sort of impressive performance records, but I figured I would be fine. I guess the moral of the story is, skaters should bike more.
I would like to point out my average speed at this year's inline marathon, 29.7km/h looks good even on a bike, but on the bike, I stop at red lights, this was a closed course. On a bike I get head winds and tail winds, this was all one direction with a steady, albeit gentle, tail wind. I make sharp turns on a bike, this course had a sum total of three turns of about 90 degrees. Had I been on Erin or Amy my average speed would have been 45km/h or probably a fair bit faster, the rollers are damned modest too, the one hill of any size, not nearly as big this year as last year, must have eroded a lot, no it didn't erode, I got faster.
Will I give up skating? No. I just do not think I will be doing it all that often anymore. I have to admit I am pretty disgusted at the inline industry actually. I mean, here just one story. I have custom made skate boots, they fit my feet and only my feet, except they do not. Well the North America representative of the company that made my skate boots was here so I spoke with him. He told me to take some lipstick to the part of my feet that is rubbing the skate, then put the skate on to mark where the boot needs to be reshaped, then send the boot to him. I replied, "why not just do it right here" after all, I don't exactly need the skate for a few weeks. Well he did not have lipstick. Except he was at the event as an official representative of a very big skate maker, so here is my rant. I have heard of people breaking bike frames by doing things out of warranty, the manufacturer sends a new frame and an apology, no questions asked. I am not asking for a new skate boot, I am asking for the guy to come prepared with a marker or lipstick because I will bet good money I am not the only person in this predicament, in fact I know I am not the only person unhappy with their customs. It seems everyone I talk with, who has a recent custom not made by Eric is fed up. Hey boot makers, you don't grow the sport by treating your customers like crap. (And yes, once upon a time boot makers knew what they were doing, I know people who have boots made years ago who swear by them, it seems that recent customs have issues, old ones are fine.)
And another thing that gets me, consider Riccardo Ricco, anyone who follows road biking does not need to read the Wikipedia article I linked to, they know that name. Here is a guy who is remarkable until it turns out he was on a baned, performance enhancing, substance, EPO. He was thrown out of the Tour De France and his team, Saunier Duva, had to withdraw without their captain. In the Inline Skating world it is no secret that there are people taking performance enhancing substances at some of these big events and nothing is being done about it, at least here in North America. I finish the race and hear about some of the guys that come in with impressive times and frankly I just do not care, I raced clean and suspect everyone else, why shouldn't I? (Then again I also came with no ambition and nothing to prove, but I was unusual that way.) There are so many things that need to be done in the Inline world to bring it up to a reasonable standard, but frankly I just don't see that happening, there is too much momentum to keep things crappy.
What a sorry state for a sport to be in.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
On Dreading
Today is Wednesday, therefore tomorrow is Thursday, the day after Friday and the day after that is Saturday, September 13, 2008. Roughly between 0700 and 0930 on Saturday (actually it will probably be between 0720 and 0910) I will be skating. I will be doing the North Shore Inline Marathon, for the second and very likely last time. Any regular reader of my blog knows that when I signed up for the NSIM back in April I was an avid skater, any regular reader who has actually been following my blog since then knows things changed just a little. The truth is, I cannot wait for Saturday, Saturday afternoon that is! The marathon will be over and I can get down to the business of selling my unused wheels and bearings, to make room for my bike repair tools and spare parts.
A part of my life will be over, just as a new part begins. Ironic, I used to be completely addicted to inline skating. I figure in the period between July 2004 and April 2008 I probably spent upwards of 1200 hours on skates. I loved the freedom, and the speed.
And then I lost the passion. It was not as if I just decided one day, that's it, I am giving up on this, I think it was a combination of things. The new bike (Amy) the extra long distance to get to TISC, whereas the Beaches Cycle Club is right around the corner. The change at TISC, I went to have fun mostly, but it seems from what I read that the focus shifted to winning races and away from the relaxed environment that I liked. (Hint to elite racers out there, guys I have a day job that causes enough stress, when I go riding or skating I am trying to relieve, not re-live stress.) I am not trying to say these changes are a bad thing, I am just saying I am not interested in winning if I can't have fun doing it and what I read of this year's programme did not look like my cup of tea.
Anyway one thing any skater has to admit that cycling has them beat on, I can ride my bike from Woodbine and Queen St. in Toronto all the way to Hamilton Beach, let all the Toronto skaters draft off me for a few of what would be recovery laps, before turning around and heading right up to the top of rattle snake point, and then home... which inspires me to propose a new ride on Riding Too Far.
Another reason I love to ride, since I switched to riding I have done even less driving than before, I am averaging about 10~15km/week. Now think about this, in driving 15km we will say I get appalling fuel economy, that is say, 2L of gas, there are roughly 300million people in North America, if we all burned 2L of gas a week, that would be 600ML/week or about 70ML/day, lets assume that industry uses an amount equal to consumers, so 140ML/day, and lets further assume that there is 40 gal. (151L) of gas in a barrel of oil, that means that for gas consumption, North America would use about 1M barrels of oil per day, if everyone drove as little as I did. (Oh and yes, notice that I assume 6 and 96 year-olds all drive.) Well 1M barrels of day sounds like a lot until you realise that in fact the United States alone uses more than 10Million barrels of oil per day! Instead of driving to Hamilton, ride a bike. If we could all cut our gas consumption back by as much as I did, global warming would become the great non issue of the 21'st century instead of probably the greatest threat to the human race since the invention of the atomic bomb. If we could all cut our consumption back as much as I have, the United States could end its dependency not just on Saudi or OPEC oil, the United States could end it's dependency on Alaskan and Canadian oil! Imagine a World where Osama Bin Laden is no longer a threat, a World where air is clean and traffic fatalities are a thing of the past, it is possible you know. Just ride a bike more.
A part of my life will be over, just as a new part begins. Ironic, I used to be completely addicted to inline skating. I figure in the period between July 2004 and April 2008 I probably spent upwards of 1200 hours on skates. I loved the freedom, and the speed.
And then I lost the passion. It was not as if I just decided one day, that's it, I am giving up on this, I think it was a combination of things. The new bike (Amy) the extra long distance to get to TISC, whereas the Beaches Cycle Club is right around the corner. The change at TISC, I went to have fun mostly, but it seems from what I read that the focus shifted to winning races and away from the relaxed environment that I liked. (Hint to elite racers out there, guys I have a day job that causes enough stress, when I go riding or skating I am trying to relieve, not re-live stress.) I am not trying to say these changes are a bad thing, I am just saying I am not interested in winning if I can't have fun doing it and what I read of this year's programme did not look like my cup of tea.
Anyway one thing any skater has to admit that cycling has them beat on, I can ride my bike from Woodbine and Queen St. in Toronto all the way to Hamilton Beach, let all the Toronto skaters draft off me for a few of what would be recovery laps, before turning around and heading right up to the top of rattle snake point, and then home... which inspires me to propose a new ride on Riding Too Far.
Another reason I love to ride, since I switched to riding I have done even less driving than before, I am averaging about 10~15km/week. Now think about this, in driving 15km we will say I get appalling fuel economy, that is say, 2L of gas, there are roughly 300million people in North America, if we all burned 2L of gas a week, that would be 600ML/week or about 70ML/day, lets assume that industry uses an amount equal to consumers, so 140ML/day, and lets further assume that there is 40 gal. (151L) of gas in a barrel of oil, that means that for gas consumption, North America would use about 1M barrels of oil per day, if everyone drove as little as I did. (Oh and yes, notice that I assume 6 and 96 year-olds all drive.) Well 1M barrels of day sounds like a lot until you realise that in fact the United States alone uses more than 10Million barrels of oil per day! Instead of driving to Hamilton, ride a bike. If we could all cut our gas consumption back by as much as I did, global warming would become the great non issue of the 21'st century instead of probably the greatest threat to the human race since the invention of the atomic bomb. If we could all cut our consumption back as much as I have, the United States could end its dependency not just on Saudi or OPEC oil, the United States could end it's dependency on Alaskan and Canadian oil! Imagine a World where Osama Bin Laden is no longer a threat, a World where air is clean and traffic fatalities are a thing of the past, it is possible you know. Just ride a bike more.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
On A New Blog
I would like to introduce everyone to a new blog I have started, Riding Too Far. If anyone has a long ride they would like to publish, no matter what club, if any, they are in, or where in the world the ride is, please get in touch with me. The rules are simply, the ride must be long and it must be a road bike ride.
Here is something from the first post in Riding Too Far which is a sort of philosophy of the blog.
I will be publishing everything relating to the Simcoe ride, as well as all future long rides there.
Here is something from the first post in Riding Too Far which is a sort of philosophy of the blog.
This blog will be used for planning long rides. What is a long ride? Well riding far enough that doing it alone would require a certain insanity that most people lack. A ride where Hammer Gel goes from being a disgusting goo to the essential fuel that prevents bonking. In short the distance is not so much a numeric value, rather it is a state of mind.
I will be publishing everything relating to the Simcoe ride, as well as all future long rides there.
Monday, September 8, 2008
On Trouble with Tires
This weekend was frustrating. For an outside observer I am sure the whole thing is comic in a pathetic sort of way, but for me it was frustrating.
Lesley and I had planned to go hiking on Saturday, we had planned on spending a day enjoying the last of summer warmth and sunshine, instead, it rained. Rain sucks. We spent much of the day sleeping and grocery shopping, not exactly the romance I had hoped for. Best of all I slept so much I had all kinds of trouble sleeping Saturday night.
Sunday was a group ride with the BCC, as I mentioned earlier I was the ride 'helper'. Which I took to mean, I ought to ride with the slower pack. Which was fine, up until the point where someones tire blew out, perhaps 2km into the ride. Now replacing the tube went reasonably smoothly except for some bizarre reason that I cannot explain I just knew that tire was going to cause more problems. I should have said something, I don't know why I did not, because sure enough, at about 35km into the ride, at Elgin Mills and Regional Road 30 that same tire failed again. This time a patch was attempted, it did not work, then someone else threw their spare tube in, it had a hole in it, then someone else donated a tube to the cause and we were fine. Just prior to the tube failure I had started my own little break away, there was a steep hill and I wanted an easy ride to the top. It was after I got to the top someone else caught up with me and told me that so-and-so's tube had failed.
I would like to quickly enumerate here (this was one person's tire problems for one ride):
Lesley and I had planned to go hiking on Saturday, we had planned on spending a day enjoying the last of summer warmth and sunshine, instead, it rained. Rain sucks. We spent much of the day sleeping and grocery shopping, not exactly the romance I had hoped for. Best of all I slept so much I had all kinds of trouble sleeping Saturday night.
Sunday was a group ride with the BCC, as I mentioned earlier I was the ride 'helper'. Which I took to mean, I ought to ride with the slower pack. Which was fine, up until the point where someones tire blew out, perhaps 2km into the ride. Now replacing the tube went reasonably smoothly except for some bizarre reason that I cannot explain I just knew that tire was going to cause more problems. I should have said something, I don't know why I did not, because sure enough, at about 35km into the ride, at Elgin Mills and Regional Road 30 that same tire failed again. This time a patch was attempted, it did not work, then someone else threw their spare tube in, it had a hole in it, then someone else donated a tube to the cause and we were fine. Just prior to the tube failure I had started my own little break away, there was a steep hill and I wanted an easy ride to the top. It was after I got to the top someone else caught up with me and told me that so-and-so's tube had failed.
I would like to quickly enumerate here (this was one person's tire problems for one ride):
- change of tube 2km into ride
- patch at 35km
- patch does not work, change tube again
- new tube has a hole in it, change tube again
Of course to make sure we were suffering appropriately, it was around the same time we got that second tube working that the sky started to open up a crack. We decided to cut the ride short and head west on Elgin Mills. It seemed, from looking at the sky, that the rain was in a tight cell that was centered on Elgin Mills, just west of us, so I had the pack steer North to Stouffville Rd and then west on Stouffville. It was a good call, we got a couple drops of drizzle but not much rain.
We made it to Unionville and stopped for coffee when the sky opened up and rain really started with force. I have decided that riding in the rain is not fun, especially when it is cold. There is something even less fun than riding in the rain though, that is being the looser who rides over a piece of metal or glass or whatever it was that slashes a tire and causes yet another tube problem, when it is a nice day changing a tire is perfectly reasonable thing to do, but when its raining and muddy, changing a tube sucks the big one.
It sucks to change a tube even more when the first tube explodes during inflation. It sucks to change a tube even more when it is your own bloody tube on your own bike! And it sucks still more when the second replacement tube does not even get you home and you are stuck taking shelter from the rain in a bus shelter until your wife can come out and pick you up. At least one person was kind enough to wait with me until Lesley came out and rescued me. That made the wait so much more pleasant, if I was not so darn cold I probably would not have minded the whole experience so much, but with all the tube failures, three of my own and four of the other guy (who will remain nameless on this blog) it was a pretty frustrating day. The rain certainly did not help, the best part, the weather report, which I checked prior to the ride, looked fine.
Here is the route I took on Sunday, in high definintion or see below.
To top off the whole experience, last night I was showing a friend how to install a replacement tube, the tube was not installed correctly, the tire blew during my morning commute to work. Oddly when I checked, by applying weight and bouncing the back wheel the tire seemed fine, it was only when I got into work and pinched the tire I realised I was riding a flat, even during the ride itself everything seemed reasonably smooth. I seem to have bad luck with tires these days.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
On Routes and Plans
I was going to go into an angry tirade against the Toronto International Film Festival. I was going to rant about how disorganized and frankly at $20/ticket over priced the whole experience is, it is a movie after all, not live theatre. But I will not recount my recent tale of woe trying to obtain tickets. I have a hate/hate relationship with the celluloid industry. The movie shoots in Toronto often take up all the on street parking sports near my parents home, obstruct roads/paths and often force me to squeeze my bike between their over sized trucks/pylons and the street car tracks not 15cm away. I realise much as I love to hate the movie industry nobody likes to read my rantings, so I am going to stop bitching and move on to things that make me happy.
Sunday, that is tomorrow, is a Sunday ride with the BCC. I am trying to commit the route to memory, that is probably the most difficult part of these rides, sure some hill climbs are pretty tough, but remembering the exact route, that takes real effort. I guess I better get it committed to memory though I volunteered to, how did Dan put it, "Mike Cole has opted to be a Ride Helper for Sunday's Ride". Dan is in Montreal, busy looking at 2009 model year bikes... I wish I worked in a bike store, when I go to Montreal it's to add a new Fast Ethernet Interface to a Cisco 3845 or something like that.
Lesley and I had thought of going hiking today but the weather has been really foul, so we slept in then took Kalubi to the groomer to get a hair cut. When we get the big guy back maybe I can take an image of him (its not a photograph, that involves celluloid and acids and such) and post it here. I think Lesley opted for the 'Lion Cut.'
Anyway I am still dreaming up changes to the Lake Simcoe and return ride. I am eyeing a few modifications to the return trip to make things a little nicer and longer. First come right down Warden (as per the original plan) but at Stouffville Road hang a left and go right across Stouffville (becomes Main Street) and then turn right at 10'th Line, then take 10'th south (becomes Reesor Rd.) A couple reasons for this change:
Sunday, that is tomorrow, is a Sunday ride with the BCC. I am trying to commit the route to memory, that is probably the most difficult part of these rides, sure some hill climbs are pretty tough, but remembering the exact route, that takes real effort. I guess I better get it committed to memory though I volunteered to, how did Dan put it, "Mike Cole has opted to be a Ride Helper for Sunday's Ride". Dan is in Montreal, busy looking at 2009 model year bikes... I wish I worked in a bike store, when I go to Montreal it's to add a new Fast Ethernet Interface to a Cisco 3845 or something like that.
Lesley and I had thought of going hiking today but the weather has been really foul, so we slept in then took Kalubi to the groomer to get a hair cut. When we get the big guy back maybe I can take an image of him (its not a photograph, that involves celluloid and acids and such) and post it here. I think Lesley opted for the 'Lion Cut.'
Anyway I am still dreaming up changes to the Lake Simcoe and return ride. I am eyeing a few modifications to the return trip to make things a little nicer and longer. First come right down Warden (as per the original plan) but at Stouffville Road hang a left and go right across Stouffville (becomes Main Street) and then turn right at 10'th Line, then take 10'th south (becomes Reesor Rd.) A couple reasons for this change:
- There is a nice coffee shop in Stouffville just before 10'th line so we can get more water, coffee, whatever before the last section of the ride.
- Racing down Reesor is about the damned greatest experience for a speed freak like me that I can think of. There are parts of Reesor where I start cranking it and look down at my GPS and can hardly believe how fast I am going, and with so little effort too!
Anyway once we reach Finch we have to go around the zoo (Old Finch Ave East to Meadowvale then South) then we have some options for which I really would like some feedback before I settle on the final route:
- Roller insanity: AKA West on Ellesmere to Scarborough Golf Club Road. Ellesmere has two huge rollers with traffic lights at the bottom of each valley, every damned time I get to those bloody lights they are red. So when I say Roller insanity what I really should be calling it, is pain in the legs hill climb evilness. (Preceded by a monster ride the brake feast.) Oh yeah, there is a lot of traffic on Ellesmere, this is probably the busiest of the four routes.
- Valley feast: AKA West on Old Kingston then Kingston Road. Old Kingston drops just west of Meadowvale into Colonel Danforth Park, then just as you finish the roll out from the drop, you have to climb the hill out of the valley. Then merge up with Kingston Road and the hills become a slightly more manageable steady climb to around Brimely.
- Cheating: AKA use Kingston road that bridges over Colonel Danforth Park.
- The Long and Winding Road: AKA find a way around Kingston Rd (probably take Sheppard East to Port Union and then go South) and get onto Guildwood Parkway and ride that to Kingston Road. This is probably the lightest route for car traffic, with some lovely hill climbs and it is also the longest route.
In all cases we end up on Kingston Road, eventually, which we take due south west - Kingston becomes Eastern Ave at Queen Street - until we reach Leslie Street, then a left and a quick right and we are back where we started the day. (Actually just past Midland we take Danforth Ave. a short distance, to bypass the section of Kingston Rd that is in desperate need of resurfacing.)
Other items I need feedback on: time, since the weather report for the 20'th is a high of about 22 degrees I am thinking, we can probably put off the start time to 6:30 and meet the Elgin Mills crowd at 8:00, get a little more sleep and ride when it is a little warmer? Or do we want to contend with fewer cars?
Please post your thoughts below, I would like to settle on the final route when I get home from Duluth. Hey in exactly one week I will be done with the North Shore Inline Marathon, seems like only yesterday I was registering for it, damn time flies when you ride a bike!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
A few good rides
Alright first, this is something to tinker with, but if it gets the creative juices flowing then it is a good thing.
And here is a high resolution link to that route. Actually I am thinking, a better route out of the city is along the lakeshore and then north towards Aaron's house, instead of turning off at Aaron's just keep on trucking until you hit Lake Huron.
Now here is my modified route to Lake Simcoe, I have added a detour to take a more scenic route back into town, the total distance is only about 15km further this way then the route I proposed earlier. (A high resolution map is on the other side of this link.)
And here is a high resolution link to that route. Actually I am thinking, a better route out of the city is along the lakeshore and then north towards Aaron's house, instead of turning off at Aaron's just keep on trucking until you hit Lake Huron.
Now here is my modified route to Lake Simcoe, I have added a detour to take a more scenic route back into town, the total distance is only about 15km further this way then the route I proposed earlier. (A high resolution map is on the other side of this link.)
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
On The End of an Empire
Here is a picture from the Sunday ride, I took most of the photos on Dan's behalf so there is only one shot of me, courtesy of Dan Yang.
Dan was in front of me on his bike and held the camera facing backward, while riding at around 30km/h, under those conditions a very good shot, it is just too bad the sun was not higher in the sky.
Below is an essay, if you came here to read about riding or, if you've been living in a cave, skating, you might as well go on to the next blog, because the following will not interest you.
There was an article in the Huffington Post (see what I am reading on the right) today on the subject of the Republican Party. Entitled Off the shelf the article by Robert L. Borosage spent a great deal of time praising America's thirty fourth president, Dwight David Eisenhower.
Admittedly there is a lot to like about Eisenhower, and as Borosage points out, there is a lot to dislike about Eisenhower. But what I wanted to point out is not how good or bad a president Eisenhower was, rather, it was the condition of the rest of the World at the time.
Consider, Eisenhower was elected in 1952 and served for two terms or until Kennedy was inaugurated in January of 1961. During that time Europe was still in shambles from World War II, Russia was under the grip of a system which time would reveal to be a failure of massive proportions, and a leader who's paranoia was beyond insanity. Japan was a smouldering ruin, and China... well if Russia was a mess, China was even worse. At the time Eisenhower was elected, in fact long after the end of his term in office, America produced more oil than she consumed American factories exported manufactured goods all over the world, but mostly to American consumers, American farmers fed the world and the federal budget was balanced, even the long term costs of social security was not considered a major issue because there was a baby boom in full swing, Americans were producing babies faster, much faster, than they were dying.
In considering all of the above it is hard not to consider the 1950s as a golden age of the Pax Americana. I use the term Pax Americana as in Pax Romana, and just as the Peace of Rome was hardly a peace at all - students of Roman history can have quite the brain storm trying to think of a period when the Roman Empire, or Republic was at peace - America was in perpetual menace by a country who could hardly feed or clothe her own citizens, but did make an atomic bomb.
In modern times we look back on the 1950s mostly wistfully, there was high employment, a good standard of living and a man could get a factory job, without completing high school and support his family on a very satisfactory income. (A guy like me with a Masters in Engineering, well damn, I'd probably be working at NASA if I wanted to, no doubt wearing a white shirt and a thin black tie and be as comfortable then with a slide ruler as I am today with my laptop.)
Republicans are promising us a return to that age, the age of Leave it to Beaver. Except I think it is time for us to face some facts, it is time for reality to set in. The 1950s were not a normal period at all. Europe recovered from World War II, the Russians cast aside the ideas of Marx, East Asia has adopted a maxim of 'business is war'. Possibly most critically, The United States depends on other countries for the life blood of the modern military and economy, the United States needs Canadian and Mexican oil and drilling new off shore wells or tapping the Alaska Wild Life Refuge is not really going to fix the root problem, oil is running out and new elephant finds, or newly opened fields will only postpone the inevitable day of reckoning. The day when we return to life as it was in the eighteenth century.
What is going to happen when we cannot truck food across the country faster than it rots? What will happen to our cities of millions of people when all the food must come from no further than a few hundred miles away? What happens when there is no fertilizer because, lets face it fertilizer is a petrochemical, just like plastic and ironically, the very roads we drive on.
What happens to the vast military machine that exists in the United States today? Like it or not, the empire of bases has allowed the US to become the great commercial power. Think about it, Osama Bin Laden is not a real threat to Americans, yes he is a murder, but ultimately The Seven Dwarfs of big Tobacco are responsible for the deaths of more Americans every year than Osama Bin Laden will claim in his life time. So why the big effort to hunt down Bin Laden? Because he is the first real threat to America's military hemogony since the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is just a theory, but surely the circumstances surrounding this whole 'war on terror' seem just a tad too war like and not enough focus on catching a criminal.
But returning to my original thought, if America is not able to contain the threat in the rise of this modern more rebellious strain of Islam, if America is ultimately held hostage, her own insatiable need for oil being used to finance one side in the 'war on terror' while her tax dollars finance the other side, shades of the 'war on drugs', how long until the breaking point?
How long is it until America goes bankrupt having loaded the world up with arms and run up the visa bill without the income to pay the mortgage, will the whole experiment in rule of self government come crashing down in an orgy of subprime debt? Has self government failed already? One hundred or one thousand years from now will historians look back at the Supreme Court appointment of George Walker Bush in 2000 and say, it was on that day, in December 2000, that rule of self government ended in the United States? Just as March 15, 44BCE on the steps of another government institution that Rome gave up on democracy and became an empire. An Empire that could not even last 500 years before being over run by barbarians. Will the Rome look eternal next to Washington?
Anyway, sometimes a person needs to write an essay, I had the idea bouncing around that Republicans really do believe that all we need do is lower taxes enough, end abortion, teen pregnancy increase the size of the US army another five hundred thousand, and the days of black and white sitcoms will return with huge chrome fenders. Do I really believe this is the end of American Empire? I am not sure, eight years ago I was dead certain that no matter if Al Gore or George Bush became president the country was too strong for one guy too really screw things up, now I am not sure if the country is strong enough to pull herself out of her current funk ever.
I will not have much to report on riding for the next few days, I will not be doing any group rides until Sunday and then no more rides until after the Duluth Marathon on Sept. 13, I need to taper. So sorry to say, you may have to put up with more politics here for the next few days, but I will say this now, baring something really substantial in Duluth I expect that by Sept. 15 almost all references to skating will be gone from this blog. Somewhere along the way to getting a passsion for riding I completely lost the passion for skating and now I am beginning to view the entire weekend of Sept. 13 and 14 as a lost weekend.
Monday, September 1, 2008
On Goals not achieved
I think I want to cry. I had set a goal of Lake Simcoe and back. I know I can do it, it's 180km and I have done 196.5, just last week. I did not achieve my goal, I had hoped other people would join me, but perhaps the 0530 start was too early? Maybe, unlike me, most people don't go for these ultra-endurance rides? Whatever the case I was alone and as it turned out, perhaps that was for the best. Something I ate for breakfast did not exactly, see eye to eye - so to speak (write) - with my stomach. I decided to turn for home at Vivian Road. (Incidentally, Warden is still under construction North of Vivian, besides some construction signs the only evidence that there is, or ought to be, construction on Warden is the fact that the road surface is absolutely pathetic, but not because it is being worked on, rather the road is just in plain bad shape.)
Anyway here is what I did, 101km, I guess nothing to be ashamed of, in April I'd be amazed by that kind of distance, but compared with what I wanted to achieve, and the average speed (only 25km/h), again see my remark about a stomach and a breakfast for my excuse for the lame speed. Since a blog is just a public diary I guess I should record my emotional state on making it home, I felt lame. Anyway enough from the self pity department. Here is the route if you don't want to click on the link.
Obviously this is an unsatisfactory state of affairs, therefore I invite my readers on a little ride. I propose that the Saturday after the Duluth North Shore Inline Marathon we all go for a little road bike ride. This ride is open to everyone who has the endurance, guys if you can hack a 42km inline skate Marathon a bike ride of this duration will be trivial... no it actually it won't be at all trivial, but I have faith. Of course I would like to see lots of people from the BCC as well, (the date I am proposing is September 20). The ride would start at the same 0530 time and would follow a similar route, except that we would stay with Warden once we cut over from Leslie right to Baseline Road and then use Warden for the return trip - keep things simple and Warden is mostly a pretty good road, except between Davis Dr. and Vivian but that's just 2 out of 90km.
For those of you who want to come but are not sure because you live far from the starting line and 0530 is awfully early you have two options. One, I have a guest bedroom, available on a first call first serve basis, you can spend Friday night here at The Beach (aka The Beaches). Or the other option, you can meet up at the Starbucks at Elgin Mills and Leslie (North East corner) at 0700, that ride is approximately 110km.
Baring appalling weather I am doing this, and I invite everyone to join in a bucolic adventure through Southern and Central Ontario. If you are joining in, please post a reply in the comments to this post. I will answer any questions you might have. If your questions are private, send an email to mjcole121@hotmail.com and post a quick note here telling me you emailed my hotmail account (or if you know my real email address, just use that).
September 20 I will do this if it kills me!
Anyway here is what I did, 101km, I guess nothing to be ashamed of, in April I'd be amazed by that kind of distance, but compared with what I wanted to achieve, and the average speed (only 25km/h), again see my remark about a stomach and a breakfast for my excuse for the lame speed. Since a blog is just a public diary I guess I should record my emotional state on making it home, I felt lame. Anyway enough from the self pity department. Here is the route if you don't want to click on the link.
Obviously this is an unsatisfactory state of affairs, therefore I invite my readers on a little ride. I propose that the Saturday after the Duluth North Shore Inline Marathon we all go for a little road bike ride. This ride is open to everyone who has the endurance, guys if you can hack a 42km inline skate Marathon a bike ride of this duration will be trivial... no it actually it won't be at all trivial, but I have faith. Of course I would like to see lots of people from the BCC as well, (the date I am proposing is September 20). The ride would start at the same 0530 time and would follow a similar route, except that we would stay with Warden once we cut over from Leslie right to Baseline Road and then use Warden for the return trip - keep things simple and Warden is mostly a pretty good road, except between Davis Dr. and Vivian but that's just 2 out of 90km.
For those of you who want to come but are not sure because you live far from the starting line and 0530 is awfully early you have two options. One, I have a guest bedroom, available on a first call first serve basis, you can spend Friday night here at The Beach (aka The Beaches). Or the other option, you can meet up at the Starbucks at Elgin Mills and Leslie (North East corner) at 0700, that ride is approximately 110km.
Baring appalling weather I am doing this, and I invite everyone to join in a bucolic adventure through Southern and Central Ontario. If you are joining in, please post a reply in the comments to this post. I will answer any questions you might have. If your questions are private, send an email to mjcole121@hotmail.com and post a quick note here telling me you emailed my hotmail account (or if you know my real email address, just use that).
September 20 I will do this if it kills me!
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