Over the weekend that just ended I rode 91km on Saturday and burned about 3950 calories in just under three and a half hours (yes a somewhat pathetic average of just over 26 km/h) and on Sunday I burned just over 4100 calories on a 105km just over three and a half hour ride (about 27km/h average.)
From this we can conclude a couple things. One is I have a lot of improvement to make, but the other conclusion I draw is that I am getting my strength back. The problem I had is over the winter I had all the grief of moving and staging of the home meant I could never use the trainer. (I shoveled lots of snow, but that does not do much for the ride.)
The summary of this past winter is as follows, since January 1 anyway, I rode once in early January and then nothing until March 13 (100km), including that March 13 ride I have done 383km in just over 168 hours. Not nearly what I would do in the summer, but it is starting up again. (Also since my current chain had - as of March 12 - 3589km and the tyres were at 1695km, I need to start really thinking about a new chain and tyres.)
Anyway enough of the mechanical and statistical details. The rides, well, Saturday Evan, Ian and I rode the Mississauga Loop, I need to figure out a better return path from Evans and Royal York to Christie at Dupont (have to do the hill on Christie, have to climb that hill!) We had what I am sure all would agree was a good ride, save the wind out of the North that nearly blew us over. On the other hand that north wind carried us down Tomken at a psycho speed. I was chasing Ian at one point on a flat and I was clocking in 50km/h. Ian and Evan are clearly in better shape right now than I am. I need to build my strength back.
I also had a sort of mini-bonk, I was getting dropped and just could not keep up, I realised my body was in glyco-synthesis mode and I could not figure out why, until it dawned on me, I am not drinking water (supplemented) - too cold, and not eating. I guzzled back half my bottle and got back into form pretty quick.
We were climbing a hill and I sort of growled as I neared the top, it's a psychological thing to growl at the hills. Well at the next red light another cyclist, on a commuter comes up beside me, kind of surprised me, she was running in stealth mode and reprimanded me for growling in hear ear - I was about one and a half meters away from her when I passed. But she was being all righteous, probably because she was on a bicycle... (yes I was too, but that's hardly relevant for the righteous set!) So I apologized, the light changed and I took off with the wind overpowering her rant on the importance of eating granola whilst wearing Birkenstocks. I think the problem the righteous cyclist has is that they think that the act of riding the bike is a sort of punishment that merits righteousness, that someone would ride for pleasure means that the someone is not worthy.
Sunday we rode up to Stouffville, well actually Musselman Lake. It was wonderful. At the start of the ride there was (in no particular order) Pat, Brook, Peter, Thi, Ian, Paul M - who clobbered me the previous Sunday - and myself. Pat and Brook took a slower pace once we got out of the city and we caught up with them in Stouffville where they had short looped. Peter kept with us to Stouffville where he broke off to get home earlier. Ian Paul and Thi then proceeded to clobber Michael several times on the way around the lake as I still need to get a lot stronger. But they were nice enough to wait for me. The ride south was brutal with a near steady head wind of about 10~15km/h. Still it was a lovely route, we used 14'th Ave and Middlefield to get back into the city. Ian and I agreed that this was the best way to re-enter from the North East.
Ian and I were talking about recovery, we both knew we would need a day or two (or about a dozen for me!) off to recover. Ian was a little bothered because the weather for Monday was supposed to be nice, turns out, it's raining.
It was a good weekend and I hope to have many more this spring, summer and fall just like the one I had. Thanks guys!
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Monday, March 21, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
On Earthquakes and Japan
Recent events in Japan have been very troubling. I was listening to the Radio and CBC had an expert on Nuclear reactors on. The expert was outlining how roughly 2% of all the workers stuck at the Fukushima plant will develop fatal cancer within, I think it was a year, as a result of their efforts. The expert went on to point out that while all the workers were sure to volunteer for such a risky role there would be no problem finding volunteers as this is Japan where society places honour in such a high regard.
I have to admit I am rather impressed, if I worked as say a Computer Network Analyst at Pickering and there was an Earthquake or some other disaster, volunteering to help out would not be high on my list of priorities, I think. I don't know, I guess I should be grateful that I am not in a position where volunteering to put my life on the line is something my job would ever require.
Anyway I happened upon this article by the Union of Concerned Scientists. It does explain a lot about why the reactor just will not shutdown. A problem I do not think the traditional Candu design has, suddenly Candu does not look so bad. Still makes me think, maybe we really do not have any long term solutions for our energy needs, maybe we will be living like we did at the turn of the nineteenth century when the oil runs out.
In the meantime I am going to donate to the Red Cross for the Japan Earthquake - it is the very least I can do.
I have to admit I am rather impressed, if I worked as say a Computer Network Analyst at Pickering and there was an Earthquake or some other disaster, volunteering to help out would not be high on my list of priorities, I think. I don't know, I guess I should be grateful that I am not in a position where volunteering to put my life on the line is something my job would ever require.
Anyway I happened upon this article by the Union of Concerned Scientists. It does explain a lot about why the reactor just will not shutdown. A problem I do not think the traditional Candu design has, suddenly Candu does not look so bad. Still makes me think, maybe we really do not have any long term solutions for our energy needs, maybe we will be living like we did at the turn of the nineteenth century when the oil runs out.
In the meantime I am going to donate to the Red Cross for the Japan Earthquake - it is the very least I can do.
Monday, March 14, 2011
On Back in the Saddle
Finally, this long and dreadful winter is nearly over. Sunday I got to ride for the first time since early January. I posted the route below to the Beaches Cycling Club website, which we mostly stayed true to.
Only one other person came with, Paul M., and the route was shortened a tiny bit, but it was a properly long hard ride all the same.
We set out on damp roads across town, bypassing Dundas around Leslie on account of the construction. When we faced the full onslaught of the wind I told Paul we should start drafting, that did not last long, the first time I drafted Paul I got mud and salt all over my jacket and glasses (and bars and stem and...).
When we turned up Royal York I found myself out of the saddle just to keep up with Paul. A season out of the saddle, moving, has done nothing good for me. By the time we got to Bartor Road, just north of Wilson it was clear to me, and much as this may pain me to say, probably Paul as well, that he's a lot stronger than me... for now!
The ride north was a suffer and grind feast into the wind. When we finally hit Teston I was ready to just fall over. I knew if I had one of those power taps I would have found out I was churning out some insane wattage.
By the time we reached Major Mackenzie I knew there was just no way I was willing to ride north to Elgin Mills again, so we took Major Mack back to Leslie where we had our one encounter with a really daft driver. The guy was honking at us at waving his finger as if we were misbehaving. Then, not long after he passed us, we caught up with him. I waved at him and yelled 'Hello', as I turned south on Leslie. Paul told me the driver was wagging his finger again. (Some drivers really need to learn their place, I guess.)
In any case it was Sunday morning, it wasn't like there was tons of traffic or we were weaving between cars or anything like that. Besides the finger wagging guy, there were maybe four other cars at the red light, Paul and I were riding completely the way we are supposed to, but for the fact that we weren't in a paceline, but hey, in general one should ensure to take up an entire lane on four lane roads. Motorists should change lanes when passing riders, frankly I don't want to get clipped by someones rear-view mirror.
We stopped at the Tim Hortons at Leslie just south of 16'th Ave, not far from my work actually. I bought a hot chocolate and a muffin, which ended up weighing on my stomach like a lead boot. We certainly did not perceive a tail wind going home, at times there was a head wind, but to look at flags and such, there was a strong tail wind all the way home, which may explain how we were able to fly home so fast after grinding for hours just to get North.
Ultimately, by my GPS I did the following, in 4 hours 16 minutes 54 second, I covered a comparatively modest 100.3km (hey it was my first time on the saddle since January - it actually was too far I think, but that's a good thing!). I burned 3747 calories, so enough to justify patronizing Mr. Horton's establishment, I hope! I averaged a very slow 23.43km/h but with a heart rate of 142bpm - so I think I was working a little harder than the speed and distance numbers would suggest. I maxed out at 53.99km/h and 201 beats per minute.
When I got home, to the new house, I had to clean my ride, Jordan was covered in mud and salt, just caked in dirt. I took her apart completely while Dawn, who had just returned from Florida wanted to watch Apollo 13, a trip to the Kennedy Space Centre had left Dawn inspired. So while watching Apollo 13 I took Jordan apart and because I don't have a hose setup yet, I had to wash the bike, the frame itself, in the shower. (Naturally this provoked a few sarcastic remarks.)
Although I am a far cry from finished with cleaning Jordan from my day in the wet, the ride was a good thing, and I am glad I got out. Next weekend, I will have to do 100km at least once, and hopefully twice and as soon as I can, I am going to start riding to work again. I need to get my legs and my rear end back into shape.
Only one other person came with, Paul M., and the route was shortened a tiny bit, but it was a properly long hard ride all the same.
We set out on damp roads across town, bypassing Dundas around Leslie on account of the construction. When we faced the full onslaught of the wind I told Paul we should start drafting, that did not last long, the first time I drafted Paul I got mud and salt all over my jacket and glasses (and bars and stem and...).
When we turned up Royal York I found myself out of the saddle just to keep up with Paul. A season out of the saddle, moving, has done nothing good for me. By the time we got to Bartor Road, just north of Wilson it was clear to me, and much as this may pain me to say, probably Paul as well, that he's a lot stronger than me... for now!
The ride north was a suffer and grind feast into the wind. When we finally hit Teston I was ready to just fall over. I knew if I had one of those power taps I would have found out I was churning out some insane wattage.
By the time we reached Major Mackenzie I knew there was just no way I was willing to ride north to Elgin Mills again, so we took Major Mack back to Leslie where we had our one encounter with a really daft driver. The guy was honking at us at waving his finger as if we were misbehaving. Then, not long after he passed us, we caught up with him. I waved at him and yelled 'Hello', as I turned south on Leslie. Paul told me the driver was wagging his finger again. (Some drivers really need to learn their place, I guess.)
In any case it was Sunday morning, it wasn't like there was tons of traffic or we were weaving between cars or anything like that. Besides the finger wagging guy, there were maybe four other cars at the red light, Paul and I were riding completely the way we are supposed to, but for the fact that we weren't in a paceline, but hey, in general one should ensure to take up an entire lane on four lane roads. Motorists should change lanes when passing riders, frankly I don't want to get clipped by someones rear-view mirror.
We stopped at the Tim Hortons at Leslie just south of 16'th Ave, not far from my work actually. I bought a hot chocolate and a muffin, which ended up weighing on my stomach like a lead boot. We certainly did not perceive a tail wind going home, at times there was a head wind, but to look at flags and such, there was a strong tail wind all the way home, which may explain how we were able to fly home so fast after grinding for hours just to get North.
Ultimately, by my GPS I did the following, in 4 hours 16 minutes 54 second, I covered a comparatively modest 100.3km (hey it was my first time on the saddle since January - it actually was too far I think, but that's a good thing!). I burned 3747 calories, so enough to justify patronizing Mr. Horton's establishment, I hope! I averaged a very slow 23.43km/h but with a heart rate of 142bpm - so I think I was working a little harder than the speed and distance numbers would suggest. I maxed out at 53.99km/h and 201 beats per minute.
When I got home, to the new house, I had to clean my ride, Jordan was covered in mud and salt, just caked in dirt. I took her apart completely while Dawn, who had just returned from Florida wanted to watch Apollo 13, a trip to the Kennedy Space Centre had left Dawn inspired. So while watching Apollo 13 I took Jordan apart and because I don't have a hose setup yet, I had to wash the bike, the frame itself, in the shower. (Naturally this provoked a few sarcastic remarks.)
Although I am a far cry from finished with cleaning Jordan from my day in the wet, the ride was a good thing, and I am glad I got out. Next weekend, I will have to do 100km at least once, and hopefully twice and as soon as I can, I am going to start riding to work again. I need to get my legs and my rear end back into shape.
Monday, March 7, 2011
On Ramblings, not related to the ride.
Things have been very busy for me lately, obviously, as a function of the fact that I am moving. Anyway there is a real-estate agent who mostly works the Beaches area of Toronto (I guess you could say the lower east side.) He works for the firm Keller Williams and has a team of about ten people. We used him, well someone in his team did all the "leg work", there really was not very much work done by the team in truth. Anyway the point of this preamble is to say, if you live in the GTA and need a real-estate agent, do not use my guy, his team is dreadful! A list of a few of the petty items, then the big ones, for why I cannot stand these people.
When we put our house on the market we had an agreement with the agent that they would cover staging, they told us that this was unusual, no it is not. They told us that normally the seller covers staging, no other agent I have spoken with told us we would cover staging. But after some haggling they agreed to pay for the stager, that they were going to use.
The stager came and made some changes and then the photographer came and took pictures, but one room was not cleaned up in time and rather than retake the photo they just yanked that room photo from the website. (Just a template with no site tracking and no adverts to the website that I could find.) They made a colour brochure, but not a particularly fancy one - it looked like a template with photographer supplied photos. They did not even bother to replace the stagers ad copy with the MLS feature sheet (or brochure), so every time someone came into our house they knew who the stager was, but not what features the house had, for example, I was the only home owner on my side of the street with working Air Conditioning. (The builder botched all the homes, I was the only home owner willing to cough up the $6000 to fix my Air Conditioning.)
Eventually an offer came in, it was seventy thousand dollars under asking with less than three weeks to move out. I felt we had priced our home very reasonably so I signed back ten under asking, I was pissed off. A another offer came back still fifty thousand under asking, we came back twenty under asking. Our agent had a conversation with the buyer's agent, no way would they come above forty thousand under asking, and likely not even above fifty under asking. I went to bed, pissed, our agent had tried to pressure us to settle with fifty thousand under asking. (Obviously we would not accept the offer.)
The following Sunday (a week later) we got another offer from the same couple, twenty five under the original asking price, less than two weeks to move out, oh and despite the fact that we had explicitly excluded the electric fireplace, Lesley really wanted that fireplace, the buyer had included it in the deal. Ultimately the deal was, twenty five under asking, less than two weeks, with my comment to the agent that I would not be able to move everything out in time - duh! And Lesley could keep her fireplace.
So that was that.
Except, the house was messy when I left. Of course it didn't help that I almost got an ulcer because when the idiotic buyer's agent inked the deal, they worded the one condition (buyer needed to arrange financing) so badly that when they sent in the waiver of the condition it was not worded properly and I nearly lost the deal on my new home, that I had less than twelve days to offer and close on. What happened was when I sent the waiver to my lawyer he was not satisfied that it was a proper waiver of the condition, the mortgage lender was dissatisfied and basically everyone on my buying side was unhappy and I almost missed the deal on my new home, it was sorted out, but that sort of thing should have been caught by my agent two days earlier.
Anyway I did move out, frantically, and the house was messy, sorry, I tried to keep the place clean, I really did, but frankly how can I when movers are trooping through at the rate of three pairs of boots every twenty seconds? And there just wasn't time to get all of our stuff out of there, what we did not need, we had to leave, too bad!
I left a note of apology and threw in my natural gas Vermont Castings barbecue. I figure the barbecue is worth about $400 - you try finding a good natural gas barbecue! - and it still works perfectly well. (Yes I found a replacement, but it took a lot of searching.)
We closed on the property on Friday February 25, on Sunday the 27'th, I had the following exchange with our agent:
From: BUYER
Date: 2/26/2011 1:51:39 PM
To: BUYERS AGENT
Subject: New Home
Hi Liz,
We just come into our new house and it looks like the previous owners didn't finish clearing out. The fridge and freezer are full of food. There are 2 shelves of DVD's in the basement, alot of junk in the laundry room and a storage shelf full of stuff in the garage.
From: OUR AGENT
Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2011 10:14 AM
To: Michael Cole;
Subject: FW: Email from Buyer of 76 Woodbine
Hi Michael and Lesley, below is an email the buyer agent has received from the Buyer of your home. Was this intentional? Did you forget to get some things out or did you just leave what you did not want? Is there anything you wanted? Please advise.
From: Michael Cole
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2011 10:47:40 -0500
To: OUR AGENT
Subject: Re: Email from Buyer of 76 Woodbine
Of course there's a lot of stuff we didn't have time to clean out. That's what happens when they give less than two weeks to move. Everything in there is garbage.
From: OUR AGENT
Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2011 12:40 PM
To: Michael Cole
Subject: Re: Email from Buyer of 76 Woodbine
Wow I am shocked. We did a very good job for you people and now we get treated like dirt. You accepted the closing date if it was going to be a problem you should have spoken up. You could have asked for help or even better let them know you didn't have time to move the garbage but someone would be by later to deal with. I will send some flowers as an apology on your behalf but they are billing you for 1800 got junk.
From: Michael Cole
Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2011 02:16 PM
To: OUR AGENT
Subject: Re: Email from Buyer of 76 Woodbine
You told us the deal could not happen if we moved the closing date although I specifically asked for a change of closing to give us the time we needed. I have bent myself in knots trying to move out in time and get my affairs in order and this is how I am thanked?
Spare me your shock.
END OF THREAD
Now I have calculated that our agent collected $21,875 for whatever "work" and expenses she did or incurred. Allegedly our agent worked for us, allegedly. But if you live in the GTA and need an agent, I have a guy. I used him on the purchase of my new home, he is honest, he is thorough and I have never had an reason to say anything bad about him in the course of two purchases and one sale, except I disagree with his politics, he is conservative and I am very progressive, but whatever! Anyway we didn't use him on the sale because Lesley wanted to use someone who specialized in our neighbourhood and I didn't want to fight her over something so modest. By the time everything was said and done, both Lesley and I agreed (remarkably - we are separated after all) we should have used my guy instead.
That said, if you live in the GTA, avoid high profile agents working under Keller Williams, they are not to be trusted with your most valuable asset.
When we put our house on the market we had an agreement with the agent that they would cover staging, they told us that this was unusual, no it is not. They told us that normally the seller covers staging, no other agent I have spoken with told us we would cover staging. But after some haggling they agreed to pay for the stager, that they were going to use.
The stager came and made some changes and then the photographer came and took pictures, but one room was not cleaned up in time and rather than retake the photo they just yanked that room photo from the website. (Just a template with no site tracking and no adverts to the website that I could find.) They made a colour brochure, but not a particularly fancy one - it looked like a template with photographer supplied photos. They did not even bother to replace the stagers ad copy with the MLS feature sheet (or brochure), so every time someone came into our house they knew who the stager was, but not what features the house had, for example, I was the only home owner on my side of the street with working Air Conditioning. (The builder botched all the homes, I was the only home owner willing to cough up the $6000 to fix my Air Conditioning.)
Eventually an offer came in, it was seventy thousand dollars under asking with less than three weeks to move out. I felt we had priced our home very reasonably so I signed back ten under asking, I was pissed off. A another offer came back still fifty thousand under asking, we came back twenty under asking. Our agent had a conversation with the buyer's agent, no way would they come above forty thousand under asking, and likely not even above fifty under asking. I went to bed, pissed, our agent had tried to pressure us to settle with fifty thousand under asking. (Obviously we would not accept the offer.)
The following Sunday (a week later) we got another offer from the same couple, twenty five under the original asking price, less than two weeks to move out, oh and despite the fact that we had explicitly excluded the electric fireplace, Lesley really wanted that fireplace, the buyer had included it in the deal. Ultimately the deal was, twenty five under asking, less than two weeks, with my comment to the agent that I would not be able to move everything out in time - duh! And Lesley could keep her fireplace.
So that was that.
Except, the house was messy when I left. Of course it didn't help that I almost got an ulcer because when the idiotic buyer's agent inked the deal, they worded the one condition (buyer needed to arrange financing) so badly that when they sent in the waiver of the condition it was not worded properly and I nearly lost the deal on my new home, that I had less than twelve days to offer and close on. What happened was when I sent the waiver to my lawyer he was not satisfied that it was a proper waiver of the condition, the mortgage lender was dissatisfied and basically everyone on my buying side was unhappy and I almost missed the deal on my new home, it was sorted out, but that sort of thing should have been caught by my agent two days earlier.
Anyway I did move out, frantically, and the house was messy, sorry, I tried to keep the place clean, I really did, but frankly how can I when movers are trooping through at the rate of three pairs of boots every twenty seconds? And there just wasn't time to get all of our stuff out of there, what we did not need, we had to leave, too bad!
I left a note of apology and threw in my natural gas Vermont Castings barbecue. I figure the barbecue is worth about $400 - you try finding a good natural gas barbecue! - and it still works perfectly well. (Yes I found a replacement, but it took a lot of searching.)
We closed on the property on Friday February 25, on Sunday the 27'th, I had the following exchange with our agent:
From: BUYER
Date: 2/26/2011 1:51:39 PM
To: BUYERS AGENT
Subject: New Home
Hi Liz,
We just come into our new house and it looks like the previous owners didn't finish clearing out. The fridge and freezer are full of food. There are 2 shelves of DVD's in the basement, alot of junk in the laundry room and a storage shelf full of stuff in the garage.
From: OUR AGENT
Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2011 10:14 AM
To: Michael Cole;
Subject: FW: Email from Buyer of 76 Woodbine
Hi Michael and Lesley, below is an email the buyer agent has received from the Buyer of your home. Was this intentional? Did you forget to get some things out or did you just leave what you did not want? Is there anything you wanted? Please advise.
From: Michael Cole
Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2011 10:47:40 -0500
To: OUR AGENT
Subject: Re: Email from Buyer of 76 Woodbine
Of course there's a lot of stuff we didn't have time to clean out. That's what happens when they give less than two weeks to move. Everything in there is garbage.
From: OUR AGENT
Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2011 12:40 PM
To: Michael Cole
Subject: Re: Email from Buyer of 76 Woodbine
Wow I am shocked. We did a very good job for you people and now we get treated like dirt. You accepted the closing date if it was going to be a problem you should have spoken up. You could have asked for help or even better let them know you didn't have time to move the garbage but someone would be by later to deal with. I will send some flowers as an apology on your behalf but they are billing you for 1800 got junk.
From: Michael Cole
Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2011 02:16 PM
To: OUR AGENT
Subject: Re: Email from Buyer of 76 Woodbine
You told us the deal could not happen if we moved the closing date although I specifically asked for a change of closing to give us the time we needed. I have bent myself in knots trying to move out in time and get my affairs in order and this is how I am thanked?
Spare me your shock.
END OF THREAD
Now I have calculated that our agent collected $21,875 for whatever "work" and expenses she did or incurred. Allegedly our agent worked for us, allegedly. But if you live in the GTA and need an agent, I have a guy. I used him on the purchase of my new home, he is honest, he is thorough and I have never had an reason to say anything bad about him in the course of two purchases and one sale, except I disagree with his politics, he is conservative and I am very progressive, but whatever! Anyway we didn't use him on the sale because Lesley wanted to use someone who specialized in our neighbourhood and I didn't want to fight her over something so modest. By the time everything was said and done, both Lesley and I agreed (remarkably - we are separated after all) we should have used my guy instead.
That said, if you live in the GTA, avoid high profile agents working under Keller Williams, they are not to be trusted with your most valuable asset.
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