On Anthropomorphism and Century rides

Is it a healthy sign that I regard my bike as a near human? That may be a real indicator that I am loosing my mind, but then as is so often pointed out to me by my co-workers, all of the above presupposes I was of sound mind to begin with!

Anyway I noticed that I am getting a lot of repeat visitors who check in every day and I wouldn't want to make you wait too long to read something new. (I should suggest, guys have a look at RSS Feeds, you might find it real handy. Although it occurs to me, if you do set up an RSS feed my lame hit counter is going to become even more lame!) Here is a question, for real, am I a good writer? People tell me that but are they just trying to be nice? I often dream of writing a best selling novel, using the money to pay off the mortgage and quiting my day job so I can work in a bike shop or something equally laid back. The fact is, having a regular office job and living the rat race really sucks, guys if you can avoid becoming a cubical rat, do yourself a favour.

A friend of mine who helped Lesley and I move to our apartment, then to our condo and then to our home is moving. He lives in Maple Ontario (about 40km from my home) and is moving to Brampton (about 30km from his place in Maple and about 50 or 60km from my home.) Of course I will help him, I'd be a pretty shitty person if I didn't, but I really want to go for a long ride tomorrow and I don't care that the weather reporters are unanimous in their calls of immanent rain, they were unanimous about rain today and guess what it did not do! (Besides my Roubaix is a bike not a pair of inline skates.) So here is my plan, ride to Maple, help my friend move his stuff onto the truck then ride to Brampton, help him unload then ride home. My route to his place in Maple:

1. Up Logan, then Broadview and O'Connor
2. Across the Don Valley at Millwood to Laird
3. Up Laird to the top, then Bayview
4. Up Bayview all the way to 16
5. Across 16 to Keele
6. Up Keele past Major Mackenzie to my friend's place.
(If anyone knows of a safer route that won't require hours of memorizing I'm all ears.)

From Maple to Brampton:

1. Across Major Mackenzie to Jane
2. Down Jane to Rutherford
3. Along Rutherford which becomes Castlemore which becomes Bovaird
4. Right at Chinguacousy Rd

(I really should have printed a map when I had the chance... dammit!)

The route home is pretty simple:

1. Down Chinguacousy Rd which becomes Mavis
2. At the end of Mavis (the Queensway) go East to the East Mall
3. Take the East Mall to Evans Ave, take Evans to Royal York
4. Take Royal York to Lake Shore
5. Lake shore across the bottom home.

I imagine that there are safer routes, but I don't know the neighbourhood(s) so I have no idea what those routes are. Total expected distance: 130 ~ 140km. (Just shy of A Century.)

Sunday I ride with the Beaches Cycle Club, we are going to Milton and back. passing within meter's of my manager's home. Total distance will be about 160km.

On a related note, I was at the dentist doing a post op review, he is very pleased with my mouth, unlike Jacky Shu I suppose! (Sorry I had to say that, I just couldn't resist.) But while I was waiting for the dentist, alright the Periodontist, (I am sure someone out there just wanted me to spell that mouth full of consonants) I was reading a back issue of Maclean's Magazine. They were discussing Peak Oil and how we are for real entering a new age of expensive energy, well really its re-entering the place we were at the turn of the 20'th Century. The author predicted that suburbia will become a waste land of empty houses, travel will become a luxury, food will become expensive, and so on.

You know, if suburbia becomes an abandoned land of large empty homes, at least there will be lots of space for me to train, and I won't need to worry about all those crappy suburban drivers, they will be too busy learning how to walk to the supermarket from their high density condo that they swore they'd never live in. (Peak oil, an excuse for me to be a real smug asshole!) But the fact is, we, in Canada and the United States need overly expensive energy for our own good.