On Impossible Goals

I will not be doing the BCC Saturday ride. Here is my post to the BCC Saturday morning group:

Ooooh, a climb up Old Kingston, well I know someone who is probably itching to do that. But I'm afraid it won't be me, just because I still haven't figured out how I'm getting to Plattsville doesn't mean I'm not going to start training for it.

It took Alberto Contador 48:40 to do a lap around Lac d'Annecy...

I won't beat Contador, I won't come close, he is without doubt the greatest cyclist riding today, I don't much like him, but I've got to respect his ability's. But sometimes setting ludicrously impossible goals is a good thing, I won't achieve them but it forces me to try harder.

On Riding in Rough Conditions

Recently someone asked The Explainer in Velonews what happened to all the great road races during the war years.

Well it is no great secret, the Paris-Roubaix picked up it's pseudonym The Hell of the North when organizers toured the course in 1919 passing through the post apocalyptic destruction that was four years of trench warfare. But actually some road racing did take place, as Charles 'The Explainer' Pelkey explains here.

I love that bike history, cycling is something that predates the automobile, in fact many roads were originally built for cyclists, not motorists and ironically, thanks to peak oil one day, not too long from now, all those roads will be free of motor vehicles just as they once were.

On Revent Events, an update

Well at least I know my message made it to the Government of Ontario's mail servers. Today I got the following from someone, or more likely some software at Gov.on.ca (Pronounced: Gov-on-ka).

Subject: RE: Road saftey for cyclists
From: Minister of Transportation Correspondence (Web Account) [minister8@ontario.ca]
Sent: Thu 03/Sep/2009 2:19 PM

Thank you for your e-mail. It is important to the ministry and has been forwarded to the appropriate ministry office for review.

Once again, thank you for bringing your concerns to Minister Bradley's attention. He always appreciates hearing from members of the public.

Am I special or what? (If you didn't pick up any sarcasm trust me, it's there.)

On A New Chain

Around the same time that my GPS was replaced by Garmin (the previous unit was defective) I replaced my chain (the old chain was pretty well worn out). Well according to my GPS I have now logged almost 1900km. Which is remarkable because the replacement GPS arrived only a little over a month ago.

Now I have heard several schools of thought on bike chain replacement. One thought is measure the wear. Another school says, every thousand miles, yet another school says every three to four thousand kilometers.

I should insert here the part where I do confess to having a very fancy looking Park Tool made chain wear gauge. The problem with the gauge is it tends to predict that my chains are already stretched after just a couple hundred kilometers, so I have switched to the far more economical three to four thousand kilometers. Except, and here is a real kicker, I do half that distance every month! So I am supposed to replace a chain every two months from April to October? Ouch.

Hey speaking of Ouch, Floyd Landis the 2006 Tour cheater (I think he was busted for testosterone) is back in the saddle after his two year suspension. Landis is riding with team OUCH, and not doing anything impressive. Testosterone, it gets results! But the cycling journalist I mentioned earlier keeps hoping and specultating that Team RadioShack will pickup Landis. I guess Landis can get Lance an emergency supply if Contador and Schleck don't crash before next July? But are Landis' suppliers still in business?

Alright I am being really mean, but let's face it, here is a guy who was only a winner when he took drugs, why would anyone want him when presumably clean cyclists are out there for the choosing? Probably because Landis is American, Armstrong is American, get Lephiemer (an American) and Horner (American) on one team and you can really increase circultation numbers during the tour. Now the fans aren't cheering for Armstrong or Hincapie, they can cheer for Team America! Well I hope the Schleck boys clobber team America, heck I'd settle for a second... Oops, third, Contador win.

Anyway there was a tragic accident involving a cyclist and... Well obviously an automobile, guess who got killed. Except apparently the driver antagonized the cyclist who was drunk and physically threatened the driver, personally, I prefer to call the police, but then I ride sober. The whole story is a tragedy from top to bottom and to me only further illustrates why peak oil is a good thing that cannot happen soon enough.

In happier news, here are some pictures of me with and riding Alexandra. I must say, ever since Malcom at Biseagal worked his magic Alex has been one sweet ride.

On Recent Events

First if anyone is planning on going to Plattsville to do the ITT and has room in their car may I hitch a lift? (Or does anyone want to split the cost of a rental?) The guy who was going to drive me had an accident and won't be on the saddle much for the next few months. Lesley needs the car that weekend for a business function.

Now I sent the following letter to the Ontario Minister of Transportation, it is self explanatory.

Michael Cole
Toronto ON

Hon. James Bradley, Minister of Transportation
Ministry of Transportation
3rd Floor, Ferguson Block, 77 Wellesley St. West
Toronto ON M7A 1Z8
Jbradley.mpp@liberal.ola.org

September 1, 2009

Dear Mr. Minister,

On Sunday August 30 at around 10:00am I was riding my bicycle on Trafalgar Road south bound towards Upper Middle Road when I exchanged unpleasantries with a motorist who felt that I was not entitled, as a cyclist, to a lane of the road. I subsequently informed the Halton Regional Police of the exchange by telephone and was advised by the communications officer that in fact I am supposed to remain as far to the right side as safely possible, in short share the lane with motor vehicles.

As a result of this exchange I reviewed the Ontario Highway Traffic Act as posted online at: http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_90h08_e.htm and found the following somewhat ambiguous rules as applied to cyclists:

“vehicle” includes a motor vehicle, trailer, traction engine, farm tractor, road-building machine, bicycle and any vehicle drawn, propelled or driven by any kind of power, including muscular power, but does not include a motorized snow vehicle or a street car (Section 1.1)

And slow moving vehicles are defined as:

Vehicles (other than bicycles, motor assisted bicycles and disabled motor vehicles in tow) that are not capable of attaining and sustaining a speed greater than 40 kilometres per hour on level ground when operated on a highway. (Section 76.2.2)

Yet

Every person on a bicycle or motor assisted bicycle who is overtaken by a vehicle or equestrian travelling at a greater speed shall turn out to the right and allow the vehicle or equestrian to pass and the vehicle or equestrian overtaking shall turn out to the left so far as may be necessary to avoid a collision. (Section 148.6)

On the one hand sections 1.1 and 76.2.2 seem to imply that on my bicycle I am on a vehicle and as such entitled to the same access to our roads as any motorist. (Ironically with respect to section 76.2.2 when the altercation I described above took place I was actually traveling faster than the 40 kilometres per hour cut off for slow moving vehicles, roughly 47 kilometres per hour according to my bike’s computer.) Yet section 148.6 would suggest that I am supposed to yield my lane to any overtaking motor vehicle.

Now I believe I understand the rationale behind section 148.6 on a back country road where there might hardly be enough room for two cars to drive side by side, and finding a car, let alone two, on such a road might happen with such infrequency that pulling over is completely reasonable, but such a rule is, to be entirely frank, lunacy, in an urban setting.

Any given day that I decide to ride on an urban or suburban road I am forced to contend with potholes, swear grates, motorists who open doors without looking (the dreaded “door prize”, which one might recall resulted in a fatality in Toronto last summer when a motorist “doored” a cyclist on Eglinton Ave.) In addition to the stationary dangers, a cyclist’s ultimate terror are the motorists who choose to pay greater attention to their cell phone, makeup, car entertainment system, or whatever else, as opposed to traffic around them. Furthermore, when a motorist hits a cyclist, the cyclist is, if lucky only seriously injured. I am unaware of any motorist being hurt from a collision with a cyclist.

Therefore I am asking that a greater effort be placed on publically explaining what a cyclist is entitled to, do I get the full lane or should I let cars pass me? Clearly recent events with former Attorney General Bryant (http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/689220) suggest that one way or another the rules of the road are not well understood. I would also suggest in a world of greater environmental consciousness and declining oil reserves that more freedoms be granted to cyclists, after all encouraging cycling should reduce the overall cost of health care and road maintenance in Ontario.

I thank you for your time and consideration

Michael Cole

On Good and Bad Government

I have another entry in the works, but I wanted to comment on a few things in the mean time.

First anyone who rides along the lakeshore in the city must know about the disaster that is the new bike trail running from Coronation Park to Marilyn Bell Park. Holy smokes? What was the idiot who designed that trail thinking? First there needs to be a clearly marked separate trail for pedestrians and joggers. Second this trail is too narrow. Third there are far too many traffic stops. The old route had problems, but compared with this route, well this route sucks. Who signed off on this thing before work was started? Were any cyclists consulted? The designers of this trail, the cyclists consulted, the politicians who approved of this thing, must all be about the most oblivious people on earth. What a sad waste.

On the other hand, I found the following video on YouTube, well actually the Globe and Mail found it and wrote an article about it. It is a thoroughly Canadian video, it is made by policy wonks, its boring, there is no yelling, no breaking things, no swearing and makes me proud to be Canadian.

On Averages

It has been a modest goal of mine to maintain an average speed on a ride of 30km/h. Now my GPS is considerate enough to stop the clock at speeds of less than 4.8km/h (except that in reality by the time the thing clues in that I am in the "auto pause" speed zone my foot is typically on the ground waiting for a green light.) That said, I have achieved my goal a few times, but not so often that I don't get excited when I see that glorious "three zero" on the GPS at the end of the ride.

Anyway I have found that the more I ride back country roads the faster my average speed. When I ride to work, from The Beach to downtown, cranking out 28km/h is a hammerfeast that entails racing faster than cars, but when I go out McCowan road to Ravenshoe (or further) and back, breaking the 30km/h limit is almost easy.

Now part of the explanation must be the air quality. There is little evidence of human activity on McCowan road, no people means less pollution. As well it is very easy to zone out on McCowan, there are few things to make me zone back in so maintaining a steady prolonged hammer is not overly hard. But the main reason must surely be the simple fact that I can ride for miles with little, if any reason to ever stop. (I would like to think that if I were not so exhausted by the time I reached the border, my performance on the way to Rochester would have been much better for the same reason.)

I guess the moral here really is, hell is other people. Okay I am being cynical, hell is cars and crowds. Now a big pelaton of cyclists, usually that is a good thing.

I have posted up on the BCC site a ride to lake Simcoe for labour day. It might very well be the last chance I have to ride there until 2010, so far no takers. Actually one guy read the post and said he would rather ride on Tuesday night which I do not understand, okay granted Tuesday night only takes three hours, Lake Simcoe requires six hours, but Lake Simcoe is more than twice as far and it is during the day, with less traffic, a lot less traffic. Anyway, if anyone reading my blog wants to do a nice long road ride I am open to two options: a. we hammer 170km with a couple quick stops for water refills or b. we go a a strong but not overly fast pace and enjoy the scenery. Either option works for me.

I must have BO or something, it seems like almost every ride I organize has absolutely no takers, well Aaron came with me once, last summer. Oh well, at least I'll be good and strong for a time trial.