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Friday, April 18, 2008

Pet Peave: Butts

I wish we could be a bit like Singapore...

We have way too much litter in Toronto. It's especially evident in the spring, when all the melted snow leaves behind the evidence left by winter litterers.

The worst of all are the cigarette butts. I don't get how a person who would normally never litter, can take a few drags from a cigarette, and in good conscious, chuck the half used butt on the street. What is up with that? We should have some serious litter laws to curb this shitty behaviour!

Bike Fit

I took a power spinning class (more cycling than spinning really...) this winter at Chain Reaction with a bonified cycling instructor, Pierre Perrin. Pierre was great, half motivator, half technician, his spinning classes took the boredom out of riding my trainer in the winter.

Beth and her friend Jody hired Pierre to teach them how to ride their new road bikes a few weeks ago, and that has been going well. He even came out to the first few store rides to help Kelly with her riding.

Last night, I got Pierre to come over for an hour to do my "bike fit" from scratch. It had only been fit when I originally bought it (Feb 2007), and I felt like I was way too upright.

Pierre ended up changing everything - my handlebars, my seat post height, seat angle, and position of the seat and my shoe cleat position. I rode 60km this morning, and the fit seemed great - I felt more aerodynamic and more able to go down in the drops for longer periods. I would recommend Pierre for anyone who wants to improve their skills/fitness etc on the bike

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Abby Hits the Road on Two Wheels

I took Abby and Robin to the park today and took off Abby's training wheels. We had tried a few times last year, to no avail.

Lo and behold, I put her on her bike, gave her a push and she was off! She had the biggest smile on her face as she pedaled around the flat grassy area at Lora Hill park. Very cute! Within a few tries, she was zooming around with very little effort.

By chance, her "papa", my father-in-law Paul, dropped by with Steve and Brian and got to witness the historic event.

Now I have to get a bike for Robin, as she was pissed she no longer had a bike with training wheels to ride...

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Sunday Ride... Stop being so nice!

We did a great country ride on Sunday, leaving from the usual spot at 9:00am (hydro station at Eglinton and 9th line). Rich and Bill led us on a fairly optimistic route that included lots of climbs and rolling hills on the first half.

Coming home, it was extremely windy (I'm guessing 30-40km/h) - mainly a cross/head wind. I got word from Bill that Rich had completely bonked and could only go 24km/h in the draft... my draft (I think I'm too big for cycling, as everyone tells me what a great draft I provide! F*ck!). So I stayed back and sheltered Rich and Bill most of the way back. It didn't seem to tough, as we were going pretty slowly, but I think taking the wind for so long drained my legs. With about 10km left, knowing Rich would be fine as we were on our last stretch, I managed to catch up to the lead group and then pass them on the last climb. Later, I stuck myself at the back of the lead group of a new guy (strong), Gilles, Kelly and Rolf. I just wanted to cruise back to the parking spot.

Suddenly, Rolf drops Kelly's wheel and I did what I often do - I jumped in front of Rolf to help him out (perhaps pulling him back to Kelly's wheel). That's nice, but pretty stupid. If I was strong, I would have realized I couldn't pull Rolf because he was bagged, and I would have jumped ahead a minute later to catch Kelly's wheel. Unfortunately with the wind in our faces, I gave it a good try but couldn't catch up. Stupid! Know where you are physically before tying to be do "nice" next time, and realize that if the guy falls off the wheel in front, he's probably not strong enough to catch up under any circumstances...

Friday, April 4, 2008

Vegas Red Rock Loop

For whatever reason, I love riding to Red Rock National Park in Las Vegas. Perhaps it's because this was the place of my first ever ride on a road bike. Maybe it's also that I usually do this loop during the winter months if I get down to Vegas on business, so to get any ride in is a relief. Either way, I love it.

The first time I did Red Rock was in November 2006. I had just gotten into riding that year when I'd bought my first mountain bike in May, as Abby was getting ready to start riding her bike with training wheels. By October/November, I had hooked up with Paul at Chain Reaction Bicycles and I knew that I'd be getting a new road bike the following February. We had a boys trip planned for Nobember to Vegas, so I contacted a store on Charlston Blvd where I could rent a road bike.

I took a cab out to the store one morning, and they put on flat pedals (I didn't know anything about clipless pedals, shoes etc). I got outside and got on the bike, and spent the next 20 minutes riding West on Charleston trying my best to figure out how the gears on the damn bike worked. Things had changed a bit since the last time I'd been on a "10-speed". I got it figured out just in time for the terrain to change to complete desert. The guy at the store had simply said "go West until you see the Red Rock sign". It seemed to take forever, and with the altitude, lack of experience riding and heat, I was getting a little tired. When I finally got to the entrance to the park, I was pretty relieved, not knowing that I'd have to spend the next hour or so trying to get up to the top of the scenic drive within the park. The terrain was beautiful, but I barely noticed - I couldn't get enough oxygen into my brain. I took turns riding, walking and sitting. By the time it was all over, I felt like I'd achieved quite a lot and was pretty happy with myself. I never would have thought then that I'd get so addicted to riding, and put on 6-7,000km on my bike the following year, my first year on the road.

The subsequent times I've been back to Red Rock since (maybe 6 or 7 times), I always think of how hard it seemed back then. Now, I ride from my hotel on the strip (http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Strip-to-Red-Rock-Loop) and although it's a great ride with plenty of climbing, it's not quite the "Everest-like" experience I'd remembered. Still, Red Rock remains one of my favourite rides...

PS Today I road Red Rock from Paris... nice hotel!

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Family Trip to Florida

For the fifth year in a row, we flew down to Florida to stay with my parents in Port Charlotte. They rent a place there every year for 6-7 weeks, and we usually go down at the end of March/beginning of April.

Some thoughts and memories from the trip this year...

* The girls were absolute fish - Abby cruises around the pool without taking a break, diving into the deep end to get diving rings etc. Robin started out with water wings (even though she dropped the water wings on our last day in Barbados a couple of months back), and by the third day, she was swimming on her own and diving to the bottom of the shallow end. It's unbelievable what basic exposure to water does to the confidence and abilities of kids.

*** Some quotes...

* Robin "I can’t believe a 3 year old can do gymnastics underwater"

* When Robin was asked if she was going to tell Tita what she did in FL, she crooked her head to the side, waved her hands in the air and said, "No, it's too complicated!"

* Beth: "Robin, I can’t believe your swimming. You’re only 3! What are you going to do when you’re 4?"
Robin: "Well, probably I’m going to teach babies to crawl"

* Gram and Banka took the girls to a zoo. Robin remarked that the little grey, talking parrot was "clever".

* Banka (who loves to comb the girls' hair) was trying to comb her hair and Robin told him she only combs her hair once a day!

* Robin also came out with "holy crap" and "awww nuts". Also, instead of saying "fuck it" (she's been "cleansed" of that word), she said "bucket!" in the same context. When Beth asked her once, with a stern look, what she said, Robin replied "you know, bucket and shovel". She did the same with me, and said "you know, bucket, like a pail". Little shit.

* For the second year in a row, I brought my bike. This year, I did more group rides - hooking up with some guys from the Coastal Crusiers cycling club. They do rides pretty much every morning, some more up beat than most. On Thursday, I met Norbert (the other token Canadian, albeit more of a regular than me!), and together we made it a very energetic ride. I rode with him on Saturday as well, and we promised to get together this summer if I get up around Aurora for a ride.

* Our flight was diverted to Hamilton, Ontario on the way back. Another flight had blown a tire and ended up blocking the runways in Toronto. We had to wait a couple of hours on the ground in Hamilton, but the girls were very good. We didn't get home until 1:00am, after which I had to pack and get ready to leave for Vegas the next morning at 6:30am.