Heads-Up Hockey
I just got word that a saxophone-playing bike-riding acquaintance of mine got hit by a taxi today. He’s (mostly) ok, despite the driver’s attempt at initiating vehicular-powered human flight (net result, 10 feet). His bike is a complete write-off.
Drivers’ heads just aren’t in the cyclist game yet. I was encouraged by signs of life in the bike lanes today (two sets of tires other than my own as I rode down Innes at 7:45am), but in the same breath I also found myself gesturing at a driver who was talking on his cell phone as he passed me just before cutting me off to make a right hand turn.
Sure, drivers make mistakes, and sure, *some* cyclists take liberties with traffic rules, but as long as everybody does moves that are predictable, and well-advertised, there ought to be less carnage involving cyclists on the road.
I’m going to count my lucky stars tonight as I go to sleep and pray for another day of safe riding.
More Balls than Brains
That’s what I certainly had this morning when it came to riding to work.
I got up at 7am to check out what might be bad news considering that Environment Canada was predicting 2-4cm of snow overnight. Turns out there were nothing but bare roads, so I quickly declared that I’d be riding to work.
Half an hour later, as I was getting my jacket on, the snow was starting to fall.
That said, the conditions were exactly as I’d expected them. Wet roads, with slight encroachment of snow into the bike lanes. There certainly were a lot less potholes than I was anticipating, and people were generally respectful of my space on the road, including the times when I had to encroach on the vehicle lanes to avoid said potholes and snow.
Things got ugly, however, when I passed the BMW dealership on Hunt Club. The snow was coming from the west, so it had been snowing for at least an hour at that point, and was starting to accumulate on the road. No problem though, just time to slow down and pay attention to what my bike was telling me about the conditions. I’ve heard that fixies are great in the winter because there’s that real tactile response to what the road is like, and it’s true, I always knew what my wheels were up to. I was also glad to be riding a fixie for when I got to work and realized that my entire drivetrain (okay, my entire bike, and most of me) was covered in slush.
It snowed pretty hard for a good chunk of the morning, but then it let up towards noon, I guess, and after checking out what the parking lot looked like (and a quick glance at the radar picture from EC), I decided to make a run for it. Like my buddy Ralph O’Connor said, “if the parking lot looks like this, you can bet that the roads are clear” and that was indeed true. Roads were again just wet for the most part. The thing that killed me, though was the wind. And the fact that it was the first ride of the season, and so my legs weren’t exactly up to the task.
Now, I’m just hoping that this snow that has just fallen will clear up and I’ll be riding again in the morning…
Weather Conspiracy
I think that because I declared my intent to ride tomorrow, Mother Nature has given me the big ol’ FU. This just in from Environment Canada:
I really hope they’re wrong. I wanna ride!
It’s Time.
I’m so ready I’m dreaming about it.
Fantasizing, almost.
Lest there be snow pummeling the roads on Monday morning, I’m riding my bike to work. The current forecast calls for “Rain or Snow” with a low of -2 and a high of 6, so it can’t all be bad. That, and I plan on doing some bike mods on Sunday, after my darling wife returns home from a meeting and a shopping excursion to MEC.
New additions to the ride this year will include a rear rack and panniers. I kinda feel like I’m selling out on the whole pannier deal because here I am with this slick bike that I’m now going to be mounting saddlebags on, in effect. I feel slightly dirty doing so, but at the same time, it might be kinda nice to not have to worry so much about neck/back pain as I ride. Plus I’ll be able to carry even more stuff, and they’ll come in handy as my bike plans for this summer start to come clearer (Montreal? Bob?).
Later on this year (translation: I need more work to pay for bike gear), I’m planning on going with clipless pedals, just for an added level of efficiency. We’ll see how that pans out though…
Until then…
Ride Log – 6 Sep 10
I got it in my head a couple of days ago that I should probably go for a good bike ride before the work week starts. Today was that day, and here’s what I did:
My plan was to go Orleans-Rockland-Sarsfield-Navan-Orleans. For the most part, I kept with the plan. Orleans to Rockland is 24km, so I was figuring on 50-53km return, after detouring to the south.
The Orleans-Rockland leg was magical. Glorious sunshine, rolling hills, and little traffic along Old Montreal Rd. Things changed dramatically once I got out into Prescott-Russell county and onto CR-17. At that point, it was less about the scenery and more about making sure my tire stayed on the white line. The shoulders for the 5km between Old Mtl Rd and Rockland proper are downright scary. Not recommended for the faint of heart!
24km on the nose to the corner of Laurier and St. Jean where I called and checked in at home, took in some water, and then onto the next leg.
I headed down St. Jean and discovered that hills and fixes really do suck. I need to go back to Google Earth and check the elevation gain, but at least it was a short blast.
A couple of turns and I’m on Colonial Rd, back in Ottawa’s city limits. I must admit that Prescott-Russell does a way better job of maintaining their roads. The ones I tackled were well groomed, reasonably free of gravel and only lightly trafficked.
My back started to ache so I took a minute on the west side of Sarsfield to stretch and have some more water before carrying on. At this point, I should mention that the wind was now blowing in my face at about 20km/h, keeping my flat/upward incline speed around 27km/h.
Another quick pause for water at 10th Line and Navan Rd and then onto the home stretch. And stretch I’ve been doing – my legs and calves are real tight right now. Not used to riding that far in one go. Anyways…
At first, the ride was about the scenery, but then turned into a fight to push through the wind. I have to admit there were large stretches where I was focused on pushing forward rather than checking around. I did see lots of corn fields and a couple of strawberry farms, but mostly just the shoulder lines. Maybe next time 
Today’s stats:
Distance: 59.89km
Time: 2:09:30
Avg Speed: 27.75km/h
Max Speed: ~42.5km/h (when I’m spinning that fast, I prefer to keep my eyes on the road )
I’m going to go have a handful of Advil now. Thanks for reading
Really? Am I That Crazy?
I’ve been doing a good job of pestering the bike shop that sold me my Jamis Beatnik earlier this year. They said “Free maintenance for a year” and I’m doing my best to take advantage of this.
Yesterday I popped in for a checkup, pick up a pair of new riding gloves (mine were almost a decade old and very much on the mangy side), and see about getting my seat adjusted.
The tech, as most bike dudes who are uninformed or who haven’t experienced riding a fixie before, asks me how I’m enjoying riding with no ability to backpedal. This prompts the usual replies about feeling more “as one” with the bike and the road, blah, blah, blah. Then he pokes his head over the handlebars and checks out my speedometer and notes my average speed (ed. note: I reset my trip meter daily and keep tabs in my head of times to/from work, as well as average speeds, etc, just cause I’m nerdy like that). I ride reasonably quick – yesterday’s average by the time I got to the store was over 29 km/h. He seemed impressed and then asked how far I was riding daily (to tie in with the speed and whatnot). My ride is 45km round-trip, takes about 92-95 minutes depending on the wind (but has been as little as 90 minutes) — not to blow my own horn, but for a dude riding a fixie over vast distances, I’m doing okay.
I guess the gist of things on this post is me wondering why people are so averse to the fixie? I get that there’s a hipster thing going on with fixies, and that’s fine, but why is it so strange for a hard-commuting type like myself to ride fixed? I love my fixie, and here’s a few reasons why:
- weight: my bike is 20lbs;
- simplicity: no derailleur or other parts to accumulate gunk and road grime in;
- agility: my bike can stop on a dime and give nine cents change, deke around just about anything, etc;
- speed: You might get me on the downhills, and maybe even on the flats, but I will devastate you on the uphills. Just sayin’.
- “feeling one with the bike and the road”: Yes, it’s my inner hippie coming back out again. I do feel more in tune with the road and with my bike. Always watching out for potholes, sewer grates, etc, and trying to not get killed. Being not dead is excellent.
Anyways, I digress. I highly encourage you to feed me some comments on this one — I’m curious to hear from other cyclists (I don’t hang with y’all because I’m busy riding my ass off).
Where it Started
I love riding.
It started as a kid on a bike borrowed from a neighbour at the age of six and went from there. We had a BMX track just six blocks from my house, complete with jumps and all. We rode from sunup to sundown. It was amazing.
I took a long break from riding while I was in college. I didn’t have a place to stow a bike in any of the places I lived and it wasn’t something that really fit my lifestyle at the time, but once I picked up work at the Canadian Forces Recruiting Centre in Vancouver and we moved back into the city in anticipation of the birth of our first child, I called my dad and asked if he could bring his 80s vintage StumpJumper mountain bike down to the coast for me.
This sucker was the original iron lung. Curb weight was probably in the neighbourhood of about 40lbs, maybe more. It needed work so I brought it down to the Bike Doctor for a little loving (and some heckling towards me for riding this beast) and with that, I was set to go.
My first ride was simply terrifying. I wore my ID discs around my neck and had I been Catholic would’ve said a dozen Hail
Marys before setting out on the road. The ride took about as long as I’d expected but what I didn’t bank on was the high of being back on a bike again. It really rekindled my love of riding and set me on a path of commuter cycling year-round in Vancouver, even after we’d moved farther from work (and work moved farther from me).
My current ride in Ottawa is 25km one-way, primarily along roadways that have bike lanes (though there are a few scary spots to contend with). My current bike isn’t much fancier than ol’ Stumpy – I’m riding a similar-vintage Raleigh 10-speed that nearly killed me the first time I rode it and me and that bike have had some special moments of vehicular avoidance and many miles of roadways. I’ll write another time about driver tactics and attitudes.
For now though, I’m looking forward to my next ride.
