Living For The City

Ashlee & I went out to Rockwood this weekend to visit my friends Keigo, Heidi & their son Kai to celebrate the impending arrival of Kai’s younger brother / sister – we don’t know which one yet. Keigo is one of my oldest and dearest friends and it warms my heart to see him & Heidi so happy and to see the amazing life that they’ve made for themselves. I don’t see them enough but when I do, it’s like nothing has changed – that’s how you can tell your true friends from the many that may come and go in your life – not that there is anything wrong with that, either.

Keigo, Kai & Heidi

Keigo making sure that Kai doesn’t lose touch with his Japanese Heritage

Pokie & Ashlee

I need Guitar Hero

I really need Guitar Hero

Kai throwin’ the horns

In other news – within the next 24 hours I am going to become an uncle when my sister gives birth to a viking warrior, the likes of which the world has never seen! Congrats Danielle & Steve!

A couple of weeks ago I realized that I’d amassed half a dozen or so BLT “LED Blinkie” lights that no longer worked due to dead batteries. Whenever they died I’d just go and plop down $7 on a new one and put the old ones in a drawer.

Last week I decided to crack one open and see what kind of batteries they take and looked around online to buy some new ones. What I found where that a lot of places sold them fairly affordably but shipping would have put each battery at about $5 US – with two batteries in each Blinkie that would be $10 US to keep a $7 CDN light out of the landfill.

I’d debated writing to BLT to see if they’d be interested in setting up a recycling program where they collect the lights to be sold as refurbs with new batteries – perhaps not the best solution but anything is better than throwing perfectly good lights in the garbage.

Fortunately, while at MEC yesterday my boy Sean spotted the right batteries for $1.50 each! I’m more than happy to spend $3 to give a little light a new lease on life.

Unfortunately – if your Nixon watch suddenly stops working, you’re not going to get off that easy! $30 for a new battery installed and you can’t do it yourself without special tools. The plus side is that the guys at the watch shopped buffed out all the crazy scratches on the face of this thing for a couple bucks more. I love the watch but I hate the fact that it scratches if you even look at it the wrong way.

Now I’m just waiting to see if Crank Brothers to see if their lifetime warrantee is worth it’s salt so that I can save my trusty Power Pump (which broke yesterday) from the landfill. I’ve MacGyvered it to keep it working for the time being but I’d really rather have a new part to make sure it works as it’s supposed to.

I wish that these guys would just fly through my window at night and fix all my stuff while I sleep.

I was first introduced to Rob in the mid-nineties as the formidable drummer of Japanese Hardcore outfit – Enter The Dragon and undisputed “Cutest Boy in Oakville.” We eventually played in a band together that toured the world and were in a constant running battle with Guns N F’n Roses to see who could fornicate with the most groupies on a single tour. In the end, GnR ended up beating us by a few girls but we suspect that they were counting a few ladyboys that they picked up while we were all on tour together in Thailand. Not to mention the fact that I think GnR counts that time Rob woke up with AXL standing over him urinating on his cold, naked body humming the piano solo from November Rain. This is still one of my fondest memories of the old days.

After the band split up, we each took a little bit of time to recoup and get over the various addictions we’d acquired on tour and Rob had a bit of a rash that he picked up from some jailbait in Spokane that he had to clear up so we didn’t see each other for a few years.

Eventually, Rob’s ailments had healed up enough that he could start doing normal things again and he decided that he’d pick up a new mountain bike and try to get into the pro circuit where I’d be riding for a few years. When he was shopping around he came upon the Rocky Mountain Bicycles website where he noticed that my pro model “Fusion” was about to be released so he got in touch with me to see if I could hook him up. I mean, after all the times we spent getting stewed, screwed and tattooed together I certainly wouldn’t mind hooking him up with a bike, right? Wrong. I ignored his request and sent him an autographed 8/10” of me winning the 24hr Downhill out in Kelowna instead.

I guess he hounded one of the Rocky Mountain reps enough to give him one of my pro series bikes. I was ok with it but made sure that he got a different color so that if we ever went riding together we wouldn’t look like some lame couple that bought matching bikes. I mean, Rob and I may have crossed swords once or twice while in the throws of passion with any number of extremely lucky young ladies but we never loved each other in that way. I guess it wouldn’t really matter because if we went riding together we wouldn’t really be seen together because I’d be so far ahead but I digress.

After I’d won enough championships in the downhill MTB world I decided I needed a new challenge so I picked up a Road Bike and started training with my buddy Lance out in Texas. Lance got a little bit sick for a while but with my help and inspiration, he pulled through. I felt a little bit bad for him with all he’d gone through so I let him win a few championships of his own and I decided to take a little break from pro cycling and went into doing design work full time.

During this time, Rob had put his life back together, spent some time in Japan before ultimately moving back to Canada and studying to become a teacher. After school the allure of those big MDG dollars was just too much to bear so Rob turned down all the teaching positions that were thrown at him to work for Computer giant MDG Computers. If you ever want to not get approved for credit to buy a computer that doesn’t actually exist, I can’t recommend a better dealer!

In the end, Robbie B and I both got seriously into fixed gear bikes, quit our jobs to become Messengers a la Kevin Bacon in Quicksilver and are currently in training to ride across North America on our bikes. I keep hearing rumors that Rob is going to bail on me to pursue his once budding dancing career but I keep filling him with delicious kisses burritos so that he’ll have trouble fitting into his tights and won’t be able to dance without having to endure the harsh realities of being an overweight ballerina in today’s dance market. Nope, he’s going to have to stick to getting fat and riding bikes with his old buddy Matt until the end of our days. True story.

My boy Anthony (Takeover, Exhibit-x) is soaking up some sun in Cali right now but when he gets back he’s gonna be tearing up the streets on his new Jamie Roy. ILL SON!

I heard that Tony likes jokes, I wonder if there is any truth to that?

I am fortunate enough to have been sent (by my company) to the Flash In The Can conference here in Toronto for the last few days. Considered I’ve been working in design / development, more specifically web design / development full time for at least 8 years – it’s about friggin’ time that I started making my way out to these things! I think I’ve stagnated for a good long while and am in desperate need of inspiration and this conference seems to have at least set the gears in motion.

For the designer / developer types – the new features of Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator & After Effects CS3 will blow your mind! Trust!

By far, the most interesting / inspirational speaker for me was Evan Roth from the Graffiti Research Lab in NYC. He’s got a fellowship from an organization call Eyebeam which basically means that his “job” is to come up with fun and interesting ways to use technology to improve the urban landscape. You’d be well advised to spend some time at the GRL site – hopefully it’ll inspire you to do something to make someone smile and make someone else mad as hell at the same time.

Amongst a lot of informative technical seminars, other high points of the last few days included sessions with Brendan Dawes, John Maeda and Alan & Patrick from The Movement. I, unfortunately, missed the Saturday workshop with Joshua Davis which I’m sure would have been good but let’s not pretend that it would have been better than spending the day outside on the most beautiful day of the year with my lady, my friends and all our dogs in the park.

I need to go to the gym.

With no Lick’s in the downtown core anymore one wonders where they might track down a decent veggie burger. After reviewing the Hero Burger site about a year ago and seeing that their Soul Burger is listed as “100% Certified Vegan” I made my way over to Hero and picked one up. I got back to my office and began to enjoy this admittedly fantastic veggie burger. The only thing that didn’t sit quite right with me was that the bun had a yellowish hue to it so I emailed Hero to ensure that the bun was vegan. I received an email back from Hero Burger’s Director of Operations confirming that the patty is vegan but the bun is not.

Where do they get these guys? I mean, he was nice enough but obviously clueless. If you take a vegan patty and put it on an egg bun you can no longer advertise the burger (patty + bun) as vegan! He asked if I could provide a supplier of vegan buns that would be comparable. What am I? A bakery? No, I’m a guy who wants a veggie burger. You guys are the food experts who are falsely advertising your burgers so the onus is on you to find a supplier (I did give them a short list) OR at least discontinue advertising your burgers in that way. He also said that hero is not in the practice of losing customers and asked me to try them again. What am I going to try if you’re not going to change the buns? Clueless, I tell you.

12 months later the website says exactly the same thing – 100% Certified Vegan – and guess what? They’re still using the same buns. How many people have been duped in the meantime? Change your website, idiots!

I understand that there are more important things in the world than whether or not a bun at a second rate burger joint is vegan but this kind of thing just really gets my goat. I wouldn’t care if they didn’t have a veggie burger or had one that wasn’t vegan but if you’ve got one and don’t care enough to tell potential customers what they are actually eating then you don’t deserve anyone’s business.

Hero Burger – you get the gas face!

This morning marks the first “nose to nose” road rage incident of the season. He made a threat, I laughed at him, he made another, I told him off, he got back in his car and drove away pissed off and hopefully embarrassed. Have a nice day, dickhead…

This is war!
If there is one thing I hate its opening my mail box and seeing one letter addressed to me and ten pieces of unsolicited mail for places I’ll never go, homes I’ll never buy and products I’ll never use. It’s gotten to a point where I rarely get mail that is actually addressed to me! I feel so unloved. If there is one thing that I hate more it’s walking through my neighborhood and seeing all the flyers left on people’s doorsteps blowing about.

I don’t have any statistics to show that more people discard their unsolicited mail than keep it – but if my habits and the garbage can (not even recycling) near my townhouse complex’s mailboxes are any indication, there has got to be a tiny amount of people that actually appreciate and use the unsolicited mail they receive. Out of the several hundred pieces of junk mail I’ve received since I’ve been living at my place, I’ve used precisely two items; a menu from Sweet Lulu and some coupons from Quiznos – both of which I debating not using on principal alone.

I tried contacting the worst offenders and got the same response from everyone which is exactly what I had anticipated. “We can not control which homes receive our mailings and which ones don’t” which in essence is untrue. If you did not send the mailing, you could ensure that NO homes received your mailing.

In the lifecycle of a piece of junk mail, each step has within it an infinite number of other steps in which human energy, somewhat renewable resources and non renewable resources are completely wasted and I for one am fed up. I’m adding a new step to the cycle; Return junk mail – along with all other junk mail I’ve received for up to two weeks prior to a randomly chosen offending junk mailer. I’ve got some of my neighbors on board so together we’ll be able to start to put together some pretty massive piles to drop on the reception desk of some poor, unsuspecting real estate agents, restaurants, etc.

Sure, this isn’t going to stop junk mail – it’s not even going to make a dent but it’s going to be, if nothing else, at least a minor irritation for someone and that makes my heart feel good.

Me, Aner, Robbie, & Sean – hating freedom as usual.

I spent some time in the evenings late last week with Nick & Ben working on Nick’s Atala track conversion – he’s done a ton of body work on this frame, had it painted and now finally has it on the road. The lug work is really unique and interesting from a technical standpoint as well… It really looks amazing, super classic.

After some trouble with the bottom bracket (thanks Miche!) which Ben solved with his MacGuyver worthy ideas and also had some trouble with the fork / headset race for which we decided to forego ingenuity and went straight for brute force which fortunately worked.

Nick and his lady make killer burritos. That is all.

Why don’t more people ride bikes in the city? Is it because they are lazy? Sure, but that’s not the principal reason – a huge amount of people avoid riding downtown because they think it’s extremely dangerous and they are right – but it doesn’t have to be.

Of course being generally athletic and having quick reflexes are definite advantages but ultimately getting around the city by bike is far more of a mental challenge than a physical one. These are a few things to keep in mind that will make the chances of you eating concrete a little bit slimmer.

Anticipation
The single most important thing that will keep you “rubber side down” in the city is the ability to anticipate what drivers and other cyclists are going to do. You have to be able to recognize people’s driving patterns within a very short time and watch closely to see what move they’re going to make next. This is especially true for people riding fixed gear but it applies across the board – watching a block or two ahead and being prepared will definitely help keep you alive.

Be Visible
Drivers are never going to accept the fact that they have to share the road with you if you don’t force them to. Be visible and let them know that you are there and you’re not going anywhere – take the whole lane if you have to. They may honk, they may yell but it doesn’t change the fact that you have every right to be there and as long as they see you, they probably aren’t going to hit you.

Be Vocal
In Toronto, you can get a pretty sizable fine ($110) if you don’t have a bell on your bike – I don’t have a bell because I don’t need one. Bells can be a convenient way to let pedestrians stepping out into the street know that you are coming but so is a sharp “HEY!” which, unlike a bell, may also work for people in cars or engaged in conversation who may not otherwise hear a high pitched *ding.

Avoid The Doorprize
If you are riding in traffic or with cars parked on the right be sure to keep your eyes peeled for recently parked or pulled over vehicles. Watch for people sitting in the driver’s seat and look for signs of movement inside the vehicle that might indicate an imminent door opening. If you can, watch their side view mirrors to see if they are watching for you before swinging their doors open.

This type of accident kills cyclists more than any other in the urban environment and it’s not the door that kills you most often – it’s being flung into traffic that will do you in.

Be Less Courteous
There are often times when I’ve got to be less courteous to drivers than I’d like to be but with each action there is a series of more in depth decisions to be made. My overall view is that as a cyclist, you should not go out of your way to be courteous to drivers. The downside of this is that you may plant more “anti-cyclist” seeds than one would like but the unfortunate truth is that giving way to drivers unnecessarily is subconsciously indicating submission and acknowledging their place at the top of the roadway food chain.

I’m not looking to make friends out there but I do expect a certain level of respect on the road and it won’t be handed over so it has to be demanded. Don’t be afraid to give driver’s shit if they overstep their bounds and don’t worry about giving cyclists a bad name – they already hate us so I don’t care if they fear us if it means that they give us our space.

Watch out for the fuzz
It’s no secret – cyclists break the law almost every time they get on their bikes. I’m not saying that everyone does but every one that I know most certainly does. Most of us ride with principle in mind over and above law. I’m more concerned with whether or not something makes sense than whether or not something is legal.

With that said, the cops don’t feel the same way and they will bust your ass if they catch you breaking the law. If you’re lucky like me and have friends that are lawyers / law students then they might have some crafty ideas to help you avoid paying the hefty fines you may receive on your bike but it’s a lot better to not get caught in the first place. Trust me, the $187 ticket I’ve got sitting on my desk isn’t likely to get paid but I’d much prefer it if it had never been given to me.

Part of not getting caught means knowing what you can and can’t do in the first place. Few people, myself included; really know what is legal and what isn’t. I’m working right now on either obtaining or writing a comprehensive bicycle law overview but a good place to start is to infer what you can from the Ontario Highway Traffic Act – Bicycle Violations PDF.

Things to keep in mind
First and foremost – people are stupid. Seriously, fucking stupid. Drivers will see you coming (make eye contact, even) and keep driving in your way, pedestrians will see you coming and keep stepping out in front of you – don’t expect any of them to make way for you so be prepared to get out of the way if you have to but make them feel like imbeciles (or incredibly unsafe, if you can) when you pass so they might think twice next time. If they give you any lip, give them a fat lip and ride off into the sunset.

Most importantly – for all the shit I talk about demanding respect and being vigilant remember that you’re up against 2 or more tons of metal being manned by people that are often distracted, inattentive, inconsiderate and disgruntled after sitting in traffic for an hour coming in from the ‘burbs. As tough as you think you are, or as tough as I think I am, you’ve got to pick your battles and know your limits.

Chrome Metropolis
I’ve had a few bags over the years; I most recently parted with my MEC Brenta for the larger and IMO much better designed Metropolis. The Brenta had a few features, most notably the waterproof zipper across the top for easy access to the bag and an outside front pocket, that would be cool to see in the Metro but overall the Chrome bag is just that much farther ahead of that bag that I’d hardly complain about not having either.

On any given day I’ll have all the usual bike tools (15mm wrench, Y allen wrench, spare tire, patch kit, pump), gadgets (camera, ipod, flashlight), a notebook, ipod, gym clothes, shoes, lunch for the day and still have some room left over in case I need to pick something up on the way home. Some people say that the only people who would need a bag this big (20,000 cu. i) are messengers – and I would be inclined to think that way for the Kremlin (30, 000 cu. i) – but once you get used to having this kind of space to lug stuff around, it’s hard to go without.

I’ve ridden with this bag in the pouring rain and in snowstorms and never had anything inside even catch the slightest bit of moisture. The inner liner is suspended within the outer shell so the liner itself is not directly exposed to the elements.

The last time I went to Vancouver I brought this as my only piece of luggage and it fit everything I needed for the week and then some. Admittedly, I tend to pack fairly lightly but was still able to bring more shirts than I needed and was able to bring a pair of shoes back for my little lady. It’s JUST small enough to fit in the overhead compartment of an airplane making the wait at the airport that much quicker upon landing.

The thing that really sets this bag apart is the strap system. The buckle, in my opinion, can look a little hokey and perhaps even a little too “future guy / goth raver” for my liking but it does come in handy a lot of the time and the d-ring loosening / tightening mechanism is far better than any other system I’ve used. They have apparently updated the d-ring as the old one (the one I have) had the tendency to slide through the strap and get jammed but it only ever happened to me once and took all but 10 seconds to fix – no biggie.

If I have one complaint, I’d have like to have seen some back padding for when boxier items are in the bag but this can be overcome by a) packing carefully or b) cutting out a piece of foam and placing it in the back of the bag between the liner and the shell. I haven’t done this myself but I think with a little bit of foam and Velcro it could be done very easily. I’m also a little bummed that the “black buckle” wasn’t readily available when I bought my bag and it seems to be up on the site now but I’ll live with the shiny buckle – there are worse things.

www.chromebags.com

Freitag Dexter
Now that Ashlee is becoming a full fledged bikester and her hatred of freedom is reaching new heights, she figured it was about time to invest in a decent little messenger bag because riding around with a Dior slung over your shoulder just isn’t going to cut it. After a fairly painstaking search through all the usual suspects; Chrome, Timbuk2, MEC, Pac, Push, ReLoad, UTW, Baily, Banjo, etc. she happened upon the Freitag Dexter. It’s a cute little bag made from almost all recycled materials and it has a nice fit and a solid stabilization strap that will keep it where it’s supposed to be while she’s on the bike.

In Europe, rather than painting or putting decals on the sides of transport trucks, most companies opt to have a large vinyl banner (Tarpaulins) placed on there that can eventually be removed.

The bulk of the bag is made from one of these Tarpaulins with recycled bike inner tubes and recycled car seatbelts thrown in as well. I saw in the pamphlet that car airbags are used in there somewhere but I don’t see where – maybe it’s only on certain models.

In any case, the bag has a lot of inside compartments that are sewn in and I suspect that it’s going to hold up well over time. Very expensive for what they are but sometimes you have to pay a little more for something you’ll really love.

www.freitag.ch

Yesterday in Boston a 22-year-old cyclist was clipped by a cab and knocked underneath the rear wheels of a dump truck carrying a full bed of scrap concrete where he sustained lethal injuries. The weather was starting to get bad and he was riding between the truck and the cab.

This is what complicates the story; riding between the lanes is extremely dangerous & in my estimation is probably illegal. With that said, it’s a move that I employ pretty much daily to get where I’m going just a little bit faster. The biggest danger in this type of riding is that even the few drivers that actually think to look out for cyclists are expecting you to either be on the far right side of them or taking the lane to yourself. Once they think they have a clear path to make a lane change, they aren’t going to look again and might not see one of us darting by them between the lanes.

I’ve been fortunate thus far that in all my years riding in the city I’ve only been hit once (by a cab) but I have had more near misses than I could ever hope to count; ranging from what would have been mildly frightening to what could have easily caused unimaginable damage. Admittedly, a few of these were probably my fault but the vast majority were a result of drivers either not paying attention or not caring / respecting my place on the road. There are two types of vehicles that I’ve had more encounters with than any other: Luxury SUVs and Taxicabs.

I’ll touch only briefly on the former by saying that the sucker driving one of these massive, gas guzzling beasts in the city that hits me better hope they have the best insurance money can buy. If I live, I am taking every god-damned penny you’ve got and you can throw in your first born for good measure. I hate you, I hate your freedom.

My pure, refined hatred is reserved for Taxicabs. Now, I’d like to add that I do occasionally take cabs and when I do I often have great conversations with the drivers who are normally really nice and interesting people who are trying to make an honest buck. The unfortunate truth is that the nature of their job is such that, by definition, they have to be an awful driver to be good at their job. They have to pull insane u-turns / 3 point turns, they have to drive extremely close to the curb, they have to cut the lanes, they have to get the next fare in and out as quickly as possible and most importantly they have to drive hyper-aggressively to survive. These are all things that make them good at their job but bad at interacting with other vehicles / bicycles on the road. All these compounded by the fact that they are normally working long hours in the same tiny metal box and dealing with every other moron on the road, cyclists included turns them into complete menaces.

What hits home so much about this particular story (Boston, still with me?) is that I know next to nothing about this guy other than he was a young guy, wearing a messenger bag and riding a fixed gear bike but in that alone he reminds me of myself and so many of my friends. It’s easy to imagine the situation in which he ultimately lost his life; there is a slight chill in the air, there is a small amount of drizzle which is beginning to freeze, the cabbie and he are jockeying for position, they are well aware of each other and neither is willing to give in to the other, he gets a little to close, the cabbie gives him a slight nudge, his heart skips a beat and in an instant he is gone.

RIP little bikester brother

Take out

+ Messed up order / Free tote bag

= New hat for Oliver!

Folks! Allow me to introduce Sparkles: Professional Male Model. Spark is the enigmatic vocalist of Southern Ontario’s foremost “old guys that still like hardcore” band: To The Lions.

Today we gave Spark’s bike a little tune-up and got rid of a bunch of flashy little stuff that was on there that didn’t need to be. It survived a harsh Toronto winter and will ride Sparkles safely through the summer… Sparkie hates freedom and I love Sparkie.

PS Check out TO THE LIONS