Living For The City

Last night Aner BSOD #1 sent over this here little ditty for the first FHBC Shirt.

There was much rejoicing.

A couple of months ago we dismantled Jason’s Fuji Track so he could get ‘er painted up. Well, it took a little while longer than I think anyone expected but it’s back and last night we got ‘er back on the road – she’s a beaut! There was much rejoicing.

The other day after work I took Oliver over to Trinity Bellwoods park where we witnessed this:

Yes, that’s right folks; these bros are SWORD FIGHTING in the middle of the god damned park. Shortly after this pic was taken the smaller dude in the black decapitated the other guy and let out a mighty battlecry: “I am Zoltan, defender of Earth and master of the cock!” There was much rejoicing.

One of the things I’m enjoying most about going out on regular rides with friends is actually getting to know the city I’ve loved for so long. Urban Exploration is high on the list of Freedom Hater mandates.

On Saturday, Hammell and I went for a ride out to Tommy Thompson Park on the Leslie Spit which we’ve been by but never ventured into due to closed gates… We decided this time to bypass the gates and found a nice little spot to roll around. The paths are a little sketchy but the lighthouse at the end of the line, complete with a fire pit, empty condom wrappers & bad graffiti make the trip well worth its while.

In upcoming events: This Friday (June 1st) there is a fixed gear show / group ride at Curbside Cycle near Bloor & Bathurst. I believe 7pm is the start time – hopefully it doesn’t get rained out!

This Sunday is the Ride For Heart in which a bunch of us are doing the 50K ride – it should be fun so join up if you want, or sponsor one of us if you’ve got a couple extra bucks to spare.

In other news: I deserve the “worst brother / uncle of the year” award – a month later and I see my nephew for the first time yesterday!

Before I left for Texas I was reading the itinerary and while looking through the “Contacts” section I was pleasantly surprised to find and old friend of mine, Gaylord Texan. My excitement reached its peak when I found out that the convention I was attending was, in fact, being held in the home of the aforementioned Gaylord Texan. Mr. Texan was a pretty good host, he offered decent food, beautiful scenery, great company – all of which I’ve come to expect from the Lord of the Gays.

Check out a few pics of the Lair of the Gays:

Trip overview: Dallas, Texas (at least the very small part of it I saw) sucks. Gaylord Texan is the boss.

Hey y’all, I’m off to the land of beefsteaks and beefcakes. I got my boots shined up and I am ready to do the boot scootin’ boogie – I’ll till you whut! YEEEEEEEEEEHAW!

Im a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride.
Im wanted dead or alive.

I’ve been working a lot lately so I haven’t had much time to think / update – not like the 3 people that read this blog will mind – but here are a few pics from last week / the weekend that don’t involve me sitting in front of a computer which has pretty much been my life as of late.

Thofu / FBHC Group Ride

More Pics »

FHBC Midnight Ride

Trinity Bellwoods

…and dodgeball is a hell of a sport!

Get better soon, Aner! Hating Freedom won’t be the same without you!

On Mother’s day I rode out to my parent’s place in Mississauga (35k, give or take) to help my Dad fix their fence that has been broken for many, many years now. The ride was painless, I had no altercations with drivers which is a shock for a ride that long and Trouble got me there with all limbs intact. All in all, a beautiful day…

Momma’s Boy

Real Man Stuff!

Trouble… Straight Loungin!

…but we love you.

The Freedom Haters Bicycle Club and some friends are doing the June 3rd – 50k Ride for Heart.

In the off chance that you are reading this and you are not someone who is already riding or not someone that has already sponsored me – please feel free to do so – no amount is too small, no amount is too large…

If you’d like to join us on the ride, get more information at www.rideforheart.ca and when you sign up, join a “group or family” and then select Freedom Haters Bicycle Club from the pulldown menu and you’re off to the races, so to speak.

This Wednesday, May 16th also marks the 4th annual Ride of Silence which takes place all over the globe to honor those killed or injured on bicycles. The ride starts at Bloor / Spadina @ 7PM sharp – rain or shine.

Linky: Ride of Silence

I complain a lot… more than the average person I’d say and as a result I call to complain and write to more companies than your average person. Now, I’m not one of those annoying customers that flies off the handle when something breaks or if I’m just not satisfied – but once I make contact with a company in a friendly manner, if I find their level of customer service unsatisfactory then out comes the angry pen and the net result is the “strongly worded letter.”

Now, crafting an effective strongly worded letter is not as easy as it seems – it is a near art form that takes years of light complaining and dealing with customer service agents to perfect. I’ll elaborate on my various victories via strongly worded letter in a future blog but this post is not about poor customer service – we all know too much about that already. Nope, this post is about a far, far more elusive beast – a company with good customer service!

In a recent post I mentioned a Crank Brothers pump that broke – what I didn’t mention is that I also have a Crank Brothers multi-tool that got stuck in a rainstorm years ago in a not so water proof bag and rusted to shit. Now, I cleaned it up and it works just fine so I kept it and used it on a regular basis – often in non-bike related situations – and it’s a fantastic multi-tool.

I emailed Crank Bros last week asking if I could buy a replacement part (for the pump) or if it would be covered under warrantee? I also mentioned, off-hand, that my multi-tool had rusted and that it worked fine but I thought they should know that their tools rusted fairly easily.

Today when I got home from work, I opened my mailbox and in addition to some junk mail, there was a package from Laguna Beach, California containing two replacement parts for the pump (so I’d have a spare) and a brand spankin’ new multi-tool.

While I’m mentioning the above-average customer service of Crank Bros, I should also mention Moleskine, the Italian notebook maker made famous mostly by Earnest Hemmingway. I got one of the notebooks / day timers for xmas from my boss (was that a hint?!?!) and I noticed pretty quickly that it looked like it was falling apart. In the end I realized that it wasn’t falling apart and they tend to look that way as soon as you start using them but I realized this after I’d popped off a quick email to Moleskine asking if they had a warrantee program – a week later there was a brand new notebook in the mail all the way from Italy! No questions asked.

These are companies that stand behind their products and I’ll gladly stand behind them, any day.

Word up.

The best thing about summer is being outside at all hours of the night with your friends with no real plan and no real destination – hence the Freedom Haters Bicycle Club’s midnight rides. For the past couple of nights and bunch of us have been meeting up in the middle of the night and taking to the streets – aimless group rides, races on non-lit trails, urban exploration, skids, trackstands, backwords riding, cab kicking, pedestrian near-collisions and general trouble making / freedom hating – I’m hoping that all of these become regular weekend rituals as the weather gets better and better. Woo! Woo!

FHBC in fine form

No dude, seriously, it’s this big!

Looks like Scotty Hammell is rubbing off on his big brother… MINDFREAK!

Sometimes I Rhyme Slow, Sometimes I Ride Quick!

In case anyone is wondering – I’ve been listening to Purina Hall of Fame on repeat for the last hour or so. The sample at the beginning is chilling, the song is relentless from start to finish and the solo at the end is like a raging inferno – it’s so blazin’ that I’ve got 3rd degree burns to over 90% of my body. Seriously, this jam is that hot.

On May 1st my sister gave birth to her first son, Alistair. On the same day, Oliver lost his ability to have children – poor little guy. He’s super bummed but he’s bounced back from worse so I’m sure that he’s going to be back to normal in no time! Keep your chin up, little guy – Mommy & Daddy love you.

Last night I went up to Takeover to meet up with Tony and help with final assembly on his new IRO, she’s a beeeeeeut!

Most of the 3 or 4 people that actually read this blog will know that I spent the majority of my early 20’s at The Takeover Group. When we picked up this office space it was basically one big white box. Over the next few months with some help from our friends and families we nearly doubled to usable square footage by building a second floor / mezzanine that overlooked the office space. Doing it ourselves allowed us the opportunity to learn an awful lot about construction from planning to implementation at all levels – it’s easily the biggest D.I.Y. project (outside of being one of the founders of the company) that I’ve ever been a part of and one of the things in my life I’m most proud of. These pictures don’t really do the space justice but I figured while I was up there I’d snap a few pics for posterity.

On a side note: I think I was just the victim of a hit & run that wasn’t actually a hit to begin with. This woman in a red Audi is driving along King at a fairly slow pace, she makes a lane change after a row of parked cars without looking (which is a common occurrence so I watch out for it) and before she can hit me I wind up and give her car a good slap! She looks back, doesn’t realize that I’ve hit her, probably thinks she has hit me and guns it! I’m talking “pedal to the metal” here! She flies down King & hangs a right on the first street that comes up and takes off like a bat out of hell. People are stupid.

Meet Alistair Rennick Douglas