Living For The City

I may not be the manliest man on the block (in fact, some blonde piece of euro-trash in a Mercedes called me a “fucking homo” a little more than a week ago) but I can’t lie, I love tools.

My dad always made sure that I understood the importance of having tools when I was growing up – I’d want cool skateboarding stuff laden with skulls and dragons and Santa my parents would show up on Xmas morning with a tool box full of tools. It’s not that I didn’t appreciate it but I didn’t really “get it” until much later in life. I started to understand it more when I took on my first major building project and much, much more when I became a home-owner but few tools have proven to be more useful to me in recent years than the tools I bought when I started to seriously get into bikes.

I picked up the Filzer Big Box and a few other small bike tools and eventually bought a Park stand and my place became sort of the default bike joint and I became somewhat of a default mechanic. I may not know all that much but having the tools and the opportunity to mess around with a good amount of bikes has been a really positive learning experience for me. One thing is for sure, the couple hundred bucks I spent on my bike tools have saved my friends and I far more than the initial investment – they’ve paid for themselves over and over again.

Two weeks ago I exploded my chain whip trying to remove a Red Loctited cog from Jason’s old / Liam’s new wheel. It sucked but it gives me an excuse to buy this Dura Ace 1/8” Whip / Lockring tool (pictured above) I’ve had my eye on for a while. What’s kind of funny about that is that I was supposed to go to New York the same weekend and figured one thing that I’d pick up while there was this very same tool @ Trackstar. It would have been a frivolous purchase as I’d gotten by with my current chain whip and the BB Lockring spanner I’d picked up for $13 (to use as a track lockring tool) but the Dura Ace tool is just so sweet, I wanted that tool. What are the chances? The very same weekend I would have bought the tool in New York, I stayed home and the frivolous purchase became a necessity. That, my friends, is what we call fate.

Back to the point; I still have most of the tools my folks bought me throughout the years and carry with me the early memories of my dad and I building go-karts (pictured below) in our garage that instilled in me the value of having tools over having the things you may make with them. The connections are somewhat convoluted but as I’m writing this I’m having somewhat of an epiphany; I’ve always credited skateboarding for fostering independent spirit and punk / hardcore for showing me that I can do things by and for myself but as I get older I’m realizing that it all started much, much sooner than I ever thought.

Thanks Mom & Dad – I owe you guys more than I could ever hope to repay.

I knew when Stephe Perry turned me onto these guys a few years ago that they were something special. They were a young bunch of guys who weren’t necessarily entirely original in what they were doing but they had an energy about them that was intoxicating. They’ve matured a lot in the last few years, they’ve moved from doing Black Flag & Minor Threat covers to Neil Young covers and their music has progressed along similar lines but they still sound like the exact same band. I think listening to their releases in progression makes the transition make a lot more sense; the same way if you listen to Gorilla Biscuits and then Walking Concert you may be confused but if you listen to GB, Moondog, Quicksand, Worlds Fastest Car, Rival Schools and then Walking Concert it all makes perfect sense – but this isn’t about Walter (although, he is playing with them tonight), it’s about a great young band that has come a long way in a very short time and I’m happy to have been able to watch them grow and look forward to what the future holds for Attack in Black.

Marriage is available for your listening pleasure on Myspace

Playing tonight @ The Horseshoe w/ Walter Schreifels (!)

When they don’t? Not so much…

So I wanted to get Liam‘s bike together this week but I needed to snag a chainring from another crankset which would be fine if the frickin’ bolts weren’t seized! I tried with all my might to crank them off and I ended up just pulling a muscle in my arm and stripping the slots on the back of the bolts.

The problem:

I’ve heard good thing about pouring boiling water on seized parts.

The result:

I decided that drilling them out might do the trick.

The Result:

The chainring is now where it belongs but this here ride still has a little ways to go – should be done next week.

Seriously, look at that shiner!

Problem #2
Robbie picked up this amazing Shimano 600 stem – super sleek, only made for a short run many moons ago

The stem looks amazing and would go beautifully with Rob’s ultegra headset… If we could get the damn bars on!

More DIY Bikelanes! THis one is on Queen from Bathurst to Strachan… Keep up the good work, OURS!

It’s true what they say; the kids grow up way too fast.

The day we picked the fastest of the pack:

The day we brought him home:

Today – all grown up and as handsome as ever:

Last night there was one rider that unfortunately didn’t make it back to home base last safe and sound.

Before I left my checkpoint we realized that we hadn’t seen our pal Jason roll in on White Power and called back to home base to find out that he’d dropped out of the ride – I guess that was the assumption at that point. I tried to call him a few times and didn’t get through. Today, realizing that his lock was still sitting on my living room floor I said “I hope he actually did drop out and didn’t get hurt.”

Well, he got hurt… quite badly, apparently. Details are sketchy at this point but all we know is that he and a car collided and he’s got a badly broken shoulder and is recovering currently at St. Michael’s Hospital… Beyond that, I know nothing so I’ll post details as they become available.

P.S. I Snagged this photo from Leah’s Facebook account – she took a bunch of great photos which I’ll likely post tomorrow, hopefully she’s ok with that.
P.P.S. I wonder how the responding officers liked the “Fuck Tha Police” stickers on Jay’s bike?

Update: A bunch of us went to visit Jason @ St. Mike’s yesterday and he’s pretty banged up and hates hospital milk (as if it’s any different?) but he’s lucky to be alive and got a sweet cape out of the whole deal. He’s also pretty sure that his bike survived the crash but hasn’t had a chance to really check it out.

So, as the story goes, Jason was heading to meet everyone back at the Price Chopper parking lot and he was riding westbound on Queen, approaching Trinity Bellwoods when he noticed that a waiting to turn left onto a side-street. The driver had several perfect opportunities to go but clearly wasn’t paying attention – as Jason got closer he started to wonder what this guy’s deal was – he continued riding straight, as he should have when the driver decided that large gaps in traffic aren’t ideal for turning – turning is best done when there is a guy legally riding his bike in front of you and better still if you can hit said cyclist and throw him over the hood of your car. This guy also read somewhere that it’s a good idea to leave the scene of an accident before the police / ambulance arrive. Fortunately they’ve got his plates and are going to go after him.

Three weeks ago when Toby called me and said that he was going to do an Alleycat on the 21st I said “OF JULY!?!?!” and he said “YEP!” I thought it was a little nuts given that three weeks isn’t a whole lot of time to plan much of anything but it went off without a hitch, Close to 40 people showed up all in all, 22 riders showed up to race and as far as I can tell a great time was had by all.

The concept was dope – Disco Inferno was an alleycat race that runs through the various club districts in the city on a Saturday night which in and of itself contains several pitfalls – Traffic, Cops, Drunk Ginos wandering into streets looking to CRUSH SOME ASS! It could have been brutal… but it wasn’t. I only heard of one accident (Glad you’re ok, Sean), no tickets were handed out and no arrests made but I’m sure lots of ASS got CRUSHED in the Tee Dot tonight.

Big shout outs go to Crumpler, Cavern Cycles, Bikes on Wheels, Goodfoot (All angels) & Rebel 8 who all donated prizes (apologies to anyone I missed.), to Andrew @ Redbull who showed up with the pimp juice and of course to Toby who put the whole thing together. Congratulations to everyone for racing and getting back to home base safely and I’m especially proud of my good friend and fellow Freedom Hater Andrew who, in his first alleycat, placed 5th of 22 which is pretty damn impressive – Freedom did not know what it was in for when you stepped on the scene tonight, boy!

I didn’t get many photos and most of the ones I did get didn’t turn out but here are some that did work out well enough.

Trackstand Champ, Erin

Skid Champ, Ryan O

He might be able to ride like a champ but it’s nothing compared to how hard Tom MOSHES!

On a completely unrelated note: Crime in my area has reached an all time high so I’ve installed a good old fashion moat and hired a whole squadron of glowing soldiers and dragons to guard my lair. So far, no one has dared cross that line, I’m hoping that my illuminated warriors will keep evildoers at bay – keep your fingers crossed for me – It’s getting scary out there. Eeps!

It’s 5:34am and I’m sure it shows in this post – I’m going to bed! Peace!

Update: Canice uploaded some photos HERE

Rob’s Angus came in yesterday and given the deal we got on it, I was a little bit worried that there may have been something wrong it but it was exactly as described, fits Rob perfectly and it all came together very, very nicely. Still waiting on a new stem and a new seat (if anyone has a white Concor or Rolls, holla at ya boy!) but for the time being, Angus (yet to be named) is one dope whip!

A big, HUGE thank you goes out to Robin & Chad at Curbside who stepped up to the plate when certain necessary tools were absent from my tool box. Curbside is a fantastic shop and the guys there are so amazing – highly recommended.

You thought that Angus was a good deal? How about this limited edition Bianchi with a FULL Campy group (gruppo? groupo? Everyone happy?) Ace picked up on eBay for $300? That is insane! You can’t really see it here but the detail work on this bike is amazing and I am so unbelievably jealous, you really have to see this bike to understand how beautiful it is and see the shape it’s in to understand why this is the deal of the century. Good score, bro!

Laser Quest gets a little facelift via some Aero Hoods & Some new tape.

An experiment that never should have worked…

And didn’t.

One of the best things about where I work is that I work in a dog friendly environment. I can’t usually bring Oliver with me because he doesn’t always get along all that well with the other dogs here and he’s a pup so he’s a little much to handle while trying to get work done.

I want you all to meet one of my favorite (not so) little guys, Harley, who likes to hang out under my desk. Watch as Harley transforms from lovable old coot to a vicious bat-dog within mere seconds! The only other time this happens is when men in uniform come into the office. Seriously. A lot of women may love men in uniform but Harley will bite you in your girly bits faster than you can say Yatzee!

Recently off Le Tour, my Parisian cousin Pierre Bonheur came to visit last night.

Ladies, he’ll be in town for the weekend, I trust you’ll show this prancing Frenchman a good time?

Flyer by Afo (sp?) & Ryan O

Ever seen a chain whip explode?

You’ve met White Privilege, now meet White Power!

Give me that good love, somebody rockin’ knockin’ da boots!

Seriously… so punk.

IRO Angus – Frame & Fork

Retail price in Toronto: $375 – $399 CDN
Retail price direct from IRO: $329 US + Shipping & Potential Duty
Bid with 4 Seconds left on eBay: $127.50 US + $55 US Shipping & No Duty

Too bad it’s not for me but I suspect this bike will make Robbie very, very happy.

I got home from work last night to one of those Canada Post slips tacked to my door to inform me that they tried to deliver a package but was unable to because I wasn’t at home which caused me to launch into a tirade about the stupidity of this system given that a significantly large amount of people (majority, perhaps?) of people that would be receiving packages in the mail are at work during the day. To add to my fury, the delivery person had crossed out the pickup location and written BBQ – WTF? Now I’m going to have to call these clownshoes and find out what the hell BBQ means in regards to my pickup!

So, I figure I’ll do it later and start to whip up some Yves Bavarians for Tony & I. Once I’ve got them boiled I go and turn on the barbecue to preheat, not thinking even for a second about the notice I’d received half an hour earlier and after a couple of seconds I open the barbecue to give it a quick cleaning and low and behold, there sits a package with my name on it!

Turns out I’d received a nice little package from No Idea with the final two 7″ records from the Chuck Ragan 7″ Club along with a CD of all the 7″ releases and a Small Brown Bike CD that I guess they threw in for good measure. I’m glad I opened up the old BBQ to give it a quick scrape or these here records would have been done and done!

The moral of the story? I’m an idiot.

After seeing Scott’s Simpsons Character I decided to make my own – I had a little help from The Simpsons Website & Pedal ID