Living For The City

Some friends of mine got it into their heads this week that Thursday night would be a good night of the week to do 100 Kilometer rides around the city and got it into my head that it would be a good idea to join them.

I’d been up and working all day, didn’t sleep all that well the night before and generally speaking I’m not in good enough shape right now to pull that off but when my plans fell through I had no legitimate excuse to miss it and I’d rather be the guy that tried and failed than the one that bailed from the start. *cough* diaper babies *cough*

We met up at 1 Yonge around 7:30 and headed East through The Beaches via The Lakeshore / Queen to Birchmount and headed directly North through Scarborough.

Once we hit Steeles we took a short break and managed to get stuck in a bit of a torrential downpour. We hid out in a bus shelter for 15 minutes or so and it wasn’t letting up so we figured we might as well just get on with it – we’re going to get wet either way.

Squishy socks and all; Cam, Liam, Ben & The Brothers Kaiser were usually a good couple minutes ahead and I was having some trouble keeping up so Aner and I had decided that we were going to drop off at around Steeles and Keele but when Robin, Toby and Miyako rolled up on us in our deliberation we decided to stick it out.

Somewhere in Woodbridge Liam took a bad bail which left him with a slightly warped front wheel and some good bumps and bruises. At that point we opted to cut south via Islington as opposed to cutting down Mississauga Road and back so we rolled through Rexdale and all the way back through Etobicoke to the Lakeshore where we headed west.

Always the gentleman, Liam was worried that we were cutting the ride short on his behalf. Don’t worry, buddy, I was more than happy to turn back at that point and the rest of the ride got a lot easier once I knew we were getting closer to home and not further away!

We checked in at about 80k which as far as I’m concerned was not bad for a bunch of old (well, some of us anyway) folks on a rainy Thursday night – not to mention the fact that I’m pushing 82.8 Gear Inches – something I would definitely drop a little on a ride of this length in the future. It’s nice not to spin out on the flats and the downhills but pulling 15-20 pounds of bike, 10 pounds of stuff on my on my back and all 215 pounds of me up hills in that gearing is only slightly more pleasurable than a swift kick in the nuts.

All in all; I don’t know that I could make it a weekly event but I feel great today in that “I feel like hell” sort of way and I’m really glad that I made it out. Thanks for the ride, boys and girl.

To check the route we took last night click here.

My sister is punk as fuck! You think putting a “smash the state” icon on your Facebook page is punk? You’re going to have to try harder than that. D.I.Y. Circular Shawls? Now that’s punk!

Our boy Dan is in town until the end of the month and he laced Killen with this here script last week. Lookin’ sharp, bahd!

When Trouble and I got bruck up in October Tony @ IRO whipped together a Mark V Pro but quick and sent it out to me to get me back on the road as soon as I was well enough to ride. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any stock IRO 165’s in stock (which, even for a cheaper crank, I actually like a lot) so he threw on some FSA Veros with an IRO chainring. I appreciated that he got the bike to me so quickly but right away I knew I hated the cranks.

Visually, they’re too broad and flat across the top for my liking but thin where it counts which I figure accounts for some of how overly flexy they are. The pedal holes are drilled out fairly far from the end of the arm which tells me that FSA uses one crank arm for all arm lengths and just drills for pedals depending on what length they’re selling the cranks as. It makes sense from a manufacturing perspective, they are cheap cranks after all but it does serve to highlight that fact.

Funny little side-story about the FSA Vero Crankset: A friend at a local shop said that a guy that comes in from time to time was praising the FSA Veros saying that “he used to have those crappy RPMs” and he hated them but now he’s got the Veros and they’re really great! Brother, have you ever looked at the backside of those FSA Cranks?

I’ve had my eyes set firmly on the Sugino 75s for some time but with a crankset that retails for around $250 locally, plus $120 for the chainring, not to mention that I’d need a new bottom bracket – they’ve always sat pretty far out of my price range. Well, the bici gods have been kind to me and shown me a little mercy this week because I got hooked uuuuuup! Thanks fellas!

On a totally unrelated note: has anyone else noticed an abundance of young people rippin’ around the city on unicycles?

Thanks to Brent, Benny, Sean, Sarah & all the sponsors and especially the countless volunteers (esp. the Toronto Bike Union for the Valet Parking) who made the 2008 Bicycle Film festival such a great success.

The Bicycle Film Festival started off for me this year pretty much the exact same way as it did last year… partyin’ with Spark Dizzle and then moving on to the BFF Joy Ride art show at the Studio Gallery with Killen and Kamphof.

This piece was amazing – not only because it’s a gratuitous boob shot but because it was in the middle of a relatively small floor space and it made for great entertainment watching drunk ocad girls in heels stomp all over it time and time again.

Nothing quite like changing a flat over dinner – two in one night for the Killer!

My boy Sean ordered in this here Bare Knuckle and put it together yesterday only to find that he didn’t like the way it fit so he quickly dismantled it and put it up for sale. So far in the last two years he’s been through a KHS Flight 100, a Louis Garneau Pursuit, a Brass Knuckle, a Bottecchia conversion and now a Bare Knuckle! And those are only the track / FG bikes! Let us not forget about the BMX, MTB or Road bikes! Ha! I guess there’s something to be said for trying lots of different things until you find what you really like! Apparently I really like exclamation marks!

For sale is a 56cm EAI Bare Knuckle – Frame & Fork ONLY!

Some info on the Bare Knuckle:

The Bare Knuckle is handmade for EAI by a small shop in Venezia Italy. The tubes of the Bare Knuckle are mitered and TIG welded in Dedacciai COM 12.5 double butted cro-moly. Double butted tubing theoretically yields a stiffer bottom bracket and head tube area while keeping down the weight. Each Bare Knuckle frameset comes with an attractive 1-1/8″ lugged sloping straight blade fork up front and Columbus drop-outs in the back.

The EAI Bare Knuckle does an amazing job on and off the track. Its tight geometry and steep angles are still designed forgivingly enough for comfortable road use. They are currently being made for use with a 1 1/8″ threadless headset, a 27.2 mm seatpost and 120mm rear hubs.

More Info

Sean’s Craigslist Ad

While I’m at it – I might as well mention that Sean is one of my favorite dudes. He’s a great friend; loyal, friendly and funny as all hell – both when he means to be and even more so when he doesn’t mean to be. Three cheers for Killen!

Wednesday June 18
9:00 PM | Bikes Rock

Thursday June 19
7:00 PM | Joy Ride Art Show

Friday June 20
7:00 PM | Program 1 – Fun Bike Shorts
9:00 PM | Program 2 – Paper Boys
Afterparty TBA

Saturday June 21
3:00 PM | Program 3 – The Way Bobby Sees It
5:00 PM | Program 4 – The Six-Day Bicycle Races
7:00 PM | Program 5 – The Road to Roubaix
9:00 PM | Program 6 – Urban Bike Shorts
Afterparty TBA

For more information visit the Bicycle Film Festival website

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I like stuff. The only thing I like more than stuff I already have is getting new stuff. With that said, I had a really hard time holding back this weekend when I visited the R.E.Load booth at the CMWCs – not to mention all the nice stuff that Pac and Under The Weather brought with them.

Fortunately for my wallet; I’m very happy with my Metro, Sultan & Swinger so I couldn’t justify any of the pricier items but I did get my grubby little hands on this little tool roll-up from R.E.Load. It’s no secret that I like to carry an often unnecessary amount of tools with me when I ride so it’s nice to have a good means of keeping them organized without taking up too much space in the matryoshka doll that my bag is becoming.

I swore up and down that I wasn’t going to spend all my free time building bikes / doing fixed & ss conversions like I did last year but I’m already off to a bad start with Demarco’s old Nishiki here!

It went together pretty smoothly with one exception; the chainline would only line up if I used the 42 tooth ring and 42/16 is a little too light for a single speed with a freewheel IMO so I had to move the 52 to the inside of the spider which meant removing ancient / rusted bolts that probably haven’t been touched in 20 + years – always a good time.

Once we do something about that saddle so Demarco isn’t being raped anally* every time he goes for a ride this puppy will be ready to roll!

*Then again…

For the first time in 13 years, Toronto played host to hundreds (thousands?) of messengers and other bike-minded people from near and far for the Cycle Messenger World Championships. Despite the weather, it was an amazing weekend and I feel very fortunate to have met folks from all over the world; Canada, US, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, Scotland, England, etc.

I want to extend a big thanks to Leah, Sam, Mark, Emory, Shane, Jivago and everyone else who put in countless hours and made sure that this would be a weekend to remember for years to come. You did an amazing job and should be incredibly proud of what you’ve accomplished here.

Day 01

Note the empty Beer Garden. Messengers love to drink, don’t they? Well, generally speaking yes but $7 for a little glass of Steamwhistle at an event that Steamwhistle sponsored? Um… yeah.

Polo
One of my favorite events of the weekend was definitely the Bike Polo. I wasn’t able to play (or I guess didn’t want to) after I bruised (or separated, or cracked) a few ribs playing polo a few weeks ago but I definitely made it a point to watch as much as possible. Some of the best bike polo teams in North America came out and let it all hang out on the court.

Qualifying Race

Sprints

I’d have uploaded the pics from the Trackstand / Backwords Circle events but lets face it – neither event makes for very cool photos. The Tobra Snake, who wasn’t even registered, came in 2nd in the Trackstand comp and Jimbo & Ali battled it out in the Backwards Circle comp with 112 & 113 circles each respectively.

Day 02

U Lock / Polo Mallet Launching? Totally Safe! Giddy Up!

Polo

Main Race

Toby & Tofu GoGoGo For A Swim!

Skids & Tricks
While watching the Polo final Emory, who I’d been talking with about the tricks competition came over and let me know that we were going to be doing the comp right after skids which was about to take place and that I’d be MCing the event. I had worked up enough nerve (read: liquid courage) to actually stand in front of all these folks and do the damn thang when the rain hit harder than it had all weekend and wouldn’t let up at which point the skids & tricks events had been canceled and the awards ceremony was moved to Sneaky Dee’s later in the evening. It was an unfortunate end to a fantastic weekend but even being dumped on all day couldn’t truly tarnish the great time had by all.

Well, great time had by all except this guy…

To quote Miyako: “This is a little bit gay!”

Sean Killen: Man Of The People

Sean Killen: Annoyer Of Euro Messengers

With the World’s now well under way and the BFF one week away the DSR Go Straight Fast! series really picked up steam this week with a great turnout and fantastic prizes courtesy of Sean & Sarah of the Bicycle Film Festival.

Busted!

Our boy Cameron Hildebrandt cleaned up nicely with The Tobra Snake and Tom “The Hardest” Mosher rounding out second and third. Good rippin’ boys! In a total upset Mark received a serious spankin’ from two lovely young ladies in the cruiser class. For shame, brother. For shame!

The boys and I got together last night and went for a good rip out to the Beaches and while shooting along lakeshore, who should emerge from the darkness other than Chad who was out training for some upcoming races? I should have known that he was close at hand when I heard the barking in the distance.

We’re in the middle of a thunder storm right now, hot off the tail of a Tornado warning from last night so looking at these pics from the weekend makes me super happy. It was a real scorcher but I’ll take too hot over too cold any day!

Curbside had themselves a little summer clear out sale and Killen and I scored some clipless shoes for $10 a pair – I nearly bought about 10 other things I didn’t need because they were cheap but fortunately my buyers remorse is extra strong these days. Like my poppa always says, I’m going to go broke saving money.

This weekend also saw the debut of the new Crucial Pins sponsored / Doublenaut designed Regulators jerseys. Net hotness! Not old and busted!

Lastly; G-D Bless Parkdale.

It’s a great time to be a bikester in Toronto – its bike month and the cops are a blitzin’ so make sure to keep your traffic violations in check! Not that you shouldn’t be anyway but while blowing that stop sign at an empty intersection may be totally safe, the cops will slap you with a nice big fat fine and give you a “no bell” ticket for good measure if you’re not careful. Of course you could always just not ride like an asshole and put a bell on your bike but where’s the fun in that?!

The Cycle Messenger World Championships
This is going to be huge! The World’s are being held on Toronto Island – June 13-16 and messengers and other bike minded people are going to be converging on the city for 3 days of bikes, beer and bruises. I’m sure that there’ll be a ton of parties and other events going on over the weekend so be sure to check out the website to keep yourself in the loop!

The Bike Film Festival
The 2008 Bike Film Festival is running in Toronto the weekend following the worlds – June 18 – 21. If you’re not all biked out from the weekend before there will be a ton of bike related events centered around the festival and if last year is any indication it’ll be a ton of fun.

Devil Strip Rollers
The Wednesday night group rides are still going strong and growing. The website is a good source of bike related info around the city that will grow as the community does so be sure to check it out and contribute in any way you can! As far as the DSR Go Straight Fast series is concerned – apparently a new spot has been found so sprints are back on!

Bike Polo
I managed to bruise (or crack or separate – not sure yet) some ribs playing last Tuesday so I haven’t been able to get out and play but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t! Tuesday evenings and Sunday afternoons at either Trinity Bellwoods or Scadding Court. If you are the Book of Faces join the T.O. Bike Polo group to keep up.