Search Results for: rob ford

Sep 20, 2011

I Saw The Constellations Reveal Themselves
One Star At A Time {1}

I’m terrible at planning. Like, not as bad at some and good enough when I need to be but truthfully, it’s not my strong suit. Fortunately, I’m awesome at surrounding myself with people that are great at it which allows me to take these little weekend adventures from time to time (a lot this year) and have them go off pretty damn smoothly.

With my little lady’s work life slowing down just a bit around this time; a short while ago we booked a houseboat weekend near Bobcageon with Happy Days Houseboats.

Day 01
Met up with our man Sam, loaded up his Ford Transit and headed North to meet up with our other partners in houseboatin’.

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Unfortunately we got there a little bit too late to be able to leave the dock that night so we just set up camp at the marina and got wild. A little too wild to properly enjoy the next day, but that’s another story, it was still a killer night at the marina.

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

This is Wes, he drifted over from the bachelor party a few houseboats over. Hi Wes.

Houseboatin' Yo

Too cold to jump into the lake at 3am? Probably… but Sam & I nah care.

Day 02

I really wish I’d put in an offer on this bike that was just sitting at the marina… Full Campy & Ofmega with an Ideale saddle. It would have taken a lot of elbow grease to nurse ‘er back to her former glory but I think it would have been worth it… Ahhhh well.

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Our main man Joe hopped aboard as soon as we were ready in the morning, made a few cracks about people jumping in the water in the middle of the night, hijacking golf carts at the marina and generally raisin’ a ruckus until the sun came up, and then taught us how to captain the boat, yo. He made sure that Yvonne was a good girl, too. Good girl.

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Some of our group had already dropped off a car in Buckhorn so the plan was to take the houseboat over that way, drop off a few folks and then go through the locks and over to Lovesick.

Once we got there, though, we figured that it might be best to just drop anchor and hang out there for the rest of the day.

Houseboatin' Yo

We spotted a tiny little island near to where we’d dropped anchor that looked like an ideal spot to tie off for the night so we stayed close for the rest of the day.

Despite the temperature of the water, you can’t be on a houseboat in a beautiful lake and not jump off it. Well, I can’t, anyway…

Unfortunately, I’m wicked fast and the shutter couldn’t capture Sam or I gettin’ pitted, so pitted off the roof of the boat.

Some of the gals had to be back earlier so, with their car already in Buckhorn, we pulled ashore and dropped them off…

Houseboatin' Yo

Here… take my bag…

Now… take me…

With the girls securely on shore and on their way back to the big smoke, we drifted back towards our island for some full time chillin’.

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

The boys went on a firewood mission and then while we got dinner ready, Sam went across to our little private island to get the fire started for after dinner. After the ridiculousness of the night before, I think we were all game for a mellow night around a campfire.

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Day 03

We got up nice and early the next day, some of the folks loaded up the dingy and went on a coffee run in town while Sam and I got breakfast / lunch (one of these days they’ll come up with a word for that) ready.

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

From the moment we blew up the dingy, my man Yousaf had wanted to use the slide to get into it… He did, it was awesome.

Houseboatin' Yo

Headin’ home…

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

Houseboatin' Yo

All in all, it was an amazing way to spend an early fall weekend and I can’t wait to do it again next year… Although, next year I wanna do it with a huge crew and in the middle of the summer… Huge thanks to Alana, Alison, Leah, Sam, Steph & Yousaf for an amazing time and the biggest thanks to Yvonne for making it all happen.

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By Category: It's all love, Travel

Dec 11, 2010

Winter’s First Breath {1}

Tami Noa Levy x Red Winged Blackbird

In honour of my 32nd year on this god forsaken planet, my good bud Tami painted me this here little red winged black bird who I think is pretty great. I haven’t picked him up yet but I should this weekend and I can’t wait to find a nice little home for such a nice little guy.

Tami took a big step this year in deciding to pursue her career as an artist full time and she’s been producing a huge volume of work and selling off a lot her smaller “one a day” pieces at so if you dig it, please check out her work (some of which is still available for sale really affordably) on her blog.

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Just for good measure; here are two of my favorite pieces that Tami has made recently, one for Robbie and the other for Sean & Aidan… You can’t really understand just how rad these are until you see them in person… Really moody, I like.

Tami Noa Levy

Tami Noa Levy

By Category: Design / Art, It's all love

Nov 17, 2010

Looks Like Ford Was Right… {0}

Swimmin' With The Sharks

Anonymous Friend at City Hall: “I saw Rob Ford in the cafeteria today, he stood there for 5 minutes pouring so much gravy on everything. Everyone was just standing there watching him do it. I think he even put gravy on his salad!” So much for stopping the gravy train, eh Bobby?!

By Category: Bicycles, Food

Oct 26, 2010

Ford: Quality Is Job nOne* {8}

Rob Ford - An Embarassment

I’m both saddened and embarrassed for my city, today.

I hope all of you suburban so & sos that voted for this maniac based on his platform of tax cuts and fiscal responsibility made up numbers while simultaneously overlooking his backwards thinking and boorish behavior (don’t forget to read page two from some genuine classics) are happy with yourselves – they’re making fun of us are far away as Florida and these are the same dipshits that elected George Bush… Twice!

Sure, council will hopefully block most of this moron’s efforts, but wouldn’t you rather live in a city that is actively working towards making the place better rather than struggling endlessly internally in an attempt to keep it from getting worse?

Jaaaaaaaysus. To quote someone who’s name I do not know, which seems somehow fitting; “a Mayor Ford administration would make the Lastman years seem inspired.” True, true.

It’s been a long time since I’ve busted it out but I just can’t help myself… here it comes… BOOM! Rob Ford gets THE GAS FACE!!!

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Update: This interview is amazing (listen to the interview, seriously, what a cock) and this graphic does an amazing job of illustrating how someone like Ford gets to run a major metropolitan center and why the megacity was and still is a horrible idea.

By Category: Angry Matt, The Gas Face

Sep 8, 2010

I Look Terrible {1}

Am I the only one that can’t wait for Rob Ford to become Mayor of Toronto?

Post #9 of 3650 on this very blog was about this fat fuck and his stance on cycling. Don’t even get him started on AIDS or “Orientals” or Italians, Communists or basically anyone that isn’t an obnixious, cracker slob. Apparently he’s ahead in the polls? Unbelievable.

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More!

By Category: Magic Mostly

Jul 4, 2010

A Chevrolet To Your Gold Rolls Royce {1}

So I’m on day four of what is effectively a six day weekend and it’s awesome. I mean, technically speaking I’m busy all day for the next two but I’m at least not at work so that counts as a extra two days on my weekend where I’m from.

Plus side? I’ll spend the next two days riding motorcycles and honing my skills.
Down side? I’ll be spending the next two days in the oppressive heat wearing this.

Boots, heavy denim, leather jacket, gloves & helmet… 34 degrees, I don’t even want to think about what that’s going to feel like with the humidex (45?!) and in full gear. Fuck me.

The time away from work has been great, though; for the last week and a bit I’ve been looking after my favorite pup Shadow while her folks and little sister went on a little East Coast adventure.

Australlian Kelpie

I often forget how much work is actually involved in having a high energy pup around and how much time it adds to your day and how difficult that can be at times…

Australlian Kelpie

…then again, waking up next to this every day is as good as it gets for a fella like me.

Shadow

But yeah, that was pretty much my long weekend… Dogs, drinking, parks, buds, BBQs, Fancy Boy BBQs™, more dogs, more parks, more buds and lastly, the fascinating but horribly, horribly frustrating world of vintage motorcycles…

1974 CB750 K Four

So, Yan has been over at my place at least once a week trying to help ascertain what might be causing certain problems and like most things in life – this process has to get worse before it gets better.

1974 CB750K Four

So here’s where I’m at so far… The persistent problem seems to have been that the spark plugs get fouled out meaning that cylinders don’t fire and the bike doesn’t start. Ok, fine, so you clean the plugs, get some gunk out of the carbs and she starts up again… Not exactly ideal.

1974 CB750K Four

I knew that the tank was rusty on the inside and needed to be cleaned / treated badly but the guys at the shop insisted that, although it did need work, this wasn’t the problem. Now, I won’t claim to know more than guys that actually know something but I don’t think that this is how gasoline is supposed to look.

Every time I’d run the bike there was so much gunk from the tank flowing through the engine that a domino effect of epic failures would ensue. So, I took the tank off and ran a POR-15 tank treatment that seems to have gone wonderfully.

Step One: Marine Clean

Seal, Shake & Soak!

You wouldn’t believe the amount of garbage that came out of the tank after step one. Wow.

Step Two: Metal Ready

Starting to look better…

In between treatments I’d use degreaser and steel wool to clean up any outside surface rust / inside of the fuel cap / etc…

Because the tank has to be 100% before the final step and I’m wicked lazy – I devised a wicked plan for increased airflow with no effort.

I also reinstalled the original tank emblems with Gorilla Glue… Very nice!

Step Three: Fuel Tank Sealer

Much better!!!

While we had the tank off we also decided that the bike had relatively weak ignition so I placed an order with Vintage CB750 for, amongst other things, new ignition coils, new plug towers and boots, new points and condensers, new tach cable (old one was not awesome), etc., etc.

The order came, shipped free from Stratford, within 2 days which was awesome so back Yan came and we installed most of the new components while we waited for the tank treatment to be complete… Anything vital, anyway…

So in theory I slap the tank back on, reconnect the fuel lines and she’s a hummin’, right? Wrong.

The tank runs clean now but one of the new ignition coils seems to be dysfunctional and while we were cleaning the fuel petcock we forgot to remove a gasket before dumping it in carb cleaner so I need either a new petcock or a new gasket dial to go inside…

Which leads me to my next point; this process, thus far, has been very frustrating and it has a lot of my friends shaking their heads in what I’m sure is the biggest of “I Told You So”s but I can take it because a few weeks ago I didn’t know what a petcock even was or what points were or how timing works in firing an engine…

Sure, I could have spent a lot more money and bought a new bike that wouldn’t give me these kinds of problems or even an old bike that runs better (in my defense, the bike ran nicely when I bought it) but going through this is teaching me so much valuable information about how these machines work that it can’t possibly be a bad thing. I enjoy tinkering and love learning but I’m definitely a learn by necessity / action kind of guy and the fact is, if I didn’t have to, I wouldn’t learn any of this stuff so the silver lining in this dark cloud is readily apparent already.

Like my man Colohan said when I called him about the first problem I had with the bike… “Welcome to the world of vintage motorcycles… get used to it.” I’m just glad to have good buds like Chris, Aner and Yan around to help me out… Yan, especially, who has been such a trooper and a huge, huge source of information for me – can’t thank you boys enough. Can’t wait to go on a nice ride in the country with you all…

Other awesome things include but are not limited to;

Eamon McGrath – Cut Knife City Blues. This jam is huge.

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By Category: 74 CB750, Dogs, Food, It's all love, Motorcycles

Nov 3, 2009

Shine A Light {9}

Last night I decided that it was time to get going on another project in the kitchen – the mason jar lamp that I’ve mentioned before. The goal is to replace the light (below) that I’ve never liked but couldn’t find a sconce that I liked enough to replace it with. Not anything I could afford, anyway.

I wanted to go to the hardware store to buy parts but it was raining and I wasn’t on my fully fendered bike so I just went down the street to Urban and picked up their lamp cord kit for $12. In hindsight, I should have held out because I could have gotten something much cheaper and more minimal. But I digress…

Pair that with the antique Crown mason jar that Alex gave me and the cap that I found in the lobby of my office building and we’re puttin’ ‘er on pucks, bahd.

DIY Mason Jar Lamp

Because the old mason jars used glass tops vs tin I had to find something else to secure the lamp fixture so, for the time being, I just trimmed and center punched the top of the cord kit packaging.

DIY Mason Jar Lamp

DIY Mason Jar Lamp

DIY Mason Jar Lamp

DIY Mason Jar Lamp

Tharr she be, for now anyway. Step two is going to be to remove the wall plug end and hard-wire the fixture into the wall / to the switch which should be fairly straightforward. I also thought I had another Edison Bulb kicking around here somewhere which would look much nicer in there but I can’t find it so the little CF will have to do for the time being.

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While I was at Urban I spotted these shelf brackets which were 50% off. I don’t know if I’m all that thrilled about them and may not use them once I find something I like more but for $5 I figured they’d be good enough to get that barnboard shelf hung in the kitchen that my new mason jar lamp will sit on.

With a stud-finder and a level in hand hanging it took all of 10 minutes but I think I hung it about 10″ too high.

I let it sit over night and if I still feel like it’s too high and I’m up to it today (oh yeah, I managed to come back from Philly with a really bad somethin’… cold, flu, i dunno, which might also explain my lethargy at night while over there) I’ll drop ‘er down tomorrow.

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Update: Still haven’t decided on shelf height but I went ahead and finished up the jar lamp today while home sick… If you’ve never hard-wired a plug style lamp, it’s pretty simple and here are the steps that I took to do it:

First; Make sure that the breaker is off and if that’s not an option, I’ve never had a problem with just having the switch off… Be careful with this, though, electrocution is no joke!

Second; Cut the wire to the desired length plus a few inches, peel the outer casing back and then separate the white and black wires inside. Then carefully cut the ends off the casing on those wires and you’re now ready to start. I like to tape things up with electrical tape to keep things clean but I don’t think it’s necessary at all.

DIY Mason Jar Lamp

Third; Wrap the newly exposed wires around the exposed wires of the corresponding colour sticking out of your electrical box and twist some marrets around the two until tight. If there is a ground wire, screw it down to the electrical box but in the case of most cheap lights like this you’re not going to have one so it’s not going to be an issue.

DIY Mason Jar Lamp

Fourth; Test ‘er out, see what she does.

DIY Mason Jar Lamp

If it works and nothing blows up then you’re ready to button ‘er up. In my case, there was a small challenge because I didn’t want to the plate to sit on a diagonal and didn’t have the right stuff to level it out… Sooooo, I took the old light fixture that was there and stripped it for parts.

DIY Mason Jar Lamp

I took the threaded center rod to use to fasten my cap but unfortunately I needed a hollow one and this one had a fixed end. No biggie, I threaded a nut onto it to protect the nearby threads (I’ll still need the rod to work) and gave it a couple of rips with the hacksaw.

DIY Mason Jar Lamp

I cleaned up the edges of the rod with a file and my drill (for the inside) to remove any metal burrs or sharp edges so as not to damage my wiring, screwed it into the box and fed my wires through it – fed the cap over-top and screwed it all down.

DIY Mason Jar Lamp

Not the most elegant solution, perhaps, but it works. The wall could use a little patching and I could, in the end, use a nicer cap but again… it works. The beauty of this project is that it didn’t cost me more than $15 (and could have been done cheaper) so if there is anything I don’t like about it down the line, and I already know that there is, I’ll just change it!

Et voilà!

DIY Mason Jar Lamp

By Category: Grown Man Business, Home

Jan 20, 2009

I’ll Rip Your Chord. {3}

Some of you might remember a couple of weeks ago my friend Scotty Hammell was raising funds so that he’d be able to throw himself out of an airplane handcuffed, straight jacketed, butt plugged, whatever… I don’t even know at this point but it’s obviously pretty nuts, regardless, and we all love him for it.

Scotty Hammell

Scotty moved to California last week to begin training and he’s been documenting his progress on his blog.

I’ve come to realize that skydiving, especially in the early stages, is all about communication. Communicating while falling at terminal velocity is hard to do. Factor in the safety; all of the checks you have to do at LEAST every five seconds and learning the right form so that you gain muscle memory makes it even harder. One of the exercises in your level one and level two, is while you’re flying, to reach back and put your hand on your pilot chute handle (aka the rip cord) to show your instructor that you know where it is. This was easy and natural the first dive, but the second dive, for some reason I couldn’t find it right away on the second and third attempt. My instructor, seeing that I’m not finding it right away, tried grabbing my hand to show me where it was. This mad me panic and that is NOT good when you’re freefalling. You NEVER want to panic.

So gnarly. Best of luck, Scotty, we’re all behind you 100% of the way.

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On the less dangerous side of things, my boy Tony who recently left my former home at Takeover hit the ground running with Vinyl Download – this is really only useful for you if you’re in a band and/or run a label that releases music in the vinyl format (or know someone that does) so if you’re not one of the aforementioned you need not read further.

Vinyl Download

From a consumer perspective, the premise is this; you buy a record, you go home and listen to it and it rules but you want to be able to listen to it on your iPod but you can’t because the musically has magically been encased for all eternity in black wax.

Now, unless you have a USB Turntable or something along those lines for ripping Vinyl you’ll probably search the web for a digital version of those songs which in some cases might be a bit of an arduous task, depending on the rarity of the record.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the band or label who released the record had already decided to give you high quality digital files for your listening enjoyment? Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an affordable and easy to use piece of software that allowed them to do that for you?

Enter Vinyl Download.

I’m not sure what else is out there in terms of this type of solution but I will say that Tony’s will be well thought out, well built, well supported and you’d be putting money directly into the hands of a really good dude so if you’re in a position to do so, support brother Bennett is his latest endeavor.

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On an unrelated note; so jazzed!

Cinelli Hairnet

By Category: Bicycles, It's all love, Music, Sports

Oct 16, 2008

B17 Bomber {1}

Seeing as Robbie is taking his Rolls back…

Selle San Marco Rolls

…and Wes is taking his Swift back…

Brooks Titanium Swift

…I figured it was about time I sucked it up and picked up a new saddle – my pal Ben hooked me up with this here Brooks B17 for a song.

Brooks B17 Standard

I debated getting a swift of my own but let’s face it; I don’t need a $400 saddle, can’t afford a $400 saddle and don’t want to worry about a $400 saddle when my bike is locked up for longer than 10 minutes.

The thing about Brooks saddles is, they’re really uncomfortable… for the first little bit, anyway. Once you’ve broken one in and the saddle has molded itself perfectly to the contours of your toosh, though, you’ll be hard pressed to find a more comfortable saddle. The unfortunate part of breaking in a Brooks is putting in some serious hours on the ‘taint shredder’ before it becomes really tolerable.

There are things you can do to speed it up, though, all you gotta do is ask Sheldon (RIP).

Wrap the saddle in tinfoil – with an opening along the rails.
Brooks B17

Get yourself some baseball glove oil. Assuming you’re not going the Profide route, of course.
Brooks B17

Pour the whole bottle in through the opening in the bottom and let it soak for 1/2 an hour to an hour.
Brooks B17

Take the saddle out and let the oil drip back into the foil.
Brooks B17

Let the oil drip back into the bottle – it’s still totally usable, just used.
Brooks B17

Wipe ‘er down but good while your friends do Karaoke in the background.
Brooks B17

Mount ‘er, put on some black shorts and go for a ride.
Brooks B17

I’m generally a proponent of level saddles but Brooks saddles are meant to be angled up ever so slightly, especially during the break-in period so I’ve got mine set with an 8 degree rise – thank you Thomson.

By Category: Bicycles

Sep 19, 2008

Blood & Bandages {5}

When I realized a short while ago that my childhood dream of having a hole in my head (just like my dad) was slowly but surely becoming a reality I decided that I’d have one last hurrah and grow my hair until it can’t be grow’d no mo’ so when I got back from Europe I just stopped cutting it altogether. With the Wonger‘s wedding coming up on the weekend I figured I can’t show up lookin’ like a total skid. I mean, a little skidly, sure, but you can’t go from a G to a Gent and not expect to take a few inches off the top.

Now, I’ve had precisely two paid haircuts in the last 6 or 7 years; one about a year ago that cost entirely too much money and one last Thursday – I normally just go at the old noggin with clippers and believe you me, I cut a mean fade but becoming a hair farmer is not without it’s problems and unfortunately for me saying goodbye to the days of the DIY haircut is a now necessary evil. At the recommendation of my good friend Chris I decided to check out my main man Roger at Blood & Bandages*.

Blood & Bandages

The 97 square foot shop on the north side of College, just east of Dovercourt has just enough room for the two chairs** and a buttload of cool old photographs and interesting vintage nic-nacs. For those fellas that are looking for a nice, affordable, local barbershop with a classic, comfortable feel – I definitely recommend checking out Blood & Bandages.

Blood & Bandages

*My girlfriend is cooler than me and took the time to look up the meaning of the name.

**One of those chairs is perpetually empty as Roger is looking for a second barber so if you’re into it and qualified, inquire within.

By Category: Design / Art, It's all love

Apr 6, 2008

Triplog Day 02: Barcelona {4}

The boys started off the day with a little workout – later in the trip we all adapted a fairly regular workout routine but I think the glass walls and the gym being exposed to all of Hello BCN kept me from working out and prompted me to mock the fellas from outside of their little enclosure.

We figured the first thing we should do on our first full day in the city is figure out how we were going to get out of it a few days later. We could take a train which would take forever and involve a bunch of transfers (bikes aren’t allowed on high speed trains), fly with a cheap local airline but that would involve re-boxing our bikes and probably wouldn’t end up being all that cheap or take a ferry from Barcelona to Genoa which was both pretty cheap and a little faster than the train (18 hours) and it was an over night ferry so we’d sleep for a good amount of the trip anyway so we headed down to the port to make the arrangements.

While down there we spotted a cable car tower and couldn’t resist so we locked up and decided to check ‘er out. It was getting close to lunchtime (let’s face it, it’s always lunchtime in the land of The Rennick) so we figured we’d hop on board and grab a bite at the top. While on the gondola we met some terrified German tourists (Sparky could relate, the poor guy soiled himself on the way up) and a nice gal named Andrena from Pittsburgh (currently living in Italy) and her cousin Salvo who didn’t speak a word of English but seemed like a pretty sweet dude based on Andrena’s translations.

I also discovered that Spanish adolescents do the exact same naked lady, boner & turtle appreciation graffiti that beautifies truckstop bathrooms across the great continent of North America – call it a little slice of home away from home.

Once way made our way back down on the cable war (which in essence took us very near to where we’d ridden the night before) we decided to make our way along the waterfront to the beach. The waterfront is dotted with amazing views and beautiful architecture. At this point I should make mention of the Barcelona Bike Share program which seems to be pretty amazing. As mentioned, Barcelona is an incredibly bicycle friendly city and the little commuter bikes that are available readily and affordably seem to move a lot (I mean A LOT) of people around this city

We rolled up to the beach where I guess a local group of ladies and gents get together on the weekends to show off their low rider bicycles… Pretty dope.

This old fella knew what was up when he rolled by our bikes. An interesting observation about the old fellas in Europe and any sort of road bike; they love to stop and check your tire pressure. This guy was no exception.

After checkin’ out the local bike show we decided to get a little man tannin’ on and headed down to the grassy hill by the beach where the most amazing set of events began to unfold.

Soon after sitting down we noticed two young ladies sitting in front of us enjoying a beautiful Barca day at the beach. After a minute or two, two dudes roll up on these girls; one guy with kind of an American Pie college guy vibe and the other in a leather coat with a faux-hawk and some serious sideburns. We’ll call them American Pie and Douchehawk from here forth. Now, two guys approaching two girls isn’t weird at all but when one guy (American Pie) walks up and introduces his friend (Douchehawk) as if he were a cheap used car and then walks away watching intently before disappearing behind some bushes, we begin to take notice. All the while a third guy, Baldy Blazer is standing near by and pretending to talk on his phone but is clearly paying attention to how this guy interacts with these girls. Douchehawk was promptly dismissed at which point he follows American Pie around the bushes with Baldy Blazer in close pursuit.

Sparkles caught on pretty much right away and followed them around the corner where he seems them all talking – it was pretty evident that there was some serious dating coaching going on here so we each cracked a drink and settled in because we knew that it could only possibly get better from here. Soon enough they emerge and take a better position to scope out the action on the beach. Douchehawk makes another attempt at a different girl – this time going without the introduction of his mentors. Again, he’s sent packing and returns to the comforting arms of American Pie and Baldy Blazer. But who’s this? A second protégé? What do you have in store for us my Striped friend?

Douchehawk has made his way across the hill and manages to strike up a conversation with a young lady that actually seems to be going somewhere so our attention is turned to Stripey who is about to make his first approach. He decides to talk to this hot young thang who is enjoying some light reading in the sun. Just look at this form! 6 feet away? Check! Hands in sleeves? Check! Useless question about what she’s reading followed up awkward silence, fake time checking and staring off aimlessly? Check! It didn’t take long before Stripey realized that he was horribly outmatched and returned, quite obviously, to his coaches. Not that the girl noticed; he’d lost her at hello.

Stripey tries the same approach a few minutes later but this time crouches down to talk to the girl but maintains his 6 foot buffer zone which yields predictable results. At this point, Douchehawk seems to have gotten himself a phone number!!! I’ll admit, we were all pretty proud of him at this point and so was American Pie who was literally hiding behind a tree (seriously) and watching his boys in action. Both protégés made a b-line for the tree and American Pie tried to look less obvious by walking away but there was no hiding it – these guys were coming straight for him and he was having none of it. I swear to god I thought he was going to break into a run.

The four gentlemen reconvened at the top of the hill to review the days successes and catastrophic failures – all the while Douchehawk giving Stripey a hearty pat on the back as if to tell him “you’ll get ‘em next time, tiger, just look at me! I got a phone number today! I know it’s probably not hers but it’s someone’s number so technically that counts, right?”

Now meet Sparkie’s dating coaches – the presidents of very exclusive the Silly Hats Only club.

We left the beach in search of the Barcelona Aquarium. It’s funny because just a few weeks prior my special lady friend and I were taking about aquariums and how I hadn’t been in a long, long time. Now being the vegan warrior that I am I have mixed feelings about aquariums, zoos, etc. but I’ve got to think that sometimes public education may be worth sacrifice in quality of life (or at least the sacrifice of a natural life) that some of the animals may have to endure – maybe not, but sharks are sweet and at the end of the day I want to see me some sharks, god damn it!

After all the excitement of the Aquarium we made our way back to the hostel for a little Siesta before heading out to what was one of the more spectacular meals of the trip at a little joint called Organic. The staff was super nice, the atmosphere was nice and the food was incredible – throw in a nice affordable yet surprisingly good bottle of house wine and the night just doesn’t get any better.

We decided after Organic to wander the streets a little into old Barcelona where we found the first of very few fixed gear bikes to be seen in our travels locked up near an empty bar that had the Iron Maiden a blastin’. Generally speaking an empty bar is a bad sign but when said bar has Manowar, Maiden & Beer Mosh (?!?!) posters lining the walls what choice does one have but to venture forward through those doors? Enter; Rocka Rolla

Back to the hostel for a little Connect 4 and seriously, life just doesn’t get better than this.

By Category: Bicycles, Food, Travel

Feb 4, 2008

In The Army Now {7}

Steph & I managed to plan a bit of a last minute getaway to Ellicottville, NY for the weekend and ended up staying in (sort of) nearby Bradford, PA. It’s a small town along the PA, NY border which – as I suspect of many small US towns – probably doesn’t have much to offer in the way of opportunity but has history and character bursting at the seams. We learned a lot on this trip about small town USA; but the most important lessons we’ve taken home with us are a) Americans don’t want you on, near or in eyeshot of their property – in fact, they don’t even want you thinking about their property and b) the food sucks.

By Category: Food, History, Travel

Aug 16, 2007

L! B! S! What you really want? RIDE! OR! DIE!

Vintage Bike Shop

The unfortunate truth is that local bike shops often have a hard time competing with the pricing / selection offered on the internet and often you can order something online and have it to your door within a week whereas shops need time to get full orders together which sometimes leave you waiting unexpectedly long. Even shops with the best of intentions are often at the mercy of their distributors so sometimes ordering online is your best bet if you need something specific in a hurry – however, there is no substitute for solid advice / technical support from an experienced wrench and supporting your local bike shop will help support the local economy and in many cases allow your peers to continue to do what they love for a living.

I occasionally get friends and other folks looking to get into the fixed game (or the bike game in general) asking what shops in the city carry fixed / single speed stuff and where they should go so here is a small list of the shops that I frequent, some of what they carry and why you should show them some love. I most certainly buy a lot of bike stuff online but when I can, I support my local bike shops because they support us and keep us on the road every day.

Urbane @ Queen & John
Say what you will about Urbane but they are one of the best stocked shops in the city and their large, central location makes them a regular visit.
What they carry: What don’t they carry? In the parts department there is a huge selection of components – high end, mid range and entry level. They have experienced wheel builders on staff and carry a wide selection of rims & hubs to choose from. In terms of complete (fixed/ss) bikes they carry Bianchi (Pista, Pista Concept, Freemont) KHS (Flite 100), Urbanite (house brand) amongst others.
Why you should go there: I always forget her name but the lady at the cash is one of the nicest people you could ever hope to be greeted by when walking into a shop and most of the staff is extremely knowledgeable and helpful – mostly in the parts department. The real reason to go to Urbane, though, besides the nice lady and the co-operative business model is that they are one of, if not the best stocked shop(s) in the city and have a huge selection of bikes & especially components. I buy a lot of parts from Urbane.
With that said, in the parts / repairs department the standard “bike shop attitude” sometimes prevails – although since going in there more often my service experience has been better than it has been in the past. On the sales side, I’ve had salespeople there tell me that the Bianchi Freemont is a “track bike” which it clearly isn’t – having “track ends” doesn’t make a bike a “track bike.” A fixed gear bicycle is not a track bike by definition and I’d expect a sales person to know the difference between a fixed gear cyclocross bike & a track bike.

Cavern Cycles @ Queen & Jarvis
Cavern is a moderately small shop so if you’re looking for the largest selection in the city you won’t find it here but I’m confident that if you really needed something, Keith would track it down for you.
What they carry: In terms of brands, I know they carry IRO but I only know that because of personal interest – beyond that I’m not sure what brands Keith carries but the shop is always packed with a good assortment of new and used bikes which you can trust to be road-worthy.
Why you should go there: Keith is a friendly and knowledgeable guy who runs an honest shop who will give you fair prices and quality service every time. Keith is active is the bicycle community (both online and in real life) and from my limited interaction with him, he’s a stand up guy who is well deserving of our support.

Curbside Cycle @ Bloor & Bathurst
I became much more familiar with the shop when they hosted a good fixed group ride a few months ago which was a lot of fun. I met Chad and Robin that night – both of which I am now proud to call friends, or at least good acquaintances. The shop downstairs is pretty sweet and they have an additional gallery / shop upstairs which features a lot more classic bikes and components.
What they carry: They don’t carry a lot in terms of complete fg/ss bikes (Lemond Filmore) but they do carry some nice components (MKS, Sugino, EAI, KMC, Dura Ace, Surly, etc.) and also carry Chrome & Freitag bags which aren’t all that easily found in the city.
Why you should go there: Lots of good products / fairly reasonable prices /solid guys.

La Carrera @ Harbord & Spadina
I first poked my head into La Carrera many years ago when they were at their Harbord & Bathurst location. I was much more into Mountain Bikes at the time and they are a pretty much road / track specific shop so I never paid much more attention until this year when they moved / revamped the shop. I’ve been in a few times and given that most of what they carry is fairly high end and I don’t usually have fairly high end budgets, I haven’t been able to give them much business.
I did go in there looking for pedals not too long ago and Nadir offered up a pretty sweet used set of Deore XT MTB Pedals (which I love) in exchange for a Latté. It’s that kind of gesture that ensures that when I grow up and trade in my Mark V for an Orbea Orca with full discovery kit that I’ll go to la Carerra to buy it.
What they carry: Cinelli (Vigorelli), Eddie Merckx, KHS (Flite 100), and a decent selection of high end parts. For the most part, Nadir carries higher end stuff (Think $450 Paul cranks) but does also get some more reasonable stuff like the KHS…

Bikes on Wheels @ Augusta & College
To be honest, I haven’t spent much time in the shop, haven’t bought a lot there and don’t know much about them.
What they carry: In addition to a reasonable selection of components they carry Fuji (Track, Track Pro), IRO (Mark V, Angus, Jamie Roy), Jamis (Sputnik), Masi (Speciale Fixed), and more. They have a lot to offer in the $500-$700 price range and have also built up some used fixed / single speed conversions for sale.
Why you should go there: I only know one staff member (Mo) who seems really nice but beyond that, I don’t know much about the shop other than they have a pretty good selection of affordable fg/ss bikes. Is that not reason enough to at least check it out?

High Park Cycle @ High Park
Going here is an adventure – the guy that runs the place is fucking nuts! His reputation precedes him and I knew before I stepped foot in the shop that I was about to receive a lesson in hilarity. When you go in on a weekend he tells you to come back on a “working day” – am I mistaken or is it not a “working day” if your shop is open and you are working? I must be confused. If you ask for a Shimano Ultegra 600 stem he’ll tell you “I have Cinelli – Shimano don’t make” – they obviously do. If you go and look around the shop he’ll tell you to get out because “EVERYONE IS GOING TO GET MAD!” – Who is going to get mad? Oh, that’s right… EVERYONE!
What they carry: HPC usually has a good selection of older road / track stuff… The guy is very knowledgeable about older euro road / track stuff but like I said, he’s certifiably crazy so he’ll probably tell you to go away and come back another day even if you are there cash in hand and ready to buy. There are some gems to be had here; you just have to convince him to sell them to you!
Why you should go there: Because it’s hilarious.

There are a couple other shops that carry some stuff: Dukes on Queen (Steelwool), The Bike Shop on Queen (Giant Bowery, Alpha Mercury), etc. but those listed above are the ones that I go to most often and like the most because of the product available, staff knowledge and quality of service.

By Category: Bicycles

Mar 28, 2007

Genius at work in Toronto – Rob Ford {1}

DoucheSuit

“I can’t support bike lanes. Roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks. My heart bleeds when someone gets killed, but it’s their own fault at the end of the day.”

Rob Ford
Toronto City Councillor
councillor_ford@toronto.ca

I thought about writing him a letter, in fact I did write it and it was very intelligent and well written but decided not to send it because it’s not going to change his mind so I don’t think any of us can hope for that, I just hope that someone on a bike pulls up next to him on the street, opens his car door and punches him in his fat fucking head.

By Category: Bicycles, Random