I waffle back and forth on whether or not I think Critical Mass’ taking the Gardiner Expressway was a good idea or not. Regardless of how I feel about it, I am a little disappointed that I missed the experience.

Fortunately I have another chance at it this coming Sunday. I’ll be riding in the Ride for Heart. They will be closing two major expressways: the Gardiner expressway, and the Don Valley Parkway and opening them up to cyclists and rollerbladers. I’ll be taking the middle-sized route: 50 KM.

Anyway, for those interested in supporting a very good cause, please consider sponsoring me. And thanks to several of you who have already sponsored me based on announcements over at twitter.

Also, for those of you actually in Toronto, you might want to consider joining me. Registration is only $40 and this will likely be your only chance to bike on the Gardiner this year.

Unless Critical Mass gets some crazy ideas again…

I’m really tired of the whole “War on Cars” rhetoric being pushed by the media these days. And of course start talking about that and the drumbeat starts in the comments of all the major newspapers about how the majority of cyclists are scofflaws and don’t belong on the road. All we need to do is license them like car drivers and *then* they’ll start behaving properly. As I was heading home today I was thinking about this and wondered. Are cyclists such scofflaws? I’m not sure. I don’t think I often see:

Illegal Street Racing Cyclist Kills 8 in Crowd

Luxury Getaway Bike Used in Bank Robbery

Cyclist Runs Over, Kills Man in Downtown Dallas. Cyclist Flees

Drunk Cyclist Jailed for Crash that Crippled Nine Year Old

Five Year Old Child Shot in Bike-by

High Speed Bike Chase through 3 Counties ends with 3 in Custody.

Maybe I’m being unfair. After all. We’re talking about how cyclists are always dangerously running stop signs and going the wrong way on a one way street. Good thing those licensed drivers don’t do stuff like that.

Sad but true – this past week was likely my most number of consecutive bike-commuting days ever. I’m guessing it’s about 15km each way and I did 5 days so 150 km. It’s not a record (I did a few 200+ weeks a year or two ago) but enough that I feel pretty good.

Yesterday was a fun and challenging one. It was the first day they predicted rain since coming here (I *know*! I can’t believe it hasn’t rained yet, either!). So I brought the raingear to work but really didn’t need it on the way in. While I was working, though, the skies opened up and wet the roads down and filled the irrigation ditches. In order to make it possible to take today off, though, I worked an extra-late day and finished up a little after 11:00 PM. By the time I got out it was sprinkling just a bit, with a cold damp wind from the south – my diirection back to the hotel.

It was an interesting experience riding home along the dark rural roads. I liked the sense that I was this mysterious person passing in the night while everyone was cozy in their house. While the cold didn’t bother me (I had enough gear on to keep me warm) the wind made it pretty rough and it took a lot longer to get home. But instead of like on my trip around L’Ile d’Orleans in Quebec where I was frustrated and impatient, I just found a steady and not too taxing cadence (come on! It was 11:30 and my east-coast body thought it was 2:30 AM) and made my way home. Riding at night in the country, though, is a different experience. I didn’t worry too much about being seen as I was the only thing around with *any* lights and lots of bright clothing (and really, only 3-4 cars passed me on the way – only one from behind which just to be safe, I moved off the roadway to avoid and still, as usual, I was given the entire lane) The lights I have, while OK for visibility in a busy city were a bit dim for an area with no streetlights and a cloud-obscured moon. It probably wasn’t such a bad thing that the wind prevented me from going too fast.

But enough about the mechanics of riding through the country in the night. Other than the biking itself, it was really interesting. The feel of the route was totally changed. All the smells had changed – probably in part due to the nightfall and in part due to the rain. Where there had been mostly floral smells with occasional barnyard or compost smells, the smell of vegetation overpowered. Everything smelled so green and lush. The peepers in the irrigation ditches and ponds were happy also though I only hear a little of their song over the wind. There were a couple times, though, where my inner 12 year old got the best of me. At one point, I passed an old falling down abandoned farmhouse that reminded me very much of a place we used to go on a dare when I was a kid – an abandoned house filled with destroyed books and rumours of murders, ghosts, bodies in the basement, and so forth. As I passed the old farmhouse, I remembered a couple of strange experiences of my own at that place and rode a little faster, goosebumps appearing on my arms.

Overall it’s been really good to have the bike be my only transportation (aside from a bus trip downtown to visit a friend). Without a bus pass or even being familiar enough with the system to decide to be lazy and not take the bus on some days, I’ve been quite religious about riding wherever I need to. And that has done me a great deal of good. Hopefully I can bring those habits back to Toronto with me. We’ll see how it goes – I hope to take some time off once I return and then it’ll be off to a new client and as yet I’m not 100% sure who/where that’ll be. There’s a local prospect (not far by bus but crappy roads may prevent cycling there) and of course other ones further afield. Meanwhile, I’ll just keep on riding…

Sage tells the story of our landing in Canada. I’m glad I didn’t talk about it in my last entry. Sage tells the story *so* much better!

It’s been a good week so far and my experiment is working swimmingly. Saturday afternoon, after a friend of mine helped me figure out how to best take apart (and re-assemble) the bike, I had it packed and ready to go for Monday.

Sunday was an awesome day. I picked up a car and we drove to the border. Long story short: we’re permanent residents of Canada now! Longer version of the story will eventually make it to Sage’s show, I expect.

Monday I took packed my bike and clothes into the rental and drove it to the airport, returning the car and getting a ride to the airport at the same time. Traveling with the bike couldn’t have been easier. I checked the bags (no extra charge from Westjet despite the fact that the bike bag was a tad oversize). When I got to Vancouver I needed only to grab my bags and run – no different than any other time I’ve traveled and caught a cab to Tsawwassen where I’m staying now.

Cycling-wise it’s been great. The bike went together with barely an issue (and none I couldn’t fix) and the route is really incredible. It takes me along Boundary Bay for a couple KM where every day I see seabirds and raptors as well as dogs and their people. After that there’s a nice ride down a farm road for a few km before a short ride on a bike lane along a busy street before getting to work. All told it’s about 15 km and takes me about 40 minutes. It’s harder to do this commute than a similar commute in Toronto – there really is only one stoplight (and it can be green) between here and work which means I go nonstop the whole way there. Good for me, I’m sure, but takes getting used to.

Drivers overall are very courteous, and with only a few exceptions give me the entire lane when they pass. But really other than the one busy street at the end I’m lucky if I see more than 3-5 cars on the way.

Still getting used to the time zone so this’ll have to be a short entry and I’ll end it here but not without a few photos from today’s commute:

I’ve been watching the hysteria build over swine flu. I’ve even seen some of the characters from Stephen King’s The Stand (Randall Flagg, and Mother Abagail to name a couple)

Which reminds me. The whole TV miniseries of The Stand is online over at youtube. Might be too scary to watch now but it really is well done.

Today it was about 27°C (about 80°F) out today and as I sat out in a friend’s backyard, I was reminded of a wonderful time we had about 7-8 years ago. There was such a surreal beauty to it that every once in a while Sage or I will mention it and ask the other “Did I dream that?” Every time, the answer is “No.”

One hot summer day in the Ozarks, our friend Will called us (we were living in town by this point) and asked if we’d like to come over for a barbecue. We stopped at the store to get some contributions of our own. When we got there our Will met us at the car and led us not to the backyard, but off into a field. At the edge of the field was a tree. And in the tree, suspended about 5′ in the air, no word of a lie, was a queen size bed suspended from strong branches. A few kids and their mom (Will’s partner) were relaxing in the bed.

Apparently with the summer heat, it just made sense to put the bed in the tree for siestas, relaxing, and even sleeping at night. Because it was off the ground, bugs were much less of a problem.

Now that we, the guests, had arrived, the entertainment could start. Will went over to a record player set up in the field. Fed by a long extension cord, it coloured the day with the sounds of Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker and other classic jazz musicians.

And thus we spent our afternoon, sitting in the tree-bed, listening to jazz, eating what may have been the best barbecued chicken we’ve ever had while the kids ran and played in the fields, coming back up on the bed every now and again for a cuddle or a rest.

See? I still have to ask Sage every once in a while if I dreamed it.

OK, so I’m sorry but I’ve been so busy with work I’ve kept you out of the loop for a bit. Anyway, a few developments have come up which are presenting some interesting challenges.

So the big thing is that I am going on a short road trip next week: 2-4 weeks for work. Definitely hitting Vancouver, maybe going to Calgary and back to Vancouver but that’s still up in the air. I’m actually looking forward to it as I’ve never been to western Canada. Should be interesting.

So I got a crackpot idea. What if I went carfree on this short trip. Sure, I was carfree in Quebec City but I had time to settle in and get used to things. And I could easily fold the bike, stick it in a bag and put it on the train. Now I have a flight to take. So I had to get a bit more gear. I went out and bought a suitcase for the bike. It took a little traveling around the city but I now have an Airporter Suitcase from Dahon (the maker of my folding bike). One challenge, though, is that it is designed to easily accommodate 16″ and 20″ wheeled bikes. Mine has 26″ wheels and at a minimum they had to come off. Still, I brought it home figuring I would quickly pack the bike up and be done with it. But it wasn’t meant to be. With rack and fenders (both needed for commuting) it wouldn’t come close to fitting. I was able to just disconnect one end of the fenders and get those flexible enough but the rack had to go.

Now before we go any further I have a confession to make: I’m pretty handy with a computer. I’m not half-bad even with pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment, air handling units, and water purification systems. But put me with a bike and I’m clueless. I got most of the rack off and then took off what I thought was the wrong piece. A few shims fell out and I was convinced I had broken the bike (see? Clueless!). I was able to fit it in the suitcase, though, so that was good.

I came *this close* to taking the suitcase back and going with a rental car (or maybe the bus). But something made me take another look today. I was able to get it mostly back together easily. And then a friend was able to help me figure out what those shims were (simple – they were to hold the rack on and make it so that you could hook your pannier in easily (i.e. far enough out that the hook could reach). And so. It was back together and working right.

And lo and behold, I rode it home from their house, took the bike home, carefully took it apart (now that I knew how the rack worked) and it was only about 15 minutes and the bike was safe and sound in the suitcase and ready to fly.

So there we go. I’m staying actually a bit south of Vancouver in a somewhat rural space. I’ll have a 10-15 km ride to work each day which should be a good way to deal with the stress I figure is coming on a crazy project like this. And I won’t lose a month of summer cycling. It’ll also be fun to surprise the client by rolling up on a bike instead of a big rental car.

Now Calgary, if I have to go there, will be nuts. I will be staying less than a mile from work. The road, though, appears to be a 4-6 lane thoroughfare with no sidewalks and no alternate routes to get there. I hate to say it but I don’t even think I can walk. I may well get a car there just for the protection. But if I’m lucky someone else will be taking care of that…

So anyway: if work isn’t too crazy I’ll keep you up to date on this. It looks to be a busy time but having my bike will help keep me sane.

Well, after a literal pain in the neck plagued me this week, I finally was up for riding back to Vaughan today and wow was I glad I did. Because I can’t find my chain lube and haven’t managed to go out and get more, I took my folding bike, the Dahon instead. Good choice, too, as it was actually much quicker than my beater/winter bike and I was at work about 80 minutes after I left for work. Almost a record and the trip home (downhill) was even quicker.

Still, the only obnoxious thing is that there’s a stretch from Wilmington and Finch to Dufferin and Steeles where really, the traffic is too heavy and fast (70 kph speed limit) where I don’t feel safe taking the road and I end up on the sidewalk. On the positive side, there are hardly any pedestrians or driveways. Which got me thinking as I rode: Would it be practical to have a law that said that sidewalk riding was permitted on roads with no bike lane and a 60+ speed limit?

In other news, I found out what my next project is going to be – or at least a small one. about a week each in Vancouver and Calgary. I’m debating on buying a suitcase for my folding bike. On the other hand, it is $300 and I don’t know how practical bike riding will be once I get there. Has anyone used the Airporter suitcase for a 26″ Dahon folding bike before? Does it work well or is it a pain in the butt not worth the $300? And of course who knows where I’ll end up hotel-wise. So we’ll have to see if I end up with a rental car or not.