Well, I have been in a bit of a hovel for the last while. Not seeing the day of light while I busily work on various thesis projects. That said, I was going stir crazy so I decided to get out and hit a couple events: February's Critical Mass and St. Valentine's Day Massacre alleycat race. I even took some photos (something I haven't done in months!).

Critical Mass

On the last friday of every month, critical mass (CM) takes to the street for what is essentially a big old street part to reclaim the streets for other forms of transportation. Even in the dead of winter, there is still and incredible turn out. February's CM was quite large, partly due to the good weather, and partly due to the fact that CM has been steadily gaining momentum over the last few years. Compared to even 3 years ago the number of people who turn out is quite impressive.

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St. Valentine's Day Massacre: Alleycat

Every year in February Vancouver also has a St. Valentine's Day themed alleycat. This years alleycat was a lot of fun with 7 check points scattered around the city that had us riding from East Vancouver out to wards UBC. Since the first 4 check points had to be done in order it was interesting as you constantly saw other competitors and most routes taken were similar. For this event I rode with Skylar and Adam (aka Master O Disaster and Deltaentropy). None of us are the best at navigating the city (and I am probably the worst, although I have lived here the longest). We basically looked for someone who knew where they were going and followed them through traffic, lights and anything else... must not lose guide...

We cruised through the first 4 checkpoints and were in surprisingly good position. Then at the 4th you are given 3 additional checkpoints. These you can do in any order and this is where we got screwed. We totally messed up on the Nelson/Chicol. We rode the wrong way down Nelson and had to back track across the city. We realized our mistake when we ran into Nikcee and got the beta on the rest of the routes.

Oh well, somedays you got it, and somedays you don't. At the very least we stayed ahead of DFL Nick. Last year me and Lyle beat DFL Nick by seconds because he was too slow to lock his bike to a lamp post at the pub. This year we all did much better. I finished around 22nd, right behind Skylar (who is admittedly MUCH faster in traffic).

All in all the event was incredibly inclusive to those who are couriers and those who are not. PS -> Fat Mat... if you are reading this hoped the pump and tube worked for you... If I could get that pump back sucka!

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