This is footage of the inaugural Surrey Critical Mass. The ride even got the support of transportation minister Kevin Falcon, chief promoter of the Gateway Project. Surrey is very much a city built around the car, which might explain why there was such a warm response to the unusual sight of 50 plus noisy cyclists riding through the rain. However, there was an incident, involving a dump truck and several cars in a very big hurry.

So I am dumb. Actually most people already know that, but occasionally I like to reiterate this fact. So at the moment Vancouver is in the grips of snow.... ekk! Actually, righ now it reminds me of Ontario. Okay, on with the story. Well yesterday, with all the compact ice covered roads, I decided to ride from Vancouver to the velodrome in Burnaby. I left early in the morning (around 7am) and let me say it was frickin' cold, slick and just a wee bit dangerous. I did NOT see a single cyclist during my time, confirming the fact that I am as mad as a hatter. That said it made for some interesting moments:

From the largely amusing Surly bikes blog

------------------------

Fat Squirrel Season

Everybody knows that squirrels store nuts for the winter. They store them in the ground, probably up in trees and they eat them to get a nice fat belly for the winter. But what I notice most about squirrels this time of year is that they are particularly slow, sluggish, indecisive, unpredictable and psycho.

Case in point, I'm riding my bike in a quiet residential neighborhood this morning (with a 100+ pound trailer in tow) and I see a squirrel walking her dog. She's stopped on the corner of an uncontrolled intersection while the leashed dog sniffs around. From a distance, I ring my bell to get her attention and we make positive eye contact. Knowing it's fat squirrel season, I have my fingers on the brake levers as I approach. About 12 feet before I enter the crosswalk, the squirrel decides that her and the dog are going to test their right of way across the street. I skid the rear wheel and start drifting sideways, just barely missing squirrel and pooch. You know when you're skidding and all you can think of is "did that squirrel want to commit suicide?" but you're glad you have brakes and skills to spare it's life.

Well I was at it again, inspired by a couple people I talked to at some parties (thanks Simon and Haley- sp?) I made another long like of cars video. All it takes is a couple people telling me that they dug my first short and I am out doing it agin. Where in the first short I passed a bunch of cars on my ride in the morning out from Maple Ridge to the city, this time I passed a bunch of cars going the other way.

Normally I pass a number of cars when I commute and each one feels great. This time was absolutely amazing as I passed almost 10 km of cars in line waiting to go somewhere, anywhere, but forward.

Hey Wease,

I know its already in your calendar, but just thought I would throw up a post about the upcoming Bicycle Bee workshops.

Things are shaping up quite well at the moment, we've got plenty of volunteers and the spaces to make this go off. If you've ever wanted to learn more about making life on two wheels easier now's your chance.

http://www.bicyclebee.blogspot.com/

Schedule of events:

Click to enlarge

So every morning I ride out from Maple Ridge to Vancouver (family lives out in the big bad M.R.) I am always amazed by the number of cars I pass. Its crazy. Here is a route (the Lougheed Highway) that a car should absolutely be killing me, as the speed limit the whole way is around 80 km/hr. Yet because of the traffic, here I am on bicyle holding my own, passing numerous cars depending on the section of road. Often I keep track of unique cars and at times I do not getting passed until I reach Burnaby, some 30 km away.

Anyway, I have always wanted to make a video of one of my commutes. Well, I finally got around to it a couple weeks ago and here is some footage. Compare the difference in flows of movement. Which do you think is more relaxing?

So I bought a video camera of Ebay, a very cheap one at that. The Oregon Scientific ATC-1000. The footage is decent, but definitely not great. The camera has absolutely no features, except that it shoots video. That said for $80, it was a screaming deal. Here is a quick edit of some of the footage I took yesterday on my commute. The camera was attached to my handle bars so it shakes a bit when the ground gets rough. Mucho thanks to Nasville Pussy for the background music debauchery.

I have maintenance issues. It boils down to the fact I now hate performing any sort of regular maintenance. Right now I am somewhat of a reluctant mechanic at best. Funny that one, considering I am trying to slowly put together a free online bicycle maintenance manual. That is okay though because I have done it all.

In my early twenties I was more of an anal fuck when it came to cleaning and maintaining my bike. I used to carefully disassemble and clean each part of my beloved bike. Hell I used to even take apart the derailleur and oil the pullies. Then I got old, bitter and started riding bikes with one gear. These bikes are the VW bugs of bike world. They will keep running under even the most severe neglect. Due to their hardy nature I have become a maintenance nihilist. While others may shake their head, I figure this could actually be a good thing as it gives me some good insight into the how different people approach bike maintenance.

While I haven't gotten around to including this stuff in the manual, yet, for shits and giggles I thought I would share with you the horrors that are my bikes:

1. Cable maintenance [Go]
2. Tire Replacement [Go]
3. Continental Tires suck! [Go]

Samsung SCX105L

I need to get myself a video camera, somehow, so that I can document the stupidity that are some drivers. My goal would be to put put it out there on the internet, raw and unedited. Everything from the incident to the drivers reaction when confronted on it. Think of it as the ultimate direct action; let the viewer decide.

This desire has been building for a while. Its not the first time I have thought of this, but it was hit home for me again the other day when I was riding out to the Big Bad MR the with Ian the other day. It is a decent ride so we got chatting and he told me a funny story of a run in he had with this speeding cellphone using lady on the bike route.

The last week or so has been wonderful weather down here. We've had maxima just below 20C, and misting rain that comes and goes. Not enough to make you cold, just enough to keep the streets slippery. It's one of my favourite times of year. Partly because I can ride comfortably (body temperature, bah) and partly because more people drive.