Time off got you up

I was hanging out with Cub in the park and we had to hit the washrooms, as 2 year olds usually do, but they weren't available! I had to pull the worst stunt ever and change him in the park using the waterfountain and tissue paper ( wet wipes included). After all was said and done he was changed and back on the toys when I got a call from the Doc who had gone into the local sports facility looking for us. I guess he figured a smart father would have taken his kid indoors. I am not a smart father, jennie.

Not doing well

This past weekend was pretty rough like a hug a from an overzealous step father. The weather has been great great I have pulled through, don't read any indecency into that, the early mornings. I have two days off this week I am looking forward to the 10th/11th so I can hang out with the Cub and go to regular parks where cars don't graze you. Still under suspension and not regretting my actions at all. One less mirror to clips shoulders be what I say!

Suspended..........

I can neither confirm nor deny that I acted wrongly and the only apology I am willing to make is to A2C. I was riding with him, he took the heat, it is his route and I a feel very badly about riding away and finishing 5 laps. I understand that it was not easy for him to reach the decision that he did BUT it makes sense. So I will be collecting my own junk miles and waiting until I get the tap in for the next ride.

It is at this point that I would like to post some recent stats: My average speed has hit 27.8 kms/h and my fastest speed (non wind aided/downhill) was 49.6 kms/h. My average speed has jumped 4kms/h in the last month and I think the highest speed recorded was due to being late for work.

CMWC09 in Tokyo

Just started!like this

Summer is almost there.............

I am sorry( to myself ) for not writing more on here, here being the blog that I imagine that people read. I have been riding and it has been raining. If you have time try checking this one because it is funnier than here and , without a doubt, updated more frequently. I really think I ought to buy a second digital camera so I can capture what happens during my commute.

Butter and butter

I am really happy to see many people riding to work. This is it and, I cry when I think about how far home soil is away from me, let the culture pour in. and I die every time I scream. "Get off the sidewalk you fixed gear cock!". juis joking

Ｊｅｅｓｈ

Breakfast Adventures from Underdog Pictures on Vimeo.

I have been trying to hold my tongue for a while, despite the people in my way, so I should hold it a little longer. I will let them tell the story. No experience on a bike = crash = put it on the web? Experienced bike rider = crash - brakes - speed= web? Let me know because, now and only now, Osaka is looking bad.

watch this!

I want to see it there.

A gear wheeled complaining device

Jamming Gear / free demo from So KANNO on Vimeo.

Seeing the jamming gear live is pretty cool and I wish I were smart enough to make stuff like that but no go there so I end up doing stuff like drinking beer and riding a roller while the Cub naps. The humidity was 87% that day because it had been raining all before the sun broke through the clouds. I didn't mind the fact that the past two weeks had been overcast because it meant that everybody would be riding the train not their newGarneu road bikes. It makes you wonder how may track frames there are rusting to death on verandas. The only thing wrong with commuters leaving their bikes at home is that I actually going to run into people who ride all year long so I have to race. This is where I have to question the eternal pissing contest that is being a man. When do you know you're racing and when are you just commuting? For me the answer is simple: I am racing when I pass someone and I am commuting when they pass me. Sounds alright in theory but what if other people have the same point of view and they change into race mode when someone passes them, as most guys do. Now that I have passed them we are racing but if they pass me then I am commuting until I catch them again. Maybe I have thought about this a little too much but it came down to tactics. You both know you are racing when you start to employ "tactics". Now I am sure you are wondering "what the fxxk kind of tactics can you have on a 25km commute, riding on 700x32?!?!?!". And that is a very good question but there are several aces, or as like to call them TURBOS(!), you can drop.

The trap you do not want to fall into is running reds because it is a dead give away that you are racing the other guy and he will know that you don't have legs to race so you are riding like a dick. It's like slapping a wolf with red meat. Once he has the scent of blood you are done like linner. This was the case in Sanja when the road bike kook ran through the crowded crosswalk and the other night when the fixster ran a crowded 3 way. I knew we were racing and reacted appropriately by passing them while coasting picking my nose. It's the Gee glove slap.

Another, slightly more innocuous, trap you can never step into is taking the sidewalk. This has been the downfall of my last two opponents. On my last two rides home I have been racing and the fallen opted for the sidewalk as we came through the construction heavy Seijo area. Their momentary indiscretion told me two things about them. One was that they were keen to get ahead of me and the the second was that they weren't used to commuting by bicycle or that they were unfamiliar with the area. By taking the sidewalk they had to go in front of a 711 in front of a campus, always crowded at night and that they had to wait people coming out of the apartments that just went up. They were trapped and I was very happy to wait the extra 30 seconds for my turn to go because it gave me a full two minute lead. Lead to what, I am not sure but a lead is a lead and I was like Colombo in this race s I took it.

The more disturbing of the two rides was the one against the TREK rider because, at the slightest hint of traffic slowing down, he would veer off onto the sidewalk in hopes that I would be caught and he could speed by. The only reason I am sure of this is that he was checking where I was when passing. My decision to remain on the road and stay in same gear proved to be sensible while I could hear him frantically changing gears and looking over his shoulder.

It was super to have someone to race against but I had to drop one of my TURBOS to maintain my lead. The TURBO had been building for some time and it came in an audible BROMP almost forcing me out of the saddle. Ask the lurker and he will testify to the potency of my TURBOS. Noxious gas dispelled and I was raring to go. Unfortunately, as we were nearer to home his strength began to wane, no doubt the effect of my TURBO had taken it's toll and he just plain gave up. I looked over my shoulder and was just in time to see him stop and check his cell phone in an attempt to look nonchalant.

The next day was a good chance for me to refill my TURBO reserve.

I hope for more of these

I look forward to this and I hope that the posts keep a lighter, make you want to ride your bike, vibe. Either way it's good that we have more to read at work.

Happy Yender

To what could be the next best thing to a Kosher holiday. The rainy season has started early and someone was nice enough to have stolen a shopping bike and left it in our bike park. Bless those who steal other people's modes of transportation just so they don't have to walk 1.5kms from the train station. The bike that had been left in our frontarea was moved over to the bike parking where it was roped off because it didn't have an apartment number sticker on it which meant it was rogue and would be removed. But not before the lurker and I removed the fenders. The way I saw it, and this is a justification for all my acts of theft, was that someones $100 bike had been taken and they had already given up so they went out and bought another one. It eases my pain. After some scraped knuckles and some beer the fenders were on the ground. The fun didn't stop there as we inflated the tyres and oiled the chain. If this bike was going out it was going with a makeover. Now comes the hard part. All of my plans carried out while under the influence start off like the road to hell........with alcohol (not good intentions). I would actually have to mount them on my commuter so they would be of use and not be thrown away under my wife's " if you ain't using it, it's gone" rule. Without hardware and experience I set out to mount them working under the delusion the sun would cleanse me of my hangover. It takes a certain kind of person to be Bond and they are rare. James Bond is the kind of man my Father always hoped he could be, alive. I am a different kind of man from a different generation and that is the Macgyver generation (or Airwolf). I was daunted but not unstoppable so I set out to work with only my wits and shit load of junk that I had refused to throw out. The skateboard hardware was an easy choice because it truly does fit everything. I used a shoelace to secure the fender to the fork crotch (new t-shirt to replace urine burn) but I ran into trouble when I tried to mount the thingy to the end of the fork. The skate hardware would hold but it was sliding out. I remembered the Japanese industrial revolution and the coins that they stamped out to commemorate it so I grabbed some. The 5 yen piece fit like a charm and I am happy to say that the fender mounting only cost 20 yen plus beer and shoelace. And, yes, I was still hungover at 6:30am but there was a tallboy hanging out in the fridge.

Japantani!

Hit PLAY and listen for a few seconds just to understand how the beginning of my daily commute feels. Good from the beginning but you know it gets worse from there on in. To understand how today's ride felt you need to click the next link and let it play while you read. Now that we are warmed up after our ride next to the Tama river we are going to head out onto Setagaya Dori where the going gets rough. Rough as in very very old asphalt begging to eat your tyres as you roll. Here is where the trucks come into play and we can roll by Bexisoya (Becks Osoi ya!) where they only know about Trek bikes. Coming up there is a little hill where my handle scratched that car last X-mas and he never contacted me so I guess I am in the clear. And that is where we see him. Now I really did toy with his name for a bit because I didn't want to have some nameless enigma ruling in my head. Ruling by being faster than me. So I came up with two names, Japantani and Jipantani. Jipan is Japanese slang for jean pants and that is what he wears. Pretty much every time I see him he is in jeans and has his ponytail, yes ponytail, a flowing. I kept pace with him, not an easy task on 700x32's, until 246 which is the hill into Shibuya. That is where he earned his (P)antani. He moved into his drops and upped the pace. He up shifted as he climbed and I almost puked. I got the top, where I turn off and he kept flying along on his nondescript road bike, ponytail a flowing. After that everything at work seemed boring and mundane BUT I got 2 bagels.

I am still riding

I guess it is safe to say that pinch cycle went through some introspection and came out alive. Worried about taxis but alive, thine ego hurts.

Rainy Friday

I know that, at least, one person will have a bone to pick with me about the weather tonight and the previous Friday.Rain. I am the rain guy and every time I plan to leave work early to go riding the spitting turns to downpour and I am soaked to the bone by the time I get home and I am happy to see two very cute faces waiting at the baby fence. Riding is great but chicken stew, crusty bread and beer are awesome when you can enjoy them with your family. I took a few weeks away from this blog because I felt that I was kind of spiraling and, after reading a few posts, I really started to wonder if it just sounded like pointless ranting that turns people off instead of on. Not saying that they should be compared because we know that both people love cycling. I am just wondering if I let what I read influence me too much so I end up detracting from my own enjoyment of writing down what I think is funny. I had to find out what I felt wasright and wrong.

That blurb aside yesterday's ride was a shocking look into how bad other riders are and how far the grail is from thine ________ tips. I had to head to the embassy to renew my passport before heading into work and, thank god, they are only open from 9am till 11am.　I would hate to think that the embassy staff had to work an entire day. On my way in I had the pleasure of riding through, what could arguably be one of, the world's busiest intersections. It was then that I wondered about how other cyclist would negotiate the crowd. The pursuit frame(with BMX handles) fixster tried to skid but just bumped into people and another fixster ran his zen feeling right into a guy on a scooter who was waiting for the light. There were no injuries because fixie riders are never traveling with enough momentum to do anything other than go backwards. Another rider opted to dodge through the crowd pissing off people heading too work minding their own business. Whenever I see these riders I think of Mr. Magoo who manages to survive at everyone else's expense. I made it safely to the embassy and had a much better ride home where I encountered the BMC grail. I have only seen him a few times but he is eerily fast and aggressive. He takes the lane and holds it because he is going faster than 40kmh fo sure. Cars can't beep because, in order to pass him, they would have to go 10 over the speed limit. I kept a respectable gap of 20 metres until he turned off. The rest of the ride home I had that "don't look over your shoulder" feeling because I thought he might be creeping up behind in boogy man fashion. He haunts me and that is the most recent account of riding to work. I am looking forward to going home next month and I am debating on taking my bike or setting another one up in TO where large frames aren't an oddity.

No rain no rainbow pt. 2

The last week put us through more rain and I am very very happy to let you know that my coworker, who recently started riding his bike to work, bought a poncho instead of taking the train! That is awesome because, when he was telling me aboot it, he bought the women's poncho. It fits more tightly but you get the length so it's easier to cycle in. On that note I bring to you "what to do when it rains" and I was going to add that riding a roller is boring but sometimes it's fun. If you have music and a beer support wife while your son is napping then a roller can be fun but if you're alone and it's raining and all you have are books and you can't ride ride a roller while you read then it's food blogs. Now i realize that I have posting a lot of food related pics recently so fuck you for noticing and bear witness to a rainy day tail whip. and the misses took the pictures of the misses. Cub woke up just in time to cheer his dad on to wet T shirtness.

I found the wood.

Yeah, I found it!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_ghostwoods/3510802584/

So funny

Watch this.
http://www.swiss-miss.com/2009/05/europe-explained.html
Omoshiroi!

Kiyoshiroh Iwamano R.I.P.

If you listen to the lyrics you can hear all the bike companies names and the animation is prettycool too. Iwamono San died at age 58 of cancer after a hard fought battle. He was a famous rocker and even performed live shows while riding a roller. The only thing that rivaled his love for rock and roll was his love for cycling. His bike was stolen on the way to Fuji rock so he couldn't perform. We talked about this the other and, despite the rain, I rode today. Enjoy everyday and every bike. This is his chou controversial punk version on the Japanese national anthemn, like the arguement wasn't hot enough already.

Amazing

Chow time, kids!

I was rapping with a friend the other night about my joke post with the sandwich picture and posting these sorts of things can be funny. Or in my case, something to do when it's raining. It struck me as kind of odd that someone who was posting about cycling or, again in my case, commuting would have entire posts dedicated to what they ate when they weren't riding but then again this is 2009 and they can post whatever they like. It got me thinking about what other cycle/food/streetwear blogs might be out there so I headed off through the web. It wasn't hard because the same friend had shown me this one and it definitely had cycle/food/streetwear or otherwise known as CFS. I like those kind of blogs because they show you how to eat well after a grueling20km ride. It hit me like a flash from the al'mighty creator that if I really wanted to experience CFS I should head to areal down kind of guys blog. The disturbing part about honeyee is that I actually found some of the stuff interesting and wasted a lot more time there than I should of. It was like a scene from a horror movie where the people stare in amazement at the thing that is coming to kill them all the while you are yelling at them to run. They deserve to die. Not to be outdone I needed to post something but it could be plain enough for the common man to value but smug enough to put it outside the nickel and dime range. After waking on last weeks rainy Saturday morning I praised Dikra that I didn't have to ride to work today. After standing in lines at shops for what seemed like ages and getting kicked by a cub that didn't want to sit in a stroller the woman who I am lucky enough to be betrothed to decided it was time for a break. It was there that I found my grail, the food not the guy on the BMC that I chase occasionally. The new Freshness veggie burger, potato wedges and a large beer! The best break ever and I had found a way to work more food into a cycling blog. I too will get CFS'd son enough.

They never refuse to.........

The sekidobashi flea market is world renowned. At least that is what the guy from SF told me as his gf sheepishly stood there probably wishing she could have slept in. The whole thing kicks off around 4:30amish but we rolled out there at 6 and the crowd was still steadily growing until we left at 9am. It was only the Dr. and I due to the fact that other people talk a lot of smack but never wake up for these kinds of things. "I am gonna be there at 5am" boasted someone who shall remain unnamed, because I don't know his name. The Dr. was able to sell off some unwanted stock pretty quickly and we were off to the store because our first ride had preceded my morning shit. After a refreshing dump and bide wash I grabbed a weekend beer and headed back. I have to say i was thoroughly stoked to see so many bike enthusiasts and cool stuff. It was all sausage but fun nevertheless. We saw everything from vintage clawd batler tandems(sic) to anime disc wheels. If you get the chance to go it's worth it and it is a great way to start off a day of cycling/drinking.
BIKE ZOMBIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "what parts are you havvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvve!" Road racer or tour rider, either way they are my Asian futures in one shot.

Racing

I Haven't lost a race yet. I have beaten the best and the most "kitted out" riders there are on the streets of Tokyo and I have done it with poise. While they crush along through the city streets weaving and huffing I calmly keep my cadence and barrel past them. The benefit of this being that they don't know that we are racing. Sure some riders may pass me but they don't do it on race days. We are only racing when I pass them. That being said there are a number of grails to be chased and I have two. The BMC rider and the other guy who killed me last summer. Fortunately my pride and record remain intact because those weren't race days. Yesterday was a race day and I am proud to say that good prevailed and I won. The whole commute home started off strange because, even though it was a Wednesday, the streets were packed with taxis and goofs crossing between cars. I call them goofs because they have one pant leg rolled up, a SAG messenger bag and janitor's keys on their belt yet they throw dirty looks at you when you holler at them to watch out. I went past a screaming crowd and caught the face of none other thanAnna herself in an intoxicated state screaming "Fxxk you" in a joking manner. I knew I was in for a strange ride after that. On my way to work there is a long downhill followed by a short, but steep uphill which is opposite on the way home natch. On the dreaded long and crowded uphill I past the newly spawned road bikers who have left their "fixies" locked up at home for week. Louis Garneux and Giant must be so happy with the new trend while the messenger bag producers are worried that panniers are the next to be rocked. The victims fell one after but one of them wouldn't lie down. As I scooted by I could here him frantically changing gears whilst coasting. I knew he would try and contend but I could see he didn't have the legs or hands. One of his was busy fumbling with his phone and his heels were firmly on the pedals. After 1km I forgot about him and started slowing as I made my way through tight traffic and drunken jeopardy walkers. As I stood over my frame at a crowded crosswalk that reminded me of that overpopulated planet on Start Trek. As I grew complacent in mybuffalo stance the guy that I had blown away clipped through the crosswalk and took off down the crowded oncoming lane. CHRIST, how did he know that today was a racing day? I waited for the light because killing a pedestrian isn't worth winning a race no matter what the prize money. As I accelerated I could feel that it was a done deal since the gear my bike had chosen was the big wheel whether I wanted it or not. Just when I was getting ready to pass there was a hood and lit cigarette. In my mind I flew off my bike, backpack dragging me down and my helmet scraping the ground. In actuality I had bought new brake cables and pads last week so I stopped on a dime, I was shocked, and only bumped the door. The driver was shocked and dismayed because he probably thought to his little self the my hulking self was gonna go all wolvy berserk style on him. I remembered that I still had karma to pay back flipped him the peace sign and I was out on the road again. The thing kind of ended a .disappointingly as it started because the guy, other than being reckless, was just plain slow. And I caught and past him. Pretty weird night

The monkey's paw

The curse has lifted after paying homage and fare to the train God. The worst luck week may be over and tonight, Friday, it's raining so some deity or deities is or are telling me to stay off my bike. That doesn't mean I can't get it fixed though. The troop (wife, child,and I) took my bike to it's place of purchase. The Great Jinganebike shop. The place that I have grown to love. I had completely gone in over my head trying to repair shifters, new chain, cables, brakes and derailleurs by myself (30 minutes before I had to go to work). I have been riding at 52/15 for the week and it sucked. We left the bike there after some chat and came back an hour later to a completely reworked bike and new parts. The price they asked was ￥１２００　($14.59 CDN) which is impossibly low. After some haggling we got them to add the new brake pads and some of the labour charge bringing it to ￥3000. An amazing deal considering he adjusted checked the stem and frame for bendy bends. Very happy to have gone there today and I am really stoked about tomorrow's trip tosekidobashifor the flea market. I have to drink beer now so I can be in bed by 10pm. Later

It's getting near dat time

The last week has been a heck of a week and I have gone to, nearly, tears twice. I never knew shifter cables could go so awry that they would gouge into your thumb or that cable housing could give you aids. On the way up the first very slight incline everything came down and I almost lost it. The same day we got hit with torrential rain and I pulled a double flat on the way home. 1067 metres from where I work with the rest to go on foot I pumped and cursed. I couldn't tie a knot in the tube and I almost lost it again as I thought of my wife and child at home warm in bed. Out of desperation I called the Dr. and he didn't pick up so hoof it I had to do. A brief lifetime past and my phone rang back. He was on his way in, what will from now on be known as the support van ( wwfnobkatsv), and scooped me out of my jogging in place to stay warm death. We picked up beers, corndogs and a microwave burrito and that was that. I don't get to talk about riding home through the storm but I have a great story about a support van and spritly legs for the next ride.

Sympathy please

My legs are dead and my chain skips a lot. I need time to figure it out, not so smart here, and ride. i am gong to try and figure my ride out tomorrow but for now it's killing me.

honestly

On the road again..........

The company I work for saw it fitting to spare me from any kind of taxing commute while Tokyo trudged on through what it called winter. Not winter from the stand point of anybody that actually has to deal with cold but winter in the ears of somebody that is glad that they aren't in fxxking Toronto. Not to say that some Midwestern town isn't worse but they aren't talking about winter . I have been transferred back to my old commute and it has been a while so I am soft and scared. It should be about 27kms from door to door and I don't intend to take the train but I have said that before. I would like to show you my happy place. Whenever I have to go up a stupid hill or try and figure how many cabs have cut me off I go here and here it is I ride so I can ingest. So here it is to another shitty rainy season followed by heat before typhoons then Tokyo summer. If anybody who reads this calls me a wuss then I will never ride with you as yours is the commute that must suck balls and I would never make it. I am not joking.

DIY= COOL!

Here is a project that the lurker took photos of and documented. In the end he said it faile but I think it is pretty shit hot.

Fixed link

Well, I guess the old link was broken, and you can't seem to embed videos from the site, so click this link for downhill amazingness: Downhill Mountain Biking in the French Alps

So rad.

Video report

We watched the whole I wanna live video tonight and it was pretty scary. This is one part and it either makes you wanna throw in the towel or get on your bike and have fun. You are dead either way.

Ride report: I screamed today

Rapha Rides The Tour of California from RAPHA on Vimeo. I have 3 days of meetings in the morning and working at night. It sucks. The weather has been awesome as we are in the middle of a crazy warm snap that ended tonight. The past few days we have had temps in the 20s and, not being one to miss it, have been biking to work in shorts and a T shirt. I knew it wouldn't last and was very happy because all the seasonal bikers have been out crowding the roads and smoking while shifting gears. I passed a guy on a carbon road bike only to hear him change gears like a paranoid chick changes dresses before a first date, or any chick for that matter, and he passed me. Poor guy fell so far behind it wasn't even funny. Not because I'm fast but because my shoes aren't dunks and fit in my clips just like pants are raveys and don't act as a parachute. Then I yelled at a guy who thought that opening his door slowly made a difference to someone who had no place to go. Sometimes I feel bad for yelling at people but today wasn't one of those times. I got home to a great stew that my sister in law made and two beers in the fridge. I clicked on the web and saw this video and now all I can think about is how great life is. Plus it's 2 degrees and there won't be any kooks on the road. v(*-*)v-oooOO

BRING BRING

I wish I could say that I was rolling in money and could afford to quit my Japan, cycle across Canada and still put the kid into an Ivy league preschool but I am not and can't. Instead my world remains happy and small with each day being a fun ride to work and a party at home with the dancing boy! Sometimes extra cool stuff happens like an annual bonus. Now this may sound good but when you think of how much unpaid overtime Japanese companies expect you to work the bonus might as well be coffee money. Good thing I go home right on the dot and say screw you to the man. A new bike computer and a $4 beer! The cubling and I hiked out to the bike store that you can't get to (?) according to the guy who gave us directions. I know this post is border line bragging but I am stoked and at least it ain't about new gear that you can swoop or something.

The theft

I have been in a quandary about what we have done. We as in a friend and I as we have stolen a bike using his car. I say stolen because it wasn't ours and we didn't pay for it. I have worked out my justification over the past 2 years of seeing the bike languish in a parking lot under garbage and other broken bikes but the truth cannot be ignored. Sure, it hadn't moved for 2 years, the tires had rotted through to the rims, The spiders living inside the handlebars had died or moved out BUT somebody could have been coming back for it. I feel neither regret or remorse about having removed this bicycle and then stripping it down but the eerie thing is that it came apart so easily. Almost as though some unknown force had been maintenancing it after it started to rot. It could be that the previous owner had been a bike nut and wanted it to be ridden long after he or she had passed on. So in a sense, I am like the bicycles Godfather and it shall stay with me long after the initial rider's demise. Cool. Scarily, as I cleaned and began to strip parts and paint I found a PANASONIC mark and I clued into the destiny that had brought the bike and I together as we all know my fondness for Panaracers. I intend to upload more pics and seeing as how I just managed to buy a jug of paint stripper with my new found wealth you will be seeing be seeing more bare metal than a 25 to lifer, son. Any and all tips are welcome as I may run into snags that I don't know about.

Get yer wait up!

There is a series of these promoting cycling, commuting and something to do with a sega game about a dolphin that saves shit. I cut the company name off of it and I am thinking about putting it on my bike. I started thinking about that, my bike I mean and if it would want me to put a sticker on it. Does it care? Surely if it did it would have puked grease and clenched it's BB tight when I put the supreme sticker on it so many years ago. My friend named his bike. He wanted a woman's name but the bike is a canondale badboy and he needed to make it gruff so
Vasquez it was and boy oh boy it is fitting. The way he explains it i pretty funny. I guess I really have nothing more to write so that's it for now.

This post is brought to you by CAPITALISM

I saw a t-shirt with the ubiquitous Che stencil on it and a caption under it reading This T Shirt brought to by Capitalism I laughed and wondered how many people would buy it. I have seen similar things on the onion.com talking about Marley posters in frat houses or University anarchists who's parents are capitalist. Pretty funny but not that memorable until I encountered the uber consumer while I was riding to work. He was riding one of the newer cross bikes that used to be called city bikes that used to be called hybrid bikes that used to be called road bikes with riser bars. You could tell he had put a lot of thought into his "kit" since the bike, still gleaming new, already had stickers and something of a spoke card in the wheel. What caught my eye more than the bike was his pseudo cyclist uniform. I guess in order to ride a bike you have to be as uncomfortable as possible to get "street cred". The low slung messenger bag that had the red Manhattan portage logo double sized on the flap acted as a counter weight to his 3 coast 3 cadence while his north face jacket made sure the 15 degree plus weather wouldn't chill his bones. He had chosen to go with the Velcro strap around his trousers since rolling up expensive jeans probably irreparably creases them. The buttons on the man purse were neatly across the flap and they were, in order, a pentagram to show how much he didn't care about God (yet riding without a helmet puts you in his hands entirely), a middle finger that was flipping me off for looking at this buttons and a Che button. WTF! I had no idea what that meant but the implication of Che being a satanist who was flipping me off almost ruined my morning. I quickly averted my eyes only to lay them upon the pre-faded/written on vans. If you know the ones than you can imagine my dismay and if you don't you can find them online and they look like ass. How lame do you have to be to pay more for shoes that already have writing on them? I passed him and was happy to be on my way but he must have felt my scornful glances because he ended up at the same bike parking lot that I was at. He went out of his way to flaunt his affluence by asking the staff if they could break a 10,000 yen note. He didn't have any change for the vending machine I guess.

Tour de Saint-Laurent

Or, Le Tour de Nouvelle-France. Who knew this even existed at one time? Looks totally effin' dope. (Can't figure out if you can embed vids from the NFB/ONF, so I've posted the link below).
All commentary is in French, but there's not much anyway, and if yer a good Canadian you should understand it all perfectly.
60 Cycles

Scene while riding

This is one of the pictures I took while we were out riding a couple of weeks ago and it pretty much sums up how fun a long ride, amidst beer stops can be. There were 5 of us that day and we covered about 90 solid Kms with additional shaky ones that were mostly side trips to pick up more beer. It was sunny and a little chilly but it was the chilly that quickly turns to refreshing as you sweat away the time. I need to upload some more pics but until then ride safe and remember that commuting is like midday snacking while you wait for the weekend buffet.

On my way down

Last year end was going great. Greater than any year had gone in a long and, despite being on the verge of being cut from work, I was optimistic. The weather had been great, bonus season is around the corner and I was coming into more than a week off. I was on my my to work on Christmas and I decided to take my camera because it was probably the last chance I was going to get to commute by bike to Shinbashi. I have commuting by bike since June 1st and I can honestly say that I can't go back to taking the trains. I get frustrated by every stop thinking "jeesh, I could be at blahblah by now" or "I am going to get sick from the prick next to me coughing all over everyone". I was riding high on that buzz when BANG. I slipped on a wet patch and slid into a car waiting for the light. I dismounted, being already half on the ground and went over to the sidewalk. Now the driver didn't know what to expect and my gut said BOOK IT outa here but my conscience said you hit his car and you're at fault. Never did it cross my mind that all those drivers that have hit me with their sideview mirrors should have stopped or the taxis that speed in front of me and slam on the brakes to drop off a fare were in the wrong. I honestly felt that it would go smoothly. He called the police and I waited. This sort of thing has nothing really to do with cops but the guy was shocked and pissed and I was wishing I had kept on going. The cops showed up and took my information and his then proceeded to berate me about what I had done and how was I going to recompense the driver for it. I told them that I had stopped so I could give him my info and that I should pay for it but burst out laughing when the cop asked if that was it. I couldn't control my laughter and the driver, taking pity on me had to turn away and smile. The cop was upset so I asked what I should do and he told me to apologize so I responded " that's a good idea" but didn't say sorry because he was waiting for it and I thought I was going to lose it again. I haven't been back on a back until the 11th of this month. I was really pissed about the whole thing and I tried to hide it from my wife but the more I thought about the angrier I got at all the drivers that have squished me into parked cars or almost killed me while they talk on their phones. When I finally did tell her she laughed and asked if that was it because she thought that I had hit a pedestrian in a cafe in Israel or something. Nobody had been hurt and I was still alive. I have never been so relieved before. The whole time I had been doubting my choice to stay at the scene but I felt better about the whole thing and I was guiltless to start the year. I shot some other pics that day and you can see some of the sights I saw everyday on the way to work. Here's to 2009 RIDE SAFE! The track bike that never moved. I guess there were some days that it wasn't there but I usually saw this bike on the way to and from work Tokyo tower. I must have passed this place more than a 100 times and I always thought it was pretty cool. This is the park where I stopped for beers and the fixster took pity and talked to me. If I had the extra cash I would buy a Brooklyn machine works Gangsta (full brakes) because it was such a fun bike to ride The arch thing by the park. When it was lit up at night it was cool and reminded me that I still had an hour to go before I was home.

Dopeness

Rapha Gentlemen's Race - Sept. 6th, 2008 from RAPHA on Vimeo.
via D'ordinaire