England's White Bike Program

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He's Baaaa-aack!

Photo from The Guardian website

Read an interview with Lance Armstrong in The Guardian. And yes, a great deal of time is spent discussing the drug/doping issue.

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Who Ya Gonna Call?

I was fully alert and conscious after I fell off my bike, the lone time I've ever had to call for an ambulance after being injured in an accident. (Mind you, my left arm was in four pieces.) But what if I'd landed on my head instead of my shoulder? What would happen if paramedics or other authorities were trying to contact my family and I was unable to respond?
Stephanie found this online. It's called Road ID, an engraved bracelet that can be personalized to contain your personal contact info, health insurance numbers, and even a personal motto if you like. They also offer an interactive version which directs emergency personnel to a website that can contain your medical history and contact info that you can keep updated.

Here's mine, newly arrived in the mail. (I've blurred out the numbers.) Inexpensive, it's another one of those pieces of biking/kayak gear that I hope I never need, but I'm glad I take along.

the next bike stunt to try

Motorbike Tightrope @ Yahoo! Video

Three Wheelin' in the Summertime

Time to introduce you to a couple of pretty cool guys; Siniasa Grgic and Darrick Hahn. They are the proprietors of Fresh Entertainment out of Southern Ontario, but this summer they are doing something a bit different. this summer they are cycling across Canada on a couple of recumbent trikes to promote a progressive radio show on CJLY out of Nelson. B.C. called Deconstructing Dinner. DD is heard locally on CFUV radio, and if you're not listening to campus/community radio, you're really missing some great programming.
Anyway, Sinisa and Darrick started their tour of Canada out of Mile 0 here in Victoria on May 08, 2008 and have taken a southerly route across the country. Their blogsite is here with the first day report located here. And pictures here. If you've ever wondered what it would be like to be going 70 km/hr down the side of a mountain when you're about 150mm off the pavement, these guys can tell you!

John's Old Ride

John was a very conscientious rider -- when he bought a new bike, he gave the old one to Bernie. Great idea, that. Bernie knows how to do lots of things to fix up a bike, and the frame was about the right size. So, after thanking him, and getting his tools and cleaning supplies and so on, Bernie set about tinkering with the bike.
He took off part after part from John's old bike and his own old one. I came by and found bike bits everywhere on the lawn, neatly sorted. It's always a bit of a mystery for me to see how many parts a bicycle really has. I don't think of the bearings, eh? Or all the links of the chain.
It turns out John's old bike was REALLY worn out. Like really. As in You Can't Get There From Here. As in, the bearings were worn out, the pedals were worn out, everything was worn out, as in even the welds were cracked so the frame was no longer useable.
The upshot of the matter was, Bernie kept a pile of usable parts and took both bike frames and the worn-out parts to Recyclistas. That bike shop not only uses such things to service bikes, they make art from the stuff that's no longer serviceable.
Awesome to know that John WORE OUT a bike seven ways from Sunday. And now it'll be art.

My New Ride

Check it out, here's my new ride. My old bike was going to cost too much to tune up, so after 13 years it was time to retire it and look for something new.
I ended up with a Trek 24 speed hybrid. Disc brakes. It's a nice ride, although I think I'm going to change the factory seat for my old "cushy" seat.