“Those guys must be idiots. How could they vote that moron back into office after all of the lies and shady dealings”, I said to myself four years ago in reference to Americans having just voted George Bush back into office. And here we are, once again mimicking our southern neighbors to our own peril. I’m awestruck that Canadians would make the same mistake. Not to say that Harper has by any means made near as impressive a mess as that guy, he has used a lot of the exact same tactics throughout his time in office as well as his recent campaign.

Take for example his most recent flub in telling Canadians that the fear spreading as a result of the recent global financial crisis provided great “opportunities” to get some cheap stocks. To quote Amy Pohler, “REALLY?!” But it does sound shockingly similar to Bush’s continued pleas in time of crises to “go shopping“.

Here we are, fifty million dollars later those who bothered to show up - lowest voter turnout in Canadian history at 59% - voted in the guy who made a law to not call an election, broke his own law and called an election no one asked for, charged us for it only and then had the gall to gave us his platform only 7 days out. And we rewarded his party 16 more seats.  We’ll deserve every drop of stupid we have to now deal with… including doing the whole thing again in about 18 months.

Death to the King! God save the King!

Sheesh.

Most trends I feel I can easily navigate my way through should I be caught in the crossfire. I was just relaying a story about this to a friend this morn. Basically my thoughts on this are that if you really like something - I mean for reals - than it doesn’t really matter if it’s trendy. You stick with what you like and even after the cool has worn off of it you’ll still be going strong knowing you know what you like. After all, you should be the only one you’re trying to please.

Having just read about the final nail in the coffin that was the once very rad Queen St. W here in Toronto, I’m thinking that maybe Oshawa or one of those places people move/commute from may be where I need to be. I’m speaking of course of the absoultely pungeunt concept behind Toronto’s latest vinegar factory: Tattoo Rock Bar. It would seem that two of the Toronto club jugernauts who brought you 90% of the clubs you walk by and wonder, “wow, how did that bag of antlers even find a bag that sparkly” or “I wonder what wheel well he wiped that scent out of”, bring you a club that’s only cool part is… I’m kidding, there’s nothing cool. But if you’re an easily influenced douchebag looking for a good way to piss off your folks or what will likely be the worst party favor ever, I believe you’ve found the place.

You’d better hurry though, with the attention span that this crowd has, it’s sure to be a has been before you can get your florescent pink sunglass’d, high waisted, skinny jean wearin’ ass on your converted 80’s single speed bike with just a front brake!

Please join us Friday August 17th at 6pm outside JetFuel Coffee in Cabbagetown for a memorial ride celebrating Charlie. All are welcome and encouraged.

What a follow up. On my way into work this morning while riding on College crossing the intersection at Elizabeth St. - Women’s College Hospital - a driver making a left hand turn panicked when the light turned yellow and despite my being in the intersection, made the turn and struck me. I was thrown off my bike several feet and skidded to a stop on my left side - shredding the front off of the left leg of my shorts. I immediately stood up and someone handed me my bike. The entire intersection came to a stop and a pedestrian even stood in front of the van to prevent them from running. I was actually quite surprised. A motorist yelled out, “she ran the light!”. I don’t believe that is the case but the way everyone was concerned for my safety was really quite surprising given people’s attitudes of late. I mean, this is my second contact with a car this week and I am very careful in the city. Both times were completely inattentive drivers. I walked over and calmly said to the woman that she needs to look out… “you almost killed me”. She opened the door and almost collapsed. She was about my moms age and on her way to pick up her daughter and brand new grandchild to bring them home for the first time. From Stoufville - outside of Toronto and for all intent and purposes “the country” - and had just learned her route to the hospital. She admitted her head wasn’t there and that she was basically running through the motions. And that, is the problem that we have.

Cars have become such an essential part of so many people’s daily lives and getting a drivers license is so easy that it is no longer a privilege but a right to drive. Like so many rights people come to take it for granted and it becomes background noise. We’re out there rolling around essentially unprotected with people who are robots piloting several tons of metal at high speeds.

After a call into work I was persuaded to head over to the hospital. My pants were almost ripped off my one side, I had decent road rash on my left knee, elbow, foot and my left wrist felt like it had been landed on pretty hard. I also have broken my left elbow several times without knowing so there was also some concern about that. I spent the entire morning in the hospital - mostly waiting - got x-rayed and the a-ok from the doc. Overall, I’m fine. I have some road rash and bruising, my wrist still doesn’t feel too hot, but my shoulder is really still - from the Tetanus shot. I’m also pretty wiped out - no pun intended - but I’m sure to sleep like a baby tonight. Which is fitting because I’m sure to feel about a thousand years old when I wake up tomorrow.

With that, let me just say to any of you out there rolling around; never trust a car. Always be on the lookout and be extra cautious. Keep your head about you and ride safe. Hard and safe.

Details on a service for Charlie “Shiznaz” Princep are as follows:

Tuesday August 14th, 2pm
St Paul’s Church
277 Bloor St. E. (at Church St.)

A critical mass style ride is being planned as well with details tba. I’ll post here as soon as I know.

Cyclist Fatality Closes EB Trans-Canada

August 04, 2007 - 11:59 pm

By: Craig Lester

A deadly crash between a car and a cyclist just west of Brooks closed the eastbound lanes of the Trans Canada early Saturday afternoon.

Police are not saying much, but it appears the cyclist was killed when he was struck by a vehicle near the intersection of Highway 36.

One caller to the 660 newsroom, who witnessed the crash, says the vehicle drifted onto the shoulder before striking the cyclist.

The crash created traffic headaches for both directions of travel as the westbound lanes were converted into a two way traffic set-up.

It’s with much sadness that I post about the loss of a courageous person, an expert cyclist, an all around great guy that I barely knew, who’s loss is affecting me greatly. Since hearing about the senseless and needless death of Charlie - known on one of the last great forums of the interslice as “Shiznaz”… which he was the - I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. How the worthless human being who couldn’t take the responsibility of inhabiting a planet with other people decided that they couldn’t do any of the bagillion things they could have done that would have prevented this from happening and instead said, “I feel fine.” The suck thing is they will. One day. One day they’ll get out of jail, they’ll get in there car and they’ll even be able to have another drink. Charlie will not have any of those options and that is so far from cool it would melt your face.

I met Charlie about a year ago online. When I bought my last bike I was pointed to BikeForums.net as there was a thriving singlespeed/fixed gear community. Not long after I met Charlie in person and it was apparent immediately from his amazing stories that he wasn’t just your average bear. The one that stuck out involved a cabbie getting out of his cab during an altercation and actually punching him in the chest. As I recall Charlie took the high road and upon retelling got taken to task for not destroying said cabbie. The way Charlie handled himself in both the story and the subsequent moment of discomfort were classic. And my retelling won’t do it justice, I just had to share.

A Couple of months ago he did the ultimate, contemporary North American dream; quit his job at the bank, sold everything he could and set out on a life changing adventure. His was to set out on by bicycle from Vancouver to Southern California, then from Vancouver back to Toronto by himself. An incredible undertaking and very inspirational. What a terrible loss.

If you read the news clipping above - the only one found thus far by the hundreds scouring as much media as possible - you’ll notice what I see to be part of the problem; “A deadly crash between a car and cyclist”. Being struck from behind by a car piloted by a reckless person is not a crash. It’s murder. But the media likes to treat a cyclist like a vehicle. And so do other drivers. Until it’s not convenient to them. The problem of course is that a “cyclist” is a person on a bicycle. Of flesh and blood and as fragile. A car is a 3500lb hunk of metal. When it hits something it just breaks. And yet people still use them against cyclists all of the time to “keep them in line” as if a cyclist would simply get “broke” and not dead. I was hit just yesterday by someone who simply didn’t look out the passenger side window. Not even the mirror… I was right beside him. And despite having almost run me down, he proceeded to get out and blame me as if it would have mattered had I not been fortunate enough to react fast… and be in a position to do so.

The attitude about and against cyclists has to change. With all the talk of green this and green that there’s absolutely no more consideration given to cycling or cyclists. It is and has been the single most efficient mode of personal transportation since it’s invention and the current attitude is a testament to how much the governments of this - and many other - countries really care about the environment as well as their own constituents. In Toronto they’ve still failed to fulfill their easy promise of installing a paltry 250km of bike lanes in the city - not that I’m convinced that easy answer is the right one either, but it’s something. And with all the talk about safety the police aren’t much help.

Enough of my ranting, I’ve just been reeling with this for the last 24 hours and had to put something down. Pay my respects and share with those who didn’t have the pleasure what a chance they’d missed in knowing a solid guy.

You will be missed Charlie. Ride in peace.

At long last his weary fingers caress the keypad in only the way a man having been on vacation the last fourteen days can. He struggles to find the words to describe the total insanity that has occurred in the last two weeks as he does upon returning year after year. He vows this won’t be one of those crazy rambly entries none of the others planned to be, but lacks the capacity at present to write it as haiku so instead chooses to take the easy route; highlights and flickr feed.

In the last fourteen days I have:

• flown to Orlando
• laid beside/in a beautiful pool at the foot of a water fall

• rode a jetski in gator infested waters
• swam in said waters
• played a harrowing game of mini putt
• drove to Miami
• partied in South Beach at a mutlitude of clubs in full on “pimp” style
• wore the 2006 NBA World Championship ring

• witnessed a real “dance off” in a club in South Beach involving actual professional dancers, which was called by my lovely lady
• swam naked in the ocean at 5am
• drove to Key West
• rode scooters until I wanted to buy one - I now do
• saw more cocks in strange places than planned

• watched drunken redneck’s, drag queens and farm animals intermingle in a way not seen since Springer
• snorkeled with schools of painted zebra, parrot and grunt fish as well as a barracuda
• saw live coral, barrel and regular sponges
• saw iguanas and parrots in the wild
• got a second degree sunburn on my back and did the seven hour drive back to Orlando with it
• met Paralympian and six-time world champion Jeff Adams
• got a personal tour of the Cervelo factory and offices

• saw the prototype for the new Cervelo race wheelchair (wow)
• got the top of my right leg tattoo started. That’s my ass, to the lay-person

I did get some rest in there. I didn’t check my work email - of which I’m sure there are now several hundred. I believe I’m ready to face work again. The only thing I didn’t get enough of - and likely never will - is riding. However, there may be some great news in my near future.

I believe I may have just figured it out. No, not how to violate the first law of thermodynamics because, well, simply put that isn’t currently possible. Now, don’t get me wrong I understand completely that science is made entirely of ever evolving theories on how the universe works. However there are a number of theories that are more or less considered to be pretty solid. And for three hundred years, this was one.

Until today, supposedly.

I say supposedly because I think I may have figured out what the impending announcement from a certain Irish company claiming to have done what I spoke of above by inventing what boils down to a perpetual motion machine. Given the current crisis the globe and many of it’s inhabitants are facing, it’s no secret that everybody and there brother is searching for an answer. Some for the right reasons and some for a quick buck/easy vote. But this is a pretty big deal as it would fundamentally change everything we thought about the universe and how it works. And I had my doubts that in these times with all of the concurrent research taking place throughout the world in so many fields, that a small company in Ireland stumbled upon a violation to a law of physics… that would save the planet and it’s inhabitants. I mean, no one was even on this path. And they just fall into the oasis. So I started looking around the interslice and started to find things that appeared to be planted. I know I know, but humour me. Then the demonstration gets pulled due to technical difficulties.

We are experiencing some technical difficulties with the demo unit in London. Our initial assessment indicates that this is probably due to the intense heat from the camera lighting. We have commenced a technical assessment and will provide an update later today. As a consequence, Kinetica will not be open to the public today (5th July). We apologise for this delay and appreciate your patience.

Now either this is a total Beverly Hillbillies situation or there’s something rotten in Denmark. No offense Casper.

This sticks in my craw all night. Im trying to figure out the angle. I don’t think it has to be anything sinister, it’s just not right. Something about this is not right. I just got back from walking my better half to job number a million - oh the student life - and was telling her about the updated demo time and remarked, “I’ll check if it happened when I get back”. It didn’t. While trying to find if anyone had blogged about it one thing stuck out to me; this is taking place at a Museum in London called Kinetica. It was the name that popped up like crazy in everything and I recalled a conversation with a friend who runs a kick ass green site earlier when I asked what the deal with the museum was… and I had previously also said, “it could be an art piece.” And that my friends is what I think this is; an art piece to announce the opening of a new museum that has a focus on art and technology. And what better way to announce it than to show how important technology is to us. As well as the most pressing issue of our time. Not to mention all those people around the world interested in both of these things and using technology to watch it all. It would actually be pretty impressive. Not in a “solving a global crisis sort of way” but in a “neat” sort of way. And don’t get me wrong, I’m totally not the first person to call these guys out by far, but I’m really more interested in the “why”.

I base my theory on a couple of odd “coincidences” starting with the thing that started it all, an ad [pdf] in The Economist magazine making the claim and inviting scientists from around the world to test this theory in an experiment of their design, with full access to the technology and apparently the only stipulation in the contract is that regardless of the conclusion. Now that’s convincing. This was in the August 2006 issue. Kinetica Museum opened in October 2006. Kinetica’s official opening was to be heralded in by a demonstration of the most ground breaking technology that mankind has ever seen. This is to say nothing of what appears to be some very slick marketing and PR for a firm that claims to have only invested their own money, isn’t public and claims to have no commercial interest until the results are public.

Man, that would be great though.

Unfuckingbelievable. Last night a good friend of mine had his bike stolen in Kennsington Market. Toby lives for his ride and unfortunately, his ride pays for him to live. Now, he doesn’t have that because some douche nozzle figured he could lift somethin’ easy peasy and flip it for some free money. The irony is, if any of you see this person - let me know as they are in for an unbelievable world of hurt that no amount of money will seem worth.

This bike was extremely recognizable but I have a feeling that somehow these weasels had the capacity to realize to part it out. That said, if you hear of anyone offloading a set of Orange Velocity Deep V’s laced to Surly hubs for an unusually low price or their name is Igor or they just catch you as someone who doesn’t deserve to liv… err.. have such nice bike parts, please get in touch. This also goes for the 40-something inch black NYC Bikes frame (not that common in Toronto). Pics on Living For The City.

Irconically, yesterday I posted a video to the Bike Forum. I hope I didn’t send out a shockwave of bad juju through the intertubes. There goes an asshole.

A few years ago I lost sixty pounds. I’m six foot four so it is usually a bit of a shock to a lot of people that I had that much to lose. Except of course for those rare gems that asked if I had AIDS or cancer. For the record, no comment. That’s what ya get. Anywho, one of the things I’ve noticed the most since dropping that weight is my tollerence to heat has greatly increased. When I was young I was riding all the time - I’ve been cycling pretty seriously since was eight years old and by twelve was doing one or two metric centuries a month through in the decent weather - so I was pretty fit but it didn’t get this warm this often then. When I moved to California, I really felt it. Especially the summer I decided to drive through the desert in a car with no name… err.. A/C. It was only the middle of summer, at around noon that I passed through death valley. I was in my underwear and was having blocks of ice balanced on my head by my lawyer. All true. Except the lawyer part. So here I am riding my bike through the city on a heat and smog advisory day, laying down to get my chest hammered on by forty-five needles at once for several hours. The tattooer who has been doing my chest/arm for the last five years - we just realized over a few pints at the pub - is Rob Coutts down at Bobby Five in Parkdale, a much finer tattooer than my arm or chest can tell you, but I’m extremely happy with the work he’s done. You’ve no idea how hard it is to find someone who’s even interested in spending that much time tattooing solid black. And Rob did it and made the whole thing a great experience. Even laying in what felt like 45°C whilst slicing my soul with his lazor needles. That’s right, laz-or.

On the weekend my buddy Dan Halen took me way the eff out to… well I have no idea where - you’ll just have to click this link to find out - to see one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen; Bicycle Specialties. Like a nineteenth century apothocary, it’s antique wooden drawers and glass cases really emphasized that the place was dripping with class. Of course having a world famous bicycle maker - amongst many other things - present doesn’t hurt either. Lots of pics on the Flickr feed. As for all the other madness in my life lately, I’ll talk about that another time. Maybe…?

Oh, and one last thing. I’d like to pay tribute to and thank Pearl for all of her incredible contributions to the intertubes.

She will be missed.

I had a spirited debate with a motorist on my way into work this morning after chastizing a cabby for parking in the bike lane - a now daily occurence. As I rolled up on the cabby and watched countless cyclists who are less comfortable in high traffic than myself awkwardly jutt out in front of traffic to get around him, I did my usual “touch reminder” to his hood that that was in fact a bike lane and not a parking spot. Typically, he reacted with angry shouting, “why did you hit my car!”. The odd part to me is that they get so upset about you touching their car with your hand but when they touch my soft tissue with their 2 ton hunk of metal I get a bashful, “sorry” - if I’m lucky. However, I digress. The light was about to change to green and at this point another bunch of cyclists were stuck behind him - still in the bike lane but rolling up on my rear tire - as I stopped my bike and blocked him completely. As he continued to yell I slowly - very slowly - turned, smiled and said, “Oh, I’m sorry can you not go around?” I followed this up with a friendly diatribe about how inconvenient it must be to have your entire lane blocked by a vehicle. The cyclists behind him simultaneously broke out in laughter and squeezed past him. As they passed I apologized but said I was tired of it. I’d had enough and it’s time to fight back. They thanked me and continued on their way.

As this was happening, another helpful motorist pulled up next to me and said, “you can’t just hit people’s cars. I charged someone $3000 last week for hitting my car.” What’s this? Random motorists can now charge people with “vehicular assualt”. No, no. Not that vehicular assault. Police don’t bother with such petty incidents. We began to toss points back and forth in a very mildly heated debate - let’s call it tepid. They kept reffering to the fact that I should not bang on people’s cars because it’s expensive and I kept reminding them they were breaking my heart and that in my world you can’t kill people because you feel they’re in your way. They sped away in their confidence of having schooled yet another ignorant cyclist. That is until they got caught at the next light. Right beside me. Awkward! For them at least. I continued where I left off reminding them of the recent account of a cyclist getting killed by a motorist who wasn’t concerned with what’s happening outside their vehicle. I reminded them that had those people been their family, they may have cared more. They came back with the fact that they were concerned about safety. I then asked them if they thought it was safe for a cyclist to swing out in front of traffic on a busy city street that has a dedicated bike lane as cars would be much less likely to expect it and be able to react in time. The conversation turned and they finally began to see my point. I pointed to my helmet and stated simply, “we’re all concerned about safety. And despite what the news says, this isn’t a war.”

I told them to have a nice day and rolled on my way, convinced that they would likely forget this by the next light. However, I’ve now had a positive exchange with a motorist - unfortunately one of my first of what is likely hundreds of encounters over the past 20 some odd years… which could admittedly be at least 50% my fault - so I’m now armed with a fairly good, non reactive, non-confrontational (or much less anyways), informational plan of attack that will hopefully help get people to see things from the curb lane.

It’s this or firebombs and it’s really so hard to keep the petrol from spilling when you’re trying to catch up to a hit and runner.