Sorry I haven’t been posting much lately — been busy with work, finishing up the last bits of apartment decorating before Carrie and family come visit, and exploring the city now that it’s Damn Hot out.
On Father’s Day we drove back to Belleville to go out to dinner with my father, the first long drive we’ve done in the caar since my trips back and forth to Ottawa while Candice was still living there and me here. About halfway home: grindy noise! It came and went but performance, temperature and so on didn’t seem affected, and I noticed a wobbly pulley, so I figured it’d get us back to Toronto fine (and it did) and then I could take it in.
A couple days later, I had a new A/C compressor, and the wobbly pulley (and the serpentine belt) replaced too. And parts are not cheap for this old Swede.
Combine that with how often we drive — I filled up the tank for that trip, and before that the previous fill-up was March 25 — and the crazy cost of car insurance living in downtown TO, and the conclusion jumps out at you: We really don’t need a car here.
I take the TTC or my bike to work every day. Candice walks a few blocks to work. Grocery stores are even closer. Whenever we head downtown or to the Annex or Queen West we just take the TTC or walk. Hell, we don’t even have parking — the car is on the street all the time. And for the odd errand that does require a car, we can just use Zipcar or Autoshare in town and a regular car rental for road trips, and come in way, way under what we’re paying to have a car sit on the street, even though the car’s fully paid for.
I was car-free in Montreal from 1994 to 2001, but then as soon as I moved to Ottawa I bought the Saab, partly because Ottawa (and the neighbourhood I was living in) was pretty car-heavy, and partly because I had the disposable income and an excuse. But for someone who’s read car mags since childhood, I didn’t find car ownership all that fun. Too much maintaining and not enough spirited driving, maybe? Or maybe too sensible a car, or maybe too sensible a place to drive.
(The same thing happened with the motorcycle, I think. I’m not sure why, specifically.)
So the car’s going for sale later this year. Not sure when yet. Not looking forward to the process one bit, either! But I’ll be back to car-free soon, and I’m pretty happy with that, and especially happy living somewhere where I can, and not be too inconvenienced or treated like a freak for relying on transit.
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I just realized that tomorrow is the first day of Toronto Bike Month! There’s a list of events online. I didn’t get up in time for Bells on Bloor today, but there’s a bunch of things coming up that i’m looking forward to.
I can’t participate in the opening pancake breakfast at Nathan Phillips Square because I commute the other way. Instead, I’m going to bike to work tomorrow morning even though they’re calling for thunderstorms in the afternoon, and either leave the bike there overnight or pick it up later in the evening.
Thursday’s a staff meeting at FreshBooks which is followed by a (decidedly un-bike-related) rock climbing excursion at Joe Rockhead’s. I’ve never climbed before but I’ve been meaning to for a long time (and it’s on my severely out-of-date 101 in 1001 list). But Thursday night brings back the bike content with a Bike Month screening of Pee-Wee Herman’s Big Adventure, with live action featuring various local personalities. Think Pee-Wee meets Rocky Horror. I should drag some FreshBooks people along.
Friday’s the last Friday of the month, which means Toronto’s monthly Critical Mass ride. I figure Bike Month is as good a time as ever for my first Mass. I know there’s a lot of opinions out there on Mass and I haven’t entirely formed mine yet, but I figure I ought to participate before I do. I know there’s been some issues with Mass in Toronto in the past but I’ve also heard that it’s cleaned up a bit (although I’ve also heard that a detour through the Eaton Centre is not unheard of).
Right after that is the first Toronto Criterium in the St. Lawrence Market area. The senior divisions’ race starts at 7:30 and lasts an hour and a half plus three laps. Crits are a blast to watch — especially compared to road races — because they’re laps, which means you get to see the peloton more than once, and because they’re short, which means they’re fast and aggressive.
And that’s just this week! I haven’t dug deeply into the rest of the month’s schedule, although dobbs on MetaFilter mentioned recently that the 2008 Cycle Messenger World Championships are being held in Toronto mid-June, so I’ll probably catch some of that too (and maybe catch up with dobbs there, for that matter).
(The Tour de Dufflet sure is tempting, though. And I need to remember to register for the Community Bicycle Network’s repair classes. But I might pass on the World Naked Bike Ride on the 14th.)
Post-and-ring photo at top by flickr user urbanmkr.
Here’s the rack I was talking about yesterday. Picked it up after work today, took 15 minutes to install. I still need to cut the fender back a bit but didn’t have anything handy to do it with. Also I can’t find my bungee net from the motorcycle, which means I probably left it on the motorcycle. Ah well, cheap enough to replace.
Now I need something to carry! And a box to put groceries in.
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feet elev.
miles
Unfortunate, especially since there are no showers at work. I might end up taking the bus up the steep part with the bike on the bus’s bike rack some days, or just figuring something out to clean up and change at work anyhow. I feel kind of silly because shorts and a T-shirt are fine at FreshBooks, but I don’t really like wearing shorts day-to-day, even in summer.
I do want to get something to carry stuff on the bike instead of my back, though. Even though I’ve got a nearly-new Timbuk2 messenger bag, I’d like to avoid the damp back that comes from cordura-on-cotton. Current plan is to pick up a CETMA 5-rail front rack:
They’re handmade by Lane Cagay in Eugene, OR of cromoly tubing, with a weight limit of over 40 lbs (although the racks can handle a lot more, that’s when steering starts to get a bit wonky, apparently — and here’s why the front). On a lark I checked Craigslist yesterday and it turns out there’s someone with an unused 5-rail for sale just a few blocks north of here, so that’s awfully serendipitous. I figure even if I don’t ride to work daily, just doing all my errands at this end of town on the bike will be a plus compared to walking or bussing it everywhere.
I’ll post photos once I’ve got the rack!
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Here’s the route I took last night, leaving at sunset — 20 km (12.5 mi), about half of that along the canal or river where it’s cooler.
Started out heading south along Island Park, then across the Experimental Farm, north along the Rideau Canal, around the Parliament Buildings to visit the Cats on the Hill (and a couple of raccoons enjoying some cat food), then back home along the path along the Ottawa River.
That last path is completely unlit, so I’m glad my light provides “see” intensity and not just “be seen”. (To get an idea, see here, and then click on “Blaze”. Also check out the HID light at the bottom of the list — wow!) It’s not that bright, but once my eyes get used to the dark I can keep up a decent pace along the bike paths. I mount the light on my helmet so it goes where I look instead of where my handlebars point, which also lets me point it further down the path when necessary.
Hrm, what is my usual pace, anyhow? If that’s a 20 km ride, and I stopped for ten minutes to visit the cats and raccoons, then I averaged about 15 km/h. That’s ok, considering I had to slow down a bit on the last 1/3 because of the darkness. I should think about getting my road bike back from my mother’s garage. I’m just not sure where I’d put it. Maybe I’ll save that for next summer.
(Also: Second-last day of work today. Yay!)
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