tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-855304865497297402024-03-18T06:44:12.807-07:00spoke'n'sceneInciting a commuterevolution on the bike path to health, happiness, and heaven on Earth.babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.comBlogger190125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-84681965622323358742015-09-30T23:04:00.000-07:002016-04-09T20:32:36.581-07:00Mmmm... a taste of the Pacific Northwest.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hello from the GVRD, the Greater Vancouver Regional District<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First Lookout, Cypress Mountain</td></tr>
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Have you ever found yourself pre-occupied with thoughts of food, or is it just me? The other day I was down in Steveston<br />
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when the thought of an egg with ham and melted cheese on toast suddenly appeared from out of nowhere, persistent as fuck. I couldn't think of anything else for almost thirty kilometers until finally I got home and satisfied my craving. A few weeks ago I stepped on the scale, and the damned thing announced that I weighed 163 lbs. Holy crap. I am seriously dense. At that weight I should be six feet tall but instead of growing up, I'm already shrinking. I was surprised to see the number, but not really shocked. The clothes speak truth. If you've already guessed that I don't use the scale much, you're right. It's ancient, and it probably doesn't even tell the truth. Sometimes it gets stuck at zero and you have to jump on it a few times to get it to tell you anything at all. It babbles not. The only reason I stepped on it in the first place is that my clothes were feeling uncomfortably snug and I wanted to quantify how snug. It's bad. The last time I weighed anywhere north of 160 I'd not long ago born a babe.<br />
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But my shoulder is stabilized, and I've been riding again, blessed be. And suddenly I am not quite so fat. Yesterday that scale read 156 when I (literally!!) jumped on it. I don't feel much different yet, but it's encouraging, in any event.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">#pinkgoesfaster</td></tr>
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And everyone knows that getting rid of fat is to some extent a function of getting fit. For me the fitness is essential for all sorts of good reasons, and helping burn those pesky calories I so love to consume is just one of them. And I love to share my passion with other people. Road racing season is over. I miss riding with my fast friends. Many of them have switched to Cross Country, or CX. I would love to join in the fun, but it would probably take me about half an hour to dislocate or break something, so I'll have skip the whole cross thing. But damn. People are mad for the sport. Seriously. It does something to a person, something I would love to discover firsthand, but it isn't meant to be, not now, not ever. I intend to spend some time at the track this year, though it won't be a full training program, so you'll find me doing the #dawnpatrol,<br />
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and as often as not, looping Stanley Park first thing in the morning. Sometimes I even have company! There's a group of cyclists who meet weekday morningsfor a gentle SPloop or two before they stop at an interesting coffee shop or bakery. It's called IndieJavaFest, and if you're interested in joining, just shoot me an email and I will ask the administrator to add you to the mailing list. Ooooooor you can just come to Stanley Park at stoopid o'clock. Strava has a new feature that allows you to see where your friends are at the moment. I'll track my rides with my phone so you can find me. And please do, at least this month. Because company is good, and meeting other people who like to ride bikes always floats my boat.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bikes and boats: an easy fit.</td></tr>
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So food. Being fat sucks cause suddenly I start thinking about food at the strangest times. Does that ever happen to you? My little guy is always hungry, too, and sometimes it shocks me how much he can eat, but he's growing up leaps and bounds- he's a full six inches taller than he was a year ago!! He has an excuse, while I am just pre-occupied with food. I dunno about you, but I've noticed that when I eat too many carbs I put on weight. Sugar is especially bad, something to do with the insulin response. I need to eat more protein and fewer sugars and carbs in order to drop any weight. But sugar is an analgesic and I Love analgesics. Sugar makes babies feel better when given orally, and I can testify that it sure works a charm in prolotherapy injections. I love sugar, evil as it is to my waistline. But then I love all sorts of foods. The trick is to eat more of the good foods and fewer sugar infested treats. 'Cept when I'm riding hard. Then I do eat all of those yummy, sugary carbs and I enjoy them guilt free until my jeans get tight.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steveston</td></tr>
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I credit having lost a few pounds this month to my renewed morning rides, and to enjoying more of my favourite savoury foods, and fewer sweet ones. Oh, and I also avoided alcohol quite adamantly when I was unwell, but less so as my health improved. I tried to quit, but damned it, quitting is for quitters. Summer is all about salads, right? I have a quest in life which I truly indulge during the hottest months of the year. One day, I will discover the ultimate seafood salad. But the year is most definitely on the wane now. Summer is over.<br />
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Autumn heralds the beginning of soup season, and I have a definite favourite when it comes to making soup. We were at the Washington Avenue Grill the day after the memorial service for my uncle, and both my brother and I ordered the hot pots, he the vegetarian, and me the seafood version. After trying it, both my adult son and his girlfriend exclaimed that mine is much better. It probably speaks unsavoury things about my personality, but THAT bit was my favourite moment of the whole weekend. I keep meaning to record creating my favourite recipes for you, only damn!! It's complicated and time consuming creating those little YouTube movies, and time? Time is precious. Specially when I am riding enough to keep my serotonin levels where I need them.<br />
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But you really should try this. It's yummy.<br />
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Babble's Hot Pot<br />
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3-4 generous tbs butter or coconut oil<br />
1 jumbo sweet onion diced<br />
3 sticks of celery diced<br />
4-6 med potatoes diced<br />
3-4 large carrots, grated<br />
2+ tbs cilantro (coriander) leaf paste - (Gormet Garden is great) or one bunch of fresh<br />
2+ tbs lemon grass (Gormet Garden again) or a big handful of fresh, 1" pieces<br />
juice of one lemon<br />
1 can coconut milk<br />
4 cubes organic chicken stock and water to taste<br />
1-2 lbs protien of choice (I prefer a combination of prawns, scallops, and cod, but you can use any fish you like, or even chicken if you prefer)<br />
* a few slices bacon (cut into small strips with kitchen scissors) is optional, especially if you are using chicken. If you choose this route, I recommend skipping the shredded carrots and adding sweetlet peas a few minutes before serving.<br />
pinch of cayenne pepper<br />
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Sautee the onions, celery, potatoes and carrots, (and the bacon bits and chicken now if you are going that route) and add the herbs and spices, the lemon and finally, when it is hot hot hot, add the stock. Cook the soup till the potatoes are soft, and then add the fish and the coconut milk (and the peas if you are doing chicken) for the final few minutes, so that it is just gently cooked.<br />
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Sooooo good. Mmmm. And good for you, too. Did you know that coconut oil is very good for your cardiovascular systems, despite its being a saturated fat? Very cool. And it tastes great, too.<br />
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Do you have a go-to recipe, a favourite food? I have a few. People tell me that they're yummy, so you should try them. I love love love an almond or cashew milk matcha latte in the morning, almost every morning. Again it's so good, and so good for you. McDonalds is damned, because the very best tasting foods are always full of tasty fresh ingredients. The fresher the better. Maybe one day soon I will turn my phone's camera on the proceedings so you can try it, too. Ha. Ok, so true confession time. The Sound Check video makes me cringe, so I am reluctant to capture anything else. Sigh. But then I used to be afraid to cross the Lions Gate Bridge, too, only I've done it so many times now that I don't even think about it, except to curse all of that damned fat as I crawl up the incline slow as molasses in a Moscow January. #Icandothis<br />
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It has been absolutely gorgeous here in Vancouver of late. Perfect riding weather, the best ever. Everything is quiet at the club for some reason. Used to be we had a Tuesday night ride and a Saturday ride, too. That, a stoopid o'clock or few and the Vets on Sunday and Bob's yer uncle. My #dailygrind sorted. I really should be at the track, working on my #legspeed. Oops. Sorry bout that. I get #carriedaway sometimes. I have a bad case of #hashtagitis.#Ihavespentwaytoomuchtimeonline #OMG!!! #ohhelpIcan'tstop!!!<br />
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Oh thank God. I did it, #atleastfornow.We had a mini holiday on the Sunshine Coast last weekend, riding from Kits to Horseshoe Bay, and then ferrying to Langdale before finally stopping in Gibsons. We spent the night out on the water. The next morning we explored the town for a little while, too. We stopped at a few places, but my favourite was Gospel Rock.<br />
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There is nothing quite so deeply blue as the reflection of the sky in the waters of the mighty Pacific ocean. It was the perfect day to ride. So what do you think? Would you care to join me? I love that so many of you, <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2015/08/hey-if-universe-really-is-infinite-in.html" target="_blank">my one hundred readers</a>, are situated all over the planet. If ever you find yourself here in Vancouver, please do look me up, so that I can share with you the city I love so dearly.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Iona Beach</td></tr>
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I can't wait to show you my favourite rides. I am going to push the lot of you to <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2015/09/babblelogue-work-in-progress.html" target="_blank">come here next August</a> for sure, but really I would love to see you any time. Oh here we go. Oh Help... I can't ... stop... #cometovancouver! #joinme #babblerides #friendsdontletfriendsgetfat #ridewithme #rideyourworriesaway #letsplay<br />
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babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-34382326796577367092015-09-11T17:07:00.003-07:002016-04-09T22:54:15.258-07:00Babblelogue... a work in progress.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hello from Vancouver, home of the happy palm tree.<br />
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If you were a duck or a fish this summer might not have been one of your top ten, but if you're a palm tree? You're in luck.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Headed to Keats #pinkgoesfastser #cyclelikeagirl</td></tr>
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How does it happen? Has it been a week already??? Big week. My bike and I went from Kits to Keats and back again, and then down to White Rock to say goodbye to a man who was once an integral part of my life. The final goodbye.<br />
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A big, stubborn part of me just wants to go away, ride my bike and heal quietly, but there's so much to post about!! Some of these things are very extremely exceptionally cool, and you should be in the know. The first item is very exciting. It's something which will happen in the dog days of summer, 2016.</div>
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This is important, especially if you are over thirty, so listen up. <a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/americas+masters+games+kick+year+countdown/11336136/story.html">The inaugural Americas Masters Games will be held in Vancouver in August, 2016.</a> It will be fashioned after the<a href="http://emg-nice2015.fr/en/"> European Master's Games</a> now in their second decade. This will be a similar World Masters Event, held in the tradition of the Olympic games, with opening and closing ceremonies, along with a series of cultural events designed to entertain and delight as they showcase the many diverse and beautiful aspects of this city. <a href="http://cyclingbc.net/">Cycling BC </a>and the <a href="http://www.bcmasterscycling.net/">BC Masters Cycling Association</a> are both on board and working hard to ensure that our province is well represented, so you can expect to see some of our biggest and brightest elite athletes at the games.</div>
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The thing which makes the World Masters events so well loved and attended is that they allow anybody to test their mettle. Anybody - from anywhere - is welcome to compete. Yes, that means you. Are you an athlete? Are you over thirty, or will you be over thirty by the 26th of July, 2016? Sweet! Sign up! There are dozens of different sports, but in terms of cycling, it's the same as any race held today, from the local crits to the provincial and national championships: the only barrier to entry is to prove that you're licensed to race. So book your holidays! Come to Vancouver in August to compete in the Americas Masters Games! </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The prettiest place to come and play</td></tr>
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Are you a runner? Lucky you. You don't need a license to run. You don't need one for volleyball or baseball, either. All you need is a few co-ordinated friends. Don't call on me for your baseball team, though. I don't qualify, and besides. I am going to be busy riding my bike. :)</div>
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I think that's it for the first item on today's agenda. Any questions? Yeah? You can try me, (though as usual, I know very little) or you can improve your odds. Go to the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1680279162194114/">BC Masters' Facebook page</a>, and ask Bill. He's the guy at the helm of the <a href="http://www.bcmasterscycling.net/">BC Masters' Cycling Association</a>. Oh yeah, and he said "We need to appeal to women above all." Did you hear that? He's right, of course. There aren't nearly enough women on bikes, though certainly there are more today than there used to be. K. So grab your wife, your sister, your wife's sister's friends, and her friends and the whole lot of you should come to Vancouver next summer. And then we can all play to win.</div>
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This is gonna be huge, and you really should be a part of it. It's like the Olympics for the rest of us. C'mon! Train up! Let's make this the best World Masters event yet.</div>
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I am still quite fat and out of shape, but I will do absolutely everything in my power to peak at my utmost personal best for next year's Masters Games. You are free to join me in training over the next eleven and a half months. Starting tomorrow morning, with a practice run of the Vancouver Fondon't.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This won't be me tomorrow morning</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As</span> you may or may not already know, I have ridden the Whistler Gran Fondo a couple of times. It is a fairly expensive bike ride, all things considered, but I would consider doing it again in any event for a few good reasons. 1) The cars are all diverted to the other side of the highway. It's the one and only day of the year when for a few brief hours in the morning the Sea to Sky highway (northbound) is cleared of motor vehicle traffic. This is <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">huge</span>, because there are sections along the way where a cyclist must normally stick to a path between the rumble strips and the drainage gates. Usually that's alright, but there are places where the way is worryingly narrow. No cars equals beaucoup peace of mind. Big. Huge. Relief. This alone is almost worth the price of entry. Sigh... I wish there were more car-free moments the world over. B) It's clean, and I am not talking about the improved air quality, either. As a club we at <a href="http://www.escapevelocity.bc.ca/">Escape Velocity</a> rode from Squamish to Whistler and back one day this summer, and the number of flats we suffered was outrageous, thanks to all of the detritus on the roads. iii) It's HUGE! This matters. No matter what you might think of being part of a big athletic event, it is a powerfully, overwhelmingly positive experience. You are probably already aware that as a cyclist we definitely enjoy safety in numbers, but you might not understand how much joy and empowerment such and event incurs. Happiness is priceless.</div>
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But. Despite the benefits of riding from Vancouver to Whistler for the Fondo, it IS a painful amount of money to drop for a few hours of bike riding. And one of the things I love about riding a bike is that it is not a snob sport, even though we sport <a href="http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.ca/">the best Snob</a>. See... there is also a lot of great riding right here in the lower mainland, and it doesn't even cost any dollars to ride it, much less two or three hundred, with one exception. If you want to cross the mighty Fraser River at the George Massey Tunnel, then you will have to either pay a bus driver or swim. I recommend a bus, as the shuttle doesn't run very often. It doesn't cost anything other than what you might spend on food and drinks. And spare inner tubes should you try riding on a road that sees a lot of traffic, like we did on our way to Whistler this summer.<br />
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So... following in Bike Snob's footsteps, I am going to ride a Fondon't. Shoulda probably planned this months ago, but that's not how I roll. Besides. Months ago, I didn't know that I was going to be competing in the World Masters first Americas Games as I embarked upon my second half century. Suddenly the pressure is on!!<br />
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So. Tomorrow morning, I am going to ride around like somebody on The Wednesday Weed. I am going to try all of the best bike routes, racking up a few km and thinking of ways to connect my favourite rides together in an event a few folks might want to try. The Whistler Gran Fondo is tomorrow, and also the Masters Championship, rescheduled to run concurrently with the Fondo because of issues in August. So everybody I know will be busy during the fondo, and also: planning. Most people plan things and won't be able to drop everything to show up for a ride at nine am Saturday morning. So consider this your warning: The full-on you've got warning Fondon't proper will be coming soon, weather permitting. Fondon'ts haven't the rules a sanctioned race has, so we can be fairweather Freds, and we shall. Nevertheless there will in fact BE a Fondon't of sorts tomorrow morning. Beginning at Musette at nine in the morning, and likely headed somewhere toward Belcarra ... or Richmond... or Burnaby, or (and if you can believe it, at this point it actually appears to be this option) all three of the above. Or something. We'll see how it goes. There's a lake up there which might make a great Fondon't destination, come to think of it. Only this particular ride has a few beer stops thrown in, or so I've been told.</div>
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Sounds suitably crazy? This reconnaissance Fondon't will happen in the guise of a club ride, but you are still welcome to join us. Just go to the Escape Velocity site, print out and sign the waiver. And then join us on a mission. There might just possibly be only you and me on this ride, in which case I won't insist on your waiver. Like I said, almost everybody I know is riding to Whistler that morning, and those that aren't riding there will in all likelyhood avoid our typical starting spot, Musette Cafe, because it is a stone's throw from the staging area. The fondo is so big that the downtown core is innundated with bikes. It's actually quite awesome to see, but by the time we are setting out, the best riders will be two thirds of the way to Whistler, so that the only cyclists left on those downtown streets will be the fatties like me who stayed in bed till ten past seven!</div>
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I wonder what would be the best way to introduce a visitor to the city from the perspective of a cyclist, and how best to take them away from it all... tomorrow will tell. Speaking of getting away from it all, it really is time for the <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2014_09_01_archive.html">annual pilgrmage to Hornby Island</a>, though as my uncle just passed on, I will have to pass this time.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XHMzp1RP6Ag/VfNncvaQr0I/AAAAAAABUJ0/4clCfxCsBy8/s1600/hornby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="326" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XHMzp1RP6Ag/VfNncvaQr0I/AAAAAAABUJ0/4clCfxCsBy8/s400/hornby.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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K. I will probably add more photos later on, but for now, it is what it is. Hopefully we'll see you at <a href="http://www.musettecaffe.com/burrard">Musette</a> tomorrow morning at nine am!</div>
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babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-41607143616219198922015-09-04T10:16:00.000-07:002016-04-09T22:55:39.602-07:00Winding down: the dog days of summer.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waiting out the storm. As these guys were taking shelter by False Creek a waterspout was spotted off Point Grey.</td></tr>
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Hello peeps!<br />
We have had quite a week. I can't wait to tell you all about it, but first I need to go and ride my bike for a bit. Back in a flash...</div>
babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-15462934484309469272015-08-27T23:18:00.002-07:002016-04-09T22:56:35.524-07:00The Little 100 Rulz: Laps in Protocol.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KjnB15nOS3s/VdvwGaEwDsI/AAAAAAABT50/6cnliytWZgw/s1600/060.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KjnB15nOS3s/VdvwGaEwDsI/AAAAAAABT50/6cnliytWZgw/s320/060.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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The dog days of summer have brought an end to crit season and the dawning of cross country, or cx. Right smack dab in the middle of the transition is the <a href="http://vancruisers.ca/">Vancruisers</a> Little One Hundred, a one hundred lap <strike>drinking game</strike> relay race traditionally ridden on a cruiser bike.<br />
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<a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2014/08/amped-up-for-little-one-hundred-its.html">Last year's Little 100</a> <strike>drinking game</strike> relay race left us the defending champions,<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BuMCGCmAZX8/VdvyRZZRuHI/AAAAAAABT6o/uaVYruhqn9E/s1600/033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BuMCGCmAZX8/VdvyRZZRuHI/AAAAAAABT6o/uaVYruhqn9E/s400/033.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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even if the administration didn't want to give us the first prize at the time because they didn't like the retro drop bars on our bike. It's funny, cause if you ask the race organizers for more details about the rules around what sort of bike is eligible to race (ie cruiser bike frame, 26" wheels, single speed with coaster brake) they always reply "RULES?! There are no rules!" and yet somehow two years in a row now, our bikes have managed to break the rules. Last year they didn't like the handlebars, and they called us team drop bar. They wouldn't give us first prize along with the cup, despite a decisive win. This year they said that our 1.125 tires broke the unwritten rule that a 26" tire should be a minimum 1.5 inches wide, but like the year before, they let us ride the race on it anyway.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wmNwkAQWDrI/Vd-C1BMEyYI/AAAAAAABT7s/vE_DTeCsJR8/s1600/004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wmNwkAQWDrI/Vd-C1BMEyYI/AAAAAAABT7s/vE_DTeCsJR8/s400/004.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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Never mind. That short, rough circuit taught us that the suspension advantages of a fatter, shock absorbing cruiser tire more than make up for the weight savings of going with something narrower.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DBqQJBDJTw8/Vd_z2BRBCcI/AAAAAAABT8g/Uo_jRMxUQOc/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DBqQJBDJTw8/Vd_z2BRBCcI/AAAAAAABT8g/Uo_jRMxUQOc/s400/002.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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That's one of the many trees responsible for the roots which are chewing up the track. It's fitting that this event should be held in between crit sesason and cross season, cause it's a bit of a hybrid of a course. Sure it's paved, but it's not like any other bit of asphalt in this town. People wonder why the Vancruisers hold it at this site, but maybe the oval is the best possible place for a cruiser race, because where else would a cruiser tire possibly be more useful than on a root rutted bit of pavement?<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g7pW2ctJWTU/Vd_zTushyeI/AAAAAAABT8Y/WWQ0bbWZgMg/s1600/005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g7pW2ctJWTU/Vd_zTushyeI/AAAAAAABT8Y/WWQ0bbWZgMg/s400/005.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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It's ironic that even though with this bike we attempted to follow the flexible criteria of what constitutes a legal entry, we managed to break the rules anyway. So this year we just skipped all of the whispers behind our backs and chose the name The Cheaters for ourselves. We could have just changed the handlebars on last year's lucky bike, but they didn't much like that frame, either, so this year's entry started from scratch. With this:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XNLboWVylhg/VdUe8b2EmJI/AAAAAAABTqA/WpGLM7F6FYw/s1600/030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XNLboWVylhg/VdUe8b2EmJI/AAAAAAABTqA/WpGLM7F6FYw/s400/030.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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This blog's primary photographer, (who happens to be handy with a wrench) was rebuilding an old Schwinn for a friend. He picked up this used bike for its wheels, to replace the rusted out wheels on the old bike, and was left with an aluminum cruiser frame suitable for the Little 100.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2wi_1Sp10tY/VdUglbs7nbI/AAAAAAABTqw/kJbHj8DTR64/s1600/005%2B%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2wi_1Sp10tY/VdUglbs7nbI/AAAAAAABTqw/kJbHj8DTR64/s400/005%2B%25282%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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So he stripped it.</div>
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Then it looked like this:</div>
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He found an adaptor to switch out the American style bottom bracket for an European one. Y'know. To allow for a better selection of chainrings.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wgV6TfEIAYg/VdUgAQU-mMI/AAAAAAABTqo/l7mcaljRcdM/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wgV6TfEIAYg/VdUgAQU-mMI/AAAAAAABTqo/l7mcaljRcdM/s400/002.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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We used the same gearing as on last year's winning bike. He wanted to find an aluminum fork, mostly for the asthetic reasons, but they are few and far between at 26". So crabon it is, thanks to Bike Trashbar.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uNnsbvahYp0/VdvvALPTQVI/AAAAAAABT5k/Hra52ui6Flk/s1600/050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uNnsbvahYp0/VdvvALPTQVI/AAAAAAABT5k/Hra52ui6Flk/s400/050.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Looks fast for a cruiser, doesn't it? Well, we did hope...</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's Rod, or Pappy, as he is known. He is the founder of this <strike>drinking game</strike> event.</td></tr>
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It wasn't far into the <strike>drinking game</strike> race when the chain fell off the first time. It happened again, too. It happened several times before it became clear that the time wasted in a track-side adjustment would more than make up for all of the time we were spending putting it back on the sprockets.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lee came with the Fat Freds, but rode for us.</td></tr>
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By then we'd lost our advantage. We gave it a good go, but in the end we came in second place. These guys won the <strike>drinking game</strike> race.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X1Ujhr2E988/Vd-Ri9HmwHI/AAAAAAABT78/EmkY8ygzt-k/s1600/IMAG0046.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X1Ujhr2E988/Vd-Ri9HmwHI/AAAAAAABT78/EmkY8ygzt-k/s400/IMAG0046.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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But the Fat Freds were the most fun.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u9KPky7yuog/Vd-R8IgwKbI/AAAAAAABT8E/9S41JnnI3Hc/s1600/IMAG0030-ANIMATION.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u9KPky7yuog/Vd-R8IgwKbI/AAAAAAABT8E/9S41JnnI3Hc/s400/IMAG0030-ANIMATION.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
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We weren't the only team with mechanical difficulties. The all-girl team had to carry their bike off the course to free up the back wheel. They handled it with aplomb. Great girls, the lot of em.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpWOjlMe68FWwKNVRjuWgjxlN90ejdpkGLN50Zu9zq5Cgxos6rVT2FfPT44mi9DY7NhBIczmHECrd9nIOJF8WiztYZUNw3i9JgFJkweinv8IHOCnI1FU3IIBQPY9vf28OEMCJzZQ0-gh4/s1600/030.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpWOjlMe68FWwKNVRjuWgjxlN90ejdpkGLN50Zu9zq5Cgxos6rVT2FfPT44mi9DY7NhBIczmHECrd9nIOJF8WiztYZUNw3i9JgFJkweinv8IHOCnI1FU3IIBQPY9vf28OEMCJzZQ0-gh4/s400/030.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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You'll always <strike>drink</strike> ride with a group of wonderful people at the Vancruiser events, though. That's what makes them so much fun. And you'll always find a whole bunch of great bikes, too!</div>
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You like unusual components? Got em.</div>
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Classic bikes? Check.</div>
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You'll find choppers sometimes...</div>
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and hard to classify, futuristic retro bikes, too.</div>
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And all sorts of bikes with personality.</div>
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Well, it's all said and done for another year. We continued <strike>drinking</strike> racing even though maybe we should have re-tired. And chances are we'll do it all again next time round, too. Anyone who knows me already know that I'll be <strike>drinking</strike> training hard for next year's event for the next 51 weeks.</div>
babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-46057459532261478332015-08-24T11:02:00.002-07:002016-04-09T22:57:48.705-07:00Shocking scandal rocks saddlery's royal house of Brooks. (An investigative seat post)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Uh oh. Looks like trouble.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dafuq is going on, anyway?</td></tr>
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This isn't going to sit well with anybody.<br />
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The company everybody turns to for the ultimate in fine craftsmanship is suddenly saddled with scandal. Their reputation was worth its weight in gold because Freds the world over will willingly part with a fair few hard earned quid to sport a Brooks saddle on their steeds. Brooks has always been above reproach, but suddenly that stellar reputation is suspect, with the revelation of these tawdry images of their newest product offering, the Cambium.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfRi5XwqAYKN8whE2DlfHz_vv0zwnuppaKeJJ8TrXjInX1RNaDRfYUT_wqtn0kv1kiizWeEP0AKRLKbelRXppanuizSofx1D7gvt8Pb6D7e7ooqF6oJ6oOHh5Baoi7p5Dqe9KxD3MIVUg/s1600/082.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfRi5XwqAYKN8whE2DlfHz_vv0zwnuppaKeJJ8TrXjInX1RNaDRfYUT_wqtn0kv1kiizWeEP0AKRLKbelRXppanuizSofx1D7gvt8Pb6D7e7ooqF6oJ6oOHh5Baoi7p5Dqe9KxD3MIVUg/s400/082.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A rivet ran through it.</td></tr>
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When pressed, this saddle's rider said that he felt cheated, absolutely robbed. "She rode alright, y'know? But you expect a few years of hard riding out of a saddle, right? I expected to be mounting a gorgeous piece of work for a long time to come, and instead look at it. Nothing more than trash. Common rubbish." We would argue that it is quite uncommonly expensive.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bared essentials.</td></tr>
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He said that he is embarassed to be seen with it all exposed like that, and who could blame him? It's like seeing a picture of a Hollywood celebrity flashing her privates as she's leaving her limosine - it's sordid, and yet it's almost impossible not to look!<br />
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Is this an anomaly? Is it just a tempest in a teacup, or is it the beginning of a whole new trend? Have you seen another one-year-old saddle with the visage of the ancients, all battered, tattered, torn and worn? Some people believe that a non-leather Brooks saddle is an abomination akin to creating life from lifeless tissue, a Frankenstein of sorts, but who knows? Maybe leather seats will go the way of the dinosaur, so that in future anything from the Pre-Cambium period will always and forever be considered obsolete.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cambium Be Wear.</td></tr>
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Anything is possible after all, but for the time being, I'll just stick with what I love, thank you kindly. Don't even think you're going to saddle me with anything less. </div>
babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-5981341346788391142015-08-16T00:01:00.000-07:002017-02-22T13:28:17.397-08:00Hey! If the universe really is infinite in all directions, then I am the center of the known universe, and so are you! <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Hello from Vancouver!<br />
SPOILER ALERT: this is all about me. Me Me Me Me Me Me!! My favourite topic. Heh. Yep, and even better? It's up front and personal.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Velopalooza 2015 Pop Up Performance ride - the bellydancing stop</td></tr>
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To you, my 100 cherished readers, tolerant, open minded, patient and gorgeous supporters: Thank you for being you, and for being here for me. Thank you for your personal messages, and for your consistent readership, and for your kindness and generosity. Um and to whomever keeps sending me those lovely, lacy little ditties? Thank you enormously! It's just that I'd need to see a certain type of physician on Harley St in London before I could ever hope to fill those particular cups, much as wish to. And to all of you: My God, I've really missed you. I fell apart for a bit there. (Get it? Fell apart? connective tissue issues? Heh heh. I'll always appreciate my sense of humour even if nobody else does!) Above all, your sweet steady little stream of clicks and likes and shares helps enormously. Thank you. You rock. So.... (she says in her best Jewish grandmother tone of voice) "How have you been? Have you done anything amazing with your summer?"<br />
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I spent a fair bit of time at the races during the early part of the season.<br />
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I raced and I trained and I trained and I raced.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht4-slShvE32e53MOJDodn-o5LK9uJQ2soEFwiOBPqN18zBluUnqqW3MZeuyADeGfsSi8RIIFEXFicRLXS3Ycv1OocnD_5yoCrHQmM7J6WGPssAuWmu968u5_x1nV5PM_rr8OWHnCZTNY/s1600/018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht4-slShvE32e53MOJDodn-o5LK9uJQ2soEFwiOBPqN18zBluUnqqW3MZeuyADeGfsSi8RIIFEXFicRLXS3Ycv1OocnD_5yoCrHQmM7J6WGPssAuWmu968u5_x1nV5PM_rr8OWHnCZTNY/s400/018.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My happy place. This is way better than drugs. And that's me, third from the left.</td></tr>
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I racked up enough points that I definitely qualify to register in cat 3 next year.<br />
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Oh, and this:</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rvo_VZDyG5E/Vck-SdAhUPI/AAAAAAABTm4/-dOQopxvOzY/s1600/vet%2Bride.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="371" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rvo_VZDyG5E/Vck-SdAhUPI/AAAAAAABTm4/-dOQopxvOzY/s640/vet%2Bride.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Woooo hoooooo! 2nd overall on the Vets ride!!</td></tr>
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I was pretty chuffed with my progress this year, and believe it or not, I was doing everything I could to minimize my risks on the bike. Seriously. I even left races and rides if it got a little sketchy or if I was feeling off in any way. I missed a lot of great miles with the Vets that I would have fought hard to stay in for last year, just cause I knew the consequences of a mistake at those speeds. Saved myself grief a few times, for sure. I was really happy to be doing what I love, and I was thrilled to be writing about bikes and cycling for work, too. Sounds perfect, right? In theory.<br />
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I almost didn't care that nobody actually likes me.<br />
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Why can't you post spokeNscene on Reddit, for example? Hmmm? You can find my legs on websites all over the place, but I wrote to a couple of them and nobody even bothered to answer back. So lots of folks like my legs, but you won't find a lot of people talking about spokeNscene, nor asking about the bicycle enhanced lifestyle that made those legs happen. People are so strange. But then so are the Gods we so happliy worship. Those damned deities have a bold sense of humour, that's for sure! Over the years, I've heard their laughter again and again, and I can most definitely hear it now. It is ironic. As strong and powerful as its muscles are, this body of mine is even more vulnerable and weak on the inside.<br />
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It's my fault. I neglected the bouncing for decades and now that mistake has come home to roost. Never mind. I never knew... and it's ok anyway. I can fix it, and maybe quickly if I do it right. I gave up alcohol. Well. Almost entirely. For years I consoled myself that though I can't have coffee or chocolate I can still drink a glass of wine with dinner. Very funny. My impact-free lifestyle has made me much, much more susceptible to fracturing than most people. Bikes have been my wheelchairs for many many years, and suddenly (or so it seems) I am ridiculously fragile. That No Impact EDS lifestyle is having a huge impact on my overall health. Yes, I have broken again, this time a collarbone and a rib. And at the same time, my immune system is weakened, almost non existant. It's that I'm ... well... falling apart. (Cue shingles and months of antibiotic use to fight a series of infections. Yuck.) The Gods are laughing cause as much as I am fired up and ready to advocate for cycling safety and infrastructure expansion, my body instead has me laid up and waiting on healing.<br />
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You're thinking that I am a klutz, a spaz, and just generally, ridiculously uncoordinated, and you're absolutely right. But it's so much more than that. My body has gone into full meltdown.<br />
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And I object!! This is not Who I Am! I'm mutarded, for sure, but I'm strong! Healthy! Fit!! I never catch a cold, nor the flu, I haven't called in sick in many, many years, even though I am and always have been vulnerable to all of the little things that most folks don't bat an eye at. At 16, a staph ulcer erupted and left a purple heart scar on my left hip. Staph is in soil and doesn't affect most people, but I have had those flesh eating, skin melting infections a few times. Very strange. I catch baby diseases like hand foot and mouth. I have an anaphalactic reaction to chocolate or drink coffee, and that's just Not. Fair. I mean, come on!<br />
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Connective tissue is central to healthy organs and the vascular system, too. It's not all musculoskeletal, though it's easy to see how that system's health and wellness is dependent upon strong connective tissue. This article about <a href="http://www.lfpress.com/2015/08/06/caroline-smith-16--of-princeton-suffers-from-ehlers-danlos-syndrome">Caroline Smith</a> will tell you a little bit about what it's like to live with EDS, and how thoroughly it can affect every aspect of a person's life. Everyone with EDS has neck issues. Many of us require fusion of the vertebrae protecting the spinal column. I have herniated discs in many places along the spine and will most definitely require stabilization surgery of some sort sooner or later.<br />
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It's an invisible disability, but it is every bit as taxing as it would be if I were back in a wheelchair. I look very healthy, so you would never in a million years label me disabled if you met me off the street. Well, not unless you see me in a sling<br />
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or something, <br />
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or a neck brace or ski poles or some other form of body support. I am like half baked china. I crumble and break.<br />
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The internet has seen my arse all banged up a few times but nobody would ever, ever look at me and assume that I am disabled. Someone accused me of not understanding how serious a business bike racing really is. He meant it. I wondered if he could possibly understand how very well I understand the risks, and I tried not to laugh at the irony. He could never possibly understand how even a slight mishap can quickly become very painful for me.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zezI2oGAuOw/VRxR1F-Ig-I/AAAAAAABQ3A/hbSvBiCsDIQ/s1600/IMAG0870.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zezI2oGAuOw/VRxR1F-Ig-I/AAAAAAABQ3A/hbSvBiCsDIQ/s400/IMAG0870.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gratuitous ass shot. Daddy always said you have to play to your assets.</td></tr>
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This photograph speaks volumes. It illustrates the principle that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I love that. It builds character. I am plenty strong, thank you kindly, and a colourful character, too. I train hard. I work hard. Seriously. I am committed. Dedicated. Passionate. I believe in pushing the red line as hard and often as possible, and I listen to and rest this vessel. I have to. I didn't have an x-ray taken for that particularly painful bump, (I've had 40 CT scans!) but I'm willing to bet that tailbone cracked. We weren't going fast at the time, but that doesn't matter. I have known a lot of pain this year. Too much pain. It has taken a great toll on my health and wellness. I do what I can to combat it naturally. (Naturally!) But now I am feeling unfit, and twenty pounds overweight, and so this is a good time to invite you, my peeps, along on a journey of healing, of purifying and cleansing, of shedding old toxic habits and renewing the body's ability to shine, to thrive.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meditation gives you another perspective, whatever your situation.</td></tr>
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I like to meditate, in stillness and in movement too. Every conscious breath counts, right? Wherever, whenever, whatever you're doing, it's probably a good moment to be conscious and aware. It's always a good time to be alert. Rare is that moment of pure, conscious awareness. It's good practise to meditate in a queue or waiting for an appointment, or at least it is for me, because those are the moments when I am most inclined to give in to ego, and become frustrated and out of sorts. It's surprising how quickly those moments add up; what a boon to have spent them in a moment's peace instead of that more self important state of stress and anxiety. If only I had the sage's sense of inner tranquility by nature, so that I wouldnl't have to wage an eternal battle with my big, fat ego. It's an ironic battle, that: the crusade for inner peace.<br />
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It's always appropriate to breathe deep into your belly, to relax and seek clarity. Always, and never is it more needed than when you feel you don't possibly have even one moment to spare for anything else. Time is the one thing we can't commoditize (is that a word?) perhaps because it actually is pricesless. Nobody likes to wait, right? That's what makes a long commute so soul destroying! (unless, say you're doing something you absolutely love to do as you're commuting. An avid reader might just adore the long train ride in to the city from Coquitlam, and this mutard loves a good ride first thing in the morning, any and every season of the year.) I don't actually suffer time thieves well, but anger actually suppresses the immune systems. Bikes rock because all of that daily travel time is also a moving meditation time, personal improvement time. I admire those people who handle their life's challenges with out that battle to get to calm acceptance. Adore one of em. You know, the kind of folks who quietly get on with doing what needs to be done, without swearing, or anything. Meditation helps with all of that lymph robbing anger<br />
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Certain people think that since I am fit, I am just putting it on. "EDS can't possibly be all that bad if she can ride like that, can it?" I actually overheard a family conversation in which this was the prevaling wisdom. That assumption is patently ridiculous, and never more so than when the Para Pan Am Games are happening. Worse still are the people who think that I should stop riding, that it is too dangerous. Sigh.<br />
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Any time you want to talk to me about the real danger on our roads, oh please yes. Let's. In the mean time, trust me, exercise is good for me and I do actually know what I am doing, Bikes are my mobility, doing away with them entirely is unthinkable, at least until someone can fix this mutarded genetic code. Bikes are so much more than active transportation and simple mobility. They are medicine. The enormous good they do for me is good for you, too. Don't knock it till you've lived it.<br />
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I wonder if people remember Olga the Magnificent and the things we learned about aging through her. Fitness is the very cornerstone of my health and wellness. Ehlers is progressive and degenerative, and I have to do everything I can to battle the ravages of age.<br />
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It's how I fight back.<br />
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I battle unstable joints with stabilizing muscles. A wheelchair is already quietly waiting in the shadows. Well, actually it's hiding in my bikes. but those bikes are also poerful medicine. Riding a bike stimulates the produciton of the happy chemicals you get from a good workout, And, they trigger the same chemicals as many of the prescription medications I am so often prescribed, too. I haven't yet suffered many of the worst aspects of the disease, (namely the episodes which involve internal bleeding and trigger the horrible seizures which are my mum's contribution to my interesting genetic combination.) because I learned to listen to my body's signals. I stay as fit as possible because I learned long ago that the fitter I am the better I feel. Serotonin, Dopamine, Endorphins, all of the brain's happy chemicals tend to flee the brain cursed with chronic and extreme pain. Riding long and hard is the best prescription for re-balancing the happy juice. I groove on that happy juice. Always have.<br />
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The honest to goodness truth is that I can't tell the difference between the high I feel from the combination of serotonin, dopamine, endorphins, and -hopefully daily!- oxytocin (wink wink nudge nudge:) that I get from a red-line workout, and that state of euphoria that makes oxyxontin such a dangerous street drug. They are one and the same reaction in my brain. I often experience extreme pain. I always have and likely always will. That is why I am so well aquainted with the various types of pain relief as offered by the western medical institutions, as well as by the naturopathic and homeopathic, Traditional Chinese Medicine, ayurvedic, herbal, and I even shamanic disciplines.<br />
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I actually see a pain specialist these days, He and his team were very happy with and quite vocal about how well practiced I am at all of the various aspects of pain control. I am surprised that it isn't more common for chronic pain sufferers to learn these coping techniques. It's a survivalist thing. I have to keep it up. It happened organically. I have lived with EDS for a fair few decades now and have learned a lot along the way. I had to. Like I said, I have made a few misakes along the, for sure. But I learned fromm them. I listen and pay attention to what my body tells me, because my life is on the line, and becaise the consequences are so incredibly painful. I remember the lessons. Fortunately the body doesn't remember pain, but there is a lot to gain in retaining the tricks to handling it. Pain speaks for itself, right??<br />
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Sometimes people ask if I am a doctor. I love that. Nope, I am the opposite.<br />
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I love doctors, though. and they usually quite enjoy me. Not sure exactly why, but I hear it all the time. My doctor actually thanked me one day he said cause it's always interesting when I come to visit. Never a dull day, he said and he sees a LOT of me. (This is the MD who practices a form of ND and truly heals me.) Perhaps it's because I am that strange and unusual rare condition they studied in med school, come to life. The geneticists who diagnosed me were delighted with my competitive cycling lifestyle, insisting that it is the best way I might have managed to delay the degenerative damage this damned condition has scheduled for my joints, discs, valves and assorted connective tissues.<br />
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I have very limited mobility off of a bike because of the damage EDS has already done to my spine, and my hips, but on a bike I can go forever, or so it seems. EDS is a ruthless task master, Just when I figured I had worked out the best balance of life, well, just then twenty five or thirty years of an impact-free lifestyle came home to roost, and suddenly I am too brittle deep down inside, and very fragile. Another challenge, another adaptation. Now I bounce every day, to build my bone density and repair my immune system. It's an important aspect of babble's health K.I.S,S, (that's Keep It Simple, Stupid). Do you remember? I mentioned it last year... I have neglected the second aspect for far too long, but as a checklist the KISS list stands: Move, Bounce, Breathe, Purify, Love a lot, Laugh, and Sleep.<br />
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The only problem with the KISS list is that it doesn't address how to address the repercussions of NOT living well for a while. It isn't just the bouncing. I have been taking prescription medications of some sort almost continually since my big crash in June 2014. My body is not happy. Stressed and overweight and burdened with toxic substances. What a combination. I have a way to go before I feel as if I am on top of my game again, but at least I know how to get there from here. And every step of the way is an honour, a blessing. E<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">very day above ground is a good day. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Even a</span> hotter than hades, hell-fire-infused, smoke-infested summers' day above ground is much better than the inevitable-for-everyone-eventually, six feet under alternative, right?<br />
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Living well is all I'm trying to share via spokeNscene. Sure, it's personal sometimes, but it's also inclusive. If you don't like it, then join the club and just click away. You'll be in great company. Promise I won't take it personally, but I do think you're crazy, you're playing on the wrong side of history. It's good this way of living, good for you and good for your community, too. And again, I've already made almost all of the mistakes it's possible to make, and have learned by them. Ha! I know more than a person really should about altogether too many vices, but I also know the way to an honest to goodness great way of living. There is a huge difference between knowing and doing though. My life actually depends upon taking the best steps forward from here, so you know which path I am on. Please do follow along with me. Give it a go. It's fun. I promise. C'mon... you know you wanna.<br />
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Oh dear, this is a looooooong and rambling post. I beg your pardon for babbling onanonanon like that. I will create a few youtube clips in the next little while, so you can see how the mission is progressing, and so I can pass along my most favourite foods, and other various and assorted ways to create healthy habits. You can't imagine what a challenge it was to post that video, BTW. I am vain. I am pretty close to rock bottom right now, all big and fat and hurting and unwell, and out of shape, but the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and nothing is going to get any better without some earnest effort, so here we go. I would love it if I didn't need to be lighter than I am now, but if I don't drop a few pounds, I am going to hurt even more than I do now. It's not that I am into that model thin, anorexic look, it's just that even five extra pounds adds a great deal of unnecessary stress to my poor joints. I really do fare better when I am as light as possible, without burning off any of that stabilizing muscle.<br />
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So... think about joining me on an adventure, will you? Let's see if we can't seek peak performance on the bike path to world peace. I will be back soon with a few of my favourite foods. Till then, keep spinning, and stay tuned. I'll leave you with a video of the whale we saw here in Kits a couple of nights ago, and with any luck, we'll meet again soon.<br />
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babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com63tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-19061674312544353772015-06-22T16:04:00.001-07:002016-04-09T23:21:43.160-07:00Another Midsummer's Night: A Two-wheeled Bicycle Dream Come True<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Vancouver might not have made it into <a data-mce-href="http://copenhagenize.eu/index/" href="http://copenhagenize.eu/index/" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Copenhagenize's Top Cycling Cities</a> list this year, but as a community, we're sure growing in leaps and bounds. This city has come a long way over the last several years, and it shows when you see the increasing number of people embracing cycling as a way of life. I absolutely love how many beautiful women I see out and about on bikes these days. When I began waaaaaaaay too many years ago to mention now, I was a rare thing, a woman on a bike on the city streets all year long, but that's changed. These days I see gorgeous girls on sweet rides All. The. Time.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Blessed be. The whole city has begun to embrace cycling in a way I hadn't even hoped for a few years ago, when animosity ruled the roads. Suddenly it has become much more social. I was riding up the Ontario bike route the other night when I noticed a group of people sitting on a lawn, enjoying a few frothy cold beverages. I stopped, exclaiming "Sweet! Is this a bike party?"</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">"Nope. It's a free beer party." Funny how the universe works. Only a few weeks ago, I was wishing that my city could match others I had heard of, where a cyclist might wander upon free beer...et voila! Ask and ye shall receive! Turns out Dave was celebrating the life of his dear friend Bill Reny who had just recently passed away, and he did so by sharing a keg of beer with the people he met out on his neighbourhood street. You've gotta love this city.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 23.7999992370605px;">Speaking of our beloved city, its yearly celebration of all things bicycle related - </span><a data-mce-href="http://velopalooza.ca/" href="http://velopalooza.ca/" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Velopalooza</a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 23.7999992370605px;"> - is in full swing, and I just wanted to take a minute to share some of our recent cycling adventures with you.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The weekend kicked off on Friday with the P.U.P. ride. Cyclists met in Strathcona park, and traveled around the city for a few hours, stopping occaisionally to take in Pop Up Performances staged in open areas around town.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The bikes alone are worth coming to check out, but that's always the case with a <a data-mce-href="http://vancruisers.ca/" href="http://vancruisers.ca/" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Vancruisers</a> event.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;"> <a data-mce-href="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/0311.jpg" href="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/0311.jpg" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="031" class=" size-medium wp-image-128 aligncenter" data-mce-src="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/0311.jpg?w=300" height="225" src="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/0311.jpg?w=300" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); clear: both; display: block; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0.4em auto 1.625em; max-width: 100%; padding: 6px;" width="300" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You'll always see beautifully restored and maintained bikes from decades gone by, along with an assortment of comfortable steeds.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;"> <a data-mce-href="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-e.jpg" href="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-e.jpg" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Modacity solstice e" class=" size-medium wp-image-129 aligncenter" data-mce-src="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-e.jpg?w=300" height="199" src="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-e.jpg?w=300" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); clear: both; display: block; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0.4em auto 1.625em; max-width: 100%; padding: 6px;" width="300" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Saturday saw the biggest cruiser ride of the year. Participants met in the parking lot of Pat's Pub before heading out on a tour of the city with several scenic stops along the way. This ride is always a wonder to behold.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> <a data-mce-href="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-i.jpg" href="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-i.jpg" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Modacity solstice i" class=" size-medium wp-image-120 aligncenter" data-mce-src="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-i.jpg?w=300" height="199" src="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-i.jpg?w=300" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); clear: both; display: block; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0.4em auto 1.625em; max-width: 100%; padding: 6px;" width="300" /></a></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It's always a ton of fun, too, making your way through the city streets with so many fellow cyclsts! </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;"> <a data-mce-href="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-l.jpg" href="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-l.jpg" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Modacity solstice l" class=" size-medium wp-image-122 aligncenter" data-mce-src="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-l.jpg?w=199" height="300" src="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-l.jpg?w=199" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); clear: both; display: block; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0.4em auto 1.625em; max-width: 100%; padding: 6px;" width="199" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It never ceases to amaze me how positive a reception these rides always generate. Maybe it's the old-school bikes that make people smile, or perhaps it's the cast of characters grinning from ear to ear!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;"> <a data-mce-href="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-j.jpg" href="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-j.jpg" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Modacity solstice j" class=" size-medium wp-image-131 aligncenter" data-mce-src="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-j.jpg?w=300" height="199" src="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-j.jpg?w=300" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); clear: both; display: block; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0.4em auto 1.625em; max-width: 100%; padding: 6px;" width="300" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">iWhatever the reason, t's an event unlike any other, and it grows year after year after year.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;"> <a data-mce-href="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-k.jpg" href="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-k.jpg" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Modacity solstice k" class=" size-medium wp-image-124 aligncenter" data-mce-src="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-k.jpg?w=300" height="199" src="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-k.jpg?w=300" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); clear: both; display: block; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0.4em auto 1.625em; max-width: 100%; padding: 6px;" width="300" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">No matter where the cruiser rides start, they always end up somewhere beautiful to behold, and this ride was no exception.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;"> <a data-mce-href="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-m.jpg" href="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-m.jpg" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Modacity solstice m" class=" size-medium wp-image-121 aligncenter" data-mce-src="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-m.jpg?w=300" height="199" src="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-m.jpg?w=300" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); clear: both; display: block; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0.4em auto 1.625em; max-width: 100%; padding: 6px;" width="300" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The pace is gentle and relaxed so that no-one gets left behind. It really is fun for the whole family.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;"> <a data-mce-href="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-n.jpg" href="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-n.jpg" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Modacity solstice n" class=" size-medium wp-image-119 aligncenter" data-mce-src="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-n.jpg?w=300" height="199" src="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-n.jpg?w=300" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); clear: both; display: block; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0.4em auto 1.625em; max-width: 100%; padding: 6px;" width="300" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There are several stops along the way, so that even if you've not ridden your bike in years, you'll find yourself comfortable and in good company. These rides really are for everyone.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;"> <a data-mce-href="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-o.jpg" href="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-o.jpg" style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Modacity solstice o" class=" size-medium wp-image-123 aligncenter" data-mce-src="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-o.jpg?w=300" height="199" src="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-o.jpg?w=300" style="border: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); clear: both; display: block; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: 1.7; margin: 0.4em auto 1.625em; max-width: 100%; padding: 6px;" width="300" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">If you don't come with friends, you'll certainly leave with a few, because everyone is welcoming and kind, and happy to see you.</span></div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.7;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> <a data-mce-href="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-a.jpg" href="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-a.jpg" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Modacity solstice a" class="wp-image-125 size-medium" data-mce-src="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-a.jpg?w=300" height="199" src="https://bikedoctorvancouver.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/modacity-solstice-a.jpg?w=300" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; border: 0px none rgb(238, 238, 238); display: block; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: 1.7; margin: 5px auto 0px !important; max-width: 98%; padding: 0px;" width="300" /></a></span></dt>
<dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em !important; padding: 0px 0px 5px 40px; position: relative; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">some photos courtesy of <a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1567639156820428/" href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1567639156820428/" style="-webkit-user-drag: none; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.7; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Modacity</a>'s Facebook album</span></dd></dl>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">At the end of the day, I can't think of a better way to celebrate the shortest night of the year. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Thanks for reading spokeNscene, dear reader... I absolutely love that you're here. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">(Please ignore the text/font/photo irregularities. I am working in two somewhat incompatible systems, and trying to work out the kinks.)</span></div>
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babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-54142224153509903322015-06-15T23:14:00.001-07:002016-04-09T23:02:09.602-07:00Fighting for what's right. It's a midsummer knight's dream: no holds bard.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
OMG can you believe it's the middle of June already?! Summer is already upon us, and solstice is on the horizon.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--4sFDvqmSng/VX9bavX8KdI/AAAAAAABTco/US4_ld1TXPg/s1600/20150614_204513.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--4sFDvqmSng/VX9bavX8KdI/AAAAAAABTco/US4_ld1TXPg/s400/20150614_204513.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">“Seek happy nights to happy days.” </span></td></tr>
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Remember when you were a kid, and the summer stretched out before you in a long, lazy, almost endless procession of days, full of sunshine and swimming pools? (You know you're getting older when that time and space between the end of winter and the heat of summer happens almost overnight. But happen it has.) I love summer. And summer loves bicycles. They go so well together, don't they? Like Anthony and Cleopatra, or Romeo and Juliet. It's a love affair for the ages.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bUWTEeaRZhk/VXkKQSDozgI/AAAAAAABTUM/1eluwTtsC9E/s1600/021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bUWTEeaRZhk/VXkKQSDozgI/AAAAAAABTUM/1eluwTtsC9E/s400/021.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">“My bounty is as boundless as the sea,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">My love as deep; the more I give to thee,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">The more I have, for both are infinite.” </span></td></tr>
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We've crossed that indefinable bridge between the seasons and up on the northern hemisphere, we've entered the brightest of them all. Welcome to the realm of air conditioning and ice cream trucks, of bikinis and boats and convertables, richly redolent of the scent of roses and barbeques. But not barbequed roses. Summer is the perfect season in Vancouver, with a hot day maxing out at about twenty five degrees celsius. It's maybe not so pleasant a season in places like the Australian outback, where they've had to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2013/jan/08/australia-bush-fires-heatwave-temperature-scale">add a colour to the weather map legend</a> with the new seasonal temperatures in the fifties. Yikes. That's actually sizzling hot. The roses are getting barbequed on the bush.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z9UBQsDqcmE/VXkKQeqouCI/AAAAAAABTUQ/-14zT3D8OiM/s1600/023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z9UBQsDqcmE/VXkKQeqouCI/AAAAAAABTUQ/-14zT3D8OiM/s400/023.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">“Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.” </span></td></tr>
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Sigh... isn't it pretty? I love pretty bikes. That particular bike is enough to make this roadie's heart yearn for the feel of those fast, spinning wheels underneath her. But even if you don't have the bike of your dreams, the truth is any bike will do. After all... "<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast</span>." Specially they that are crash test dummies. Besides. There's always another bike out there, and no matter how many bikes you own, you could always do with just... one... more.... Sometimes it's better to make do with the bike at hand.<br />
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If you don't have a bike of your own, you can always beg, borrow, or rent one, cause there's no better way to make the most of your day than to do it on two wheels.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6nVYa18mc30/VXkKSQ1_hII/AAAAAAABTUY/YBYcAM9hGFA/s1600/027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6nVYa18mc30/VXkKSQ1_hII/AAAAAAABTUY/YBYcAM9hGFA/s400/027.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">“You are a lover (of bikes!). Borrow Cupid's wings</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">and soar with them above a common bound.” </span></td></tr>
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If you rent some bikes at the bottom of Denman St, you can make your way round the commons in Stanley Park to see what there is to see. Some people prefer to get around under another's horsepower, but two wheels always works best for me. It's amazing the people, places, and things you get to know well when you travel under your own steam, instead of sitting all tightly tucked away in a tin can of a car.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-alLAuW37rqs/VXkLdb6ZMAI/AAAAAAABTUo/DLcWfucoC10/s1600/037.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-alLAuW37rqs/VXkLdb6ZMAI/AAAAAAABTUo/DLcWfucoC10/s400/037.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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You never know <a href="https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/video/raw-beaver-meanders-along-vancouver-130454859.html">what you might see </a>if you keep your eyes open. This is the land of the furry beaver, after all, true, north strong and free.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LlIGju0I_k0/VXkMw3J1-dI/AAAAAAABTVI/SAHtlaghlm0/s1600/048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LlIGju0I_k0/VXkMw3J1-dI/AAAAAAABTVI/SAHtlaghlm0/s400/048.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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You can cool down at the water park, running through the sprinklers in a childhood homage to those endless days of summer. <span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">“True, I talk of dreams; which are children of the idle brain, begot of nothing but vain fantasy; which is as thin of substance as air and more inconstant than the wind.”</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> Yep. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I talk of dreams, whilst you walk through water.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">It's all good, though. After all, </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">“What must be shall be.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px;">”</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; line-height: 18px;"> You're in the park, you're on a bike, you're warmed by the summer sun. What more could a person ask for? </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">One that lov'd not wisely but too well.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">” </span></span><a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2014/08/beaching-on-about-our-water-woes.html">The perfect beach</a>, that's what, and a good friend to share it with. One of the things I love best about Vancouver under a summer's sun is the plethora of beaches there are to choose from, and all of the beautiful people you get to enjoy them with. So grab your beach towel, hop on a bike, and find that perfect spot to chillax for a bit. The journey is half the joy in Stanley Park. The views alone make for a world class adventure.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5HRUz9MF97Y/VXkMhmlrKBI/AAAAAAABTVA/wJVXZclmS14/s1600/046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5HRUz9MF97Y/VXkMhmlrKBI/AAAAAAABTVA/wJVXZclmS14/s400/046.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">“He that hath the steerage of my course,</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Direct my sail.”</span></td></tr>
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No matter which way you turn, you'll find a beach somewhere along your way, except along those rocky northern shores of the park, where cool, tall cliffs rule the day.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CBTAISaMgN0/VX93gwgRq-I/AAAAAAABTdA/zJfbEv--xyQ/s1600/001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CBTAISaMgN0/VX93gwgRq-I/AAAAAAABTdA/zJfbEv--xyQ/s400/001.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">“How much salt water thrown away in waste</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">To season love, that of it doth not taste.” </span></td></tr>
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And whichever beach you end up sunning yourself on, you'll find yourself in the company of a few interesting folks, many of whom have also found their way through the park on their favourite bike.<br />
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Some of them are more interested in covering up their bits n bobs than others. Not surprising at Wreck beach, perhaps, but it's never unwelcome in Stanley Park, either. After all, in a just world, intelligent people agree that the nipple really ought to be free.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">“In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond...” </span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Too</b></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> fond is a question of perspective, though, isn't it? After all, who doesn't love the divinely beautiful? “True, I talk of dreams; which are children of the idle brain, begot of nothing but vain fantasy; which is as thin of substance as air and more inconstant than the wind.” But you might argue that in this world where there is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come, those wee, insubstantial dreams are the very seed from which the best of humanity is born. They are precicely the potent truth we might yet evolve to become if we dare to dream the greatest dream, if we dare to be all we can be.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">Searching for truth: “Lord, what fools these mortals be!”</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">I defy you; I dare you. Dream big: don't let's be fortune's fools. We have it within us to choose something better, something greater than the sad, silly sorry path we're currently on. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">“The course of true love never did run smooth.” It isn't going to be easy, but when is the easy path ever the best choice? It's a love affair with the planet, the bicycle, and as hard as it is, deep down inside you already know that it's well worth the <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2015/05/our-turn-has-come.html">battle we're waging for safe streets.</a> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">“And where two raging fires meet together, they do consume the thing that feeds their fury.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">” </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">“And yet,to say the truth, reason and love keep little company together nowadays.” Right?!? </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">“I must be gone and live, or stay and die.” If we get on with it, there is still time, still hope for us. If we stay the course we're on? Madness. This midsummer's dream is a turning point. The tide has changed. Let go. Choose</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> something better, something beautiful, something soul sustaining and planet regenerating. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">It's just the right thing to do; you know it's true. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind... a</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">nd therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> You don't have to see it to believe it. Just do it. Grab a bike and feel the love. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">(Most of the quotes were lifted from Romeo and Juliet, a few from A Midsummer Night's Dream.)</span><br />
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babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-3208548505314661352015-05-26T10:20:00.000-07:002016-04-10T06:12:03.689-07:00Your ticket to ride.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It's that time of year again: Bike to Work Week is happening in cities everywhere. And finally, you're ready to give it a shot. You've thought about it long and hard, and this is it, you're going to give it a go. Wise choice!<br />
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Your body, your mind, your bank account, and your municipality will all thank you. And despite what you've undoubtedly heard other drivers say about cyclists, they will thank you, too, because you represent <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2015/05/our-turn-has-come.html" target="_blank">One Less Car</a> on the roads in front of them. You're not willing to pay through the nose to park your car every day, and even with the price of oil scraping rock bottom, the price at the pumps is still exhorbitant. The cost of taking transit is not exactly easy on the pocket, either, and it leaves you at the mercy of outages, delays, and the occasional <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/doug-allen-pleased-with-translink-response-to-skytrain-delays-1.3084865" target="_blank">out and out fail.</a> Once you've finally caught the bus you're hoping for, you're crammed into a tight space with a bunch of strangers and <a href="http://www.straight.com/news/516381/harassment-translink-project-seeks-safer-transit-women" target="_blank">potential predators</a>. What fun.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U3-27ciIckU/VWAGDH6MLDI/AAAAAAABSoo/iT_9qiYoRGk/s1600/expo-line-transit-delay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U3-27ciIckU/VWAGDH6MLDI/AAAAAAABSoo/iT_9qiYoRGk/s400/expo-line-transit-delay.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/doug-allen-pleased-with-translink-response-to-skytrain-delays-1.3084865" target="_blank">Mike McArthur via the CBC</a></td></tr>
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And then you see those hipster kids out there on their bikes, smiling like they haven't a care in the world. It's not just kids, either. <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2015/05/our-turn-has-come.html" target="_blank">All sorts of people are riding these days</a>, and if they can do it, so can you. And you're ready. It's time.<br />
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You probably have an old ten speed<br />
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or a mountain bike<br />
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sitting in the garage or in the basement. Drag it out. Pump up the tires, grease the chain and hop on. And before you take up the commuting challenge, give it a test run. If you're really going to commit yourself to a new way of life, it's important that you're comfortable and well prepared, and naturally, it starts with what you're riding. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SRbWQyr8SJU/VWE9xe9mfAI/AAAAAAABSp4/4Mb2iScPjKU/s1600/Mamils_460x276.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SRbWQyr8SJU/VWE9xe9mfAI/AAAAAAABSp4/4Mb2iScPjKU/s400/Mamils_460x276.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Guardian: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/11/mamil-middle-aged-men-in-lycra" target="_blank">In defense of MAMILS</a></td></tr>
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You've surely seen a lot of middle aged men in lycra (M.A.M.I.L.s) out on the roads, specially during this time of year, and you've seen your fair share of mountain bikes out and about, too. Both of those types of bike has a specific purpose, and while they're ideally suited for the task at hand, they might not make the best commuting bike. But it isn't always necessary to spend a lot of money before you've given it a go. The most important thing to consider when you're planning to commute is your comfort. So dig the bike out of the garage or the basement, and give it a spin. Does it still fit you?</div>
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If you've an old mountain bike kicking about, it probably has knobby tires, which are ideally suited for climbing steep dirt trails, but they're noisy, and pretty heavy, too. That means that you will be spending more energy moving the bike than you have to. You might want to consider <a href="http://www.mec.ca/AST/ContentPrimary/Learn/Cycling/TiresAndAccessories/BicycleTires.jsp" target="_blank">changing the wide, knobby tires on your mountian bike to a slimmer pair of slicks</a>, to decrease your rolling resistance. Because why work any harder than you have to? </div>
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And speaking of workloads: backpacks are the bane of easy commuting. There are a few items you will want to consider purchasing to simplify your ride, and chief amongst them is a rack, if your bike doesn't have it, along with a good bag. </div>
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So many times I've heard people say "Oh I couldn't ride to work! I'd be too sweaty when I got there!" Two things: first of all, many buildings have a gym or a shower room for employees, but even if there isn't a shower available, you can always do a simple wipe down should you find your ride a vigorous one. And most people drive less than five kilometers, so after a few weeks, you won't even break out a sweat. But also (and second) leaving a little early and taking it easy on the way to the job will take the edge off. And packing your belongings into a bag instead of hauling them on your back will eliminate the soaked and sweaty back issue. Plus, and this is huge: backpacks will multiply your discomfort, especially if you've not ridden much for a good few years. Failing that, you can do what lovely Katie Poon (of <a href="http://twentyfourcarat.net/why-arent-you-biking-to-work/" target="_blank">I Fucking Love Fitness fame</a>) does: haul your week's worth of clothes to work on Monday, and bring it all back again on Friday. That way, all but two of your ten rides that week will be comfortable. And it is a great strategy if you're riding a high end road bike which won't take a rack. But most bikes do, and many clever commuters take advantage of them.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A favourite: my waterproof laptop bag.</td></tr>
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The other items you'll want are fenders, or at least you definitely will want them if you're a Vancouverite. And although a little fender over your back wheel will protect your butt fromt that tell-tale black stripe up your back, they do have several short comings. Soon as I started riding in a group in the off season, somebody politely requested that I get a set of courtesy fenders. That's a long fender with a mud flap attached at the end of it, so that the end of the flap is just a few inches off the ground. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bea Bike's rusty front fender and trusty mud flap.</td></tr>
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The reason for this is that the water sprays up from the wheel much like a lovely rooster tail, and unless you're sporting a full fender and flap, that spray will end up in the eyes of whomsoever is directly behind you. And the faster you're moving, the harder and higher it sprays. The same is true of the front wheel, which means that if you're riding to work in a pair of shoes or some clothes you actually like when it starts to rain, then your front fender and mud flap will protect everything from the dirty water spraying up from the road.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bell and folded <a href="http://www.abus.com/eng/Mobile-Security/Bike-Safety-and-Security/Locks" target="_blank">Abus lock</a></td></tr>
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You will of course want a lock. Do not rely on a cable lock, except perhaps to lock a nice saddle to your frame, (though even then, I prefer a bike chain.) No. Cable locks are an invitation to bike thieves. A U-lock is fairly effective, and the heftier it is, the more protection it provides. I like the Abus folding lock, cause it's sturdy, but not too weighty. Bea bike, the Amsterdam Royale already weighs sixty pounds before panniers, so every little bit helps.<br />
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And a simple, handy, and inexpensive addition to your cockpit is a bell. Some people just use their voices, calling out "On your left," as they approach another cyclist, or a pedestrian, to overtake them from behind. One well known local whistles a simple little riff instead. I love that, cause it's friendly, and effective - more so than shouting - and it's always well received. I would do it myself, except I can't really whistle, at least not well enough to get the job done!</div>
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One last thing before you set out: lights. You don't want to be out after dark without a decent set of lights on your bike.</div>
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It's summer now, or at least it is up here in the northern hemisphere (!) so you won't often need to use them, but it's still a good idea to have lights on hand. Some people ride with their lights switched on all of the time, (and those that do inevitably seem to have the front light permanently set to the worst possible epileptic strobe) but most of us just use them when the weather's inclement, or once the sun has gone down. But even if you rarely need them this time of year it's great to have them, just in case you want to catch the late show with friends.</div>
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K. So you're ready to rock'n'roll. You've given the bike a test ride, so you know it's tuned and running smoothly. You've got a rack, bag, fenders, lock, bell and lights and now all that's left is to give it a go. You've likely driven or taken transit to work for years, and so you know the way like the back of your hand, but sit might still be a good idea to take some time to test ride your route. The roads you've always chosen as the most efficient way to travel in a car are probably not the same, best choice for when you're on your bike.<br />
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There's a distinct subset of cyclists who don't like bicycle infrastructure, believing instead that since we're vehicles, we simply need to act like vehicles, and all will be well. While it's true that as vehicles we have every right to be on the road with all of the other vehicles, a cyclist doesn't have thousands of pounds of steel round them to protect them in the event of an accident, so we need to take extra precautions in order to stay safe.<br />
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Still. There may be times when you'll choose to ride with traffic on a road without cycle-specific infrastructure. When you do, it's important to be visible and predictable. You are entitled to half a lane wherever you are, and a motorist is obliged to give you a meter's clearance when they pass you.<br />
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Also, there are instances where you are entitled to take the entire lane. For example, if you are riding down a hill and are moving at the speed of traffic, it is better to take the lane than to ride too close to the edge of the road, where you have less room to manoever should you need to dodge something in the road. Motorists will generally give you as much room as you take for yourself. So if you are riding in traffic, make sure you ride a foot or two from the edge of the curb so that motorists will give you your half lane minimum when they pass. If you ride right on the very edge of the lane, motorists will be tempted to speed to overtake you within the lane, leaving you in a situation where you are in tight quarters at high speed - a recipe for disaster. So be confident and take your place on the road.<br />
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But more and more, there are alternatives to travelling in traffic. When you're planning your route, keep in mind the bike infrastructure in your area. Most common, though at the same time, the least protective of the options are Bike Routes.<br />
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These are simply roads with bike pictures painted on the asphalt, and bike route signs posted along the way. Generally they also have reduced speed limits, though only a percentage of motorists actually abide by the limits. And it's not generally a large percentage of them, either. It's important that you remember to always give yourself three feet of distance from parked cars, too, because you don't want to win the door prize.<br />
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Most cyclists also drive, and so of course we don't want to annoy the drivers we are sharing the roads with. But if you do ride right beside parked cars in an effort to stay out of the flow of traffic, sooner or later you will be doored, and if you either swerve out into traffic to avoid hitting the door, or get thrown out into traffic by getting hit by the door, the end result is nasty. You do have the right to safe passage on the roads, and so don't be afraid to take the lane and stay out of the door zone, even if it means that traffic has to slow to go around you. But then, on a route like that, traffic is supposed to be moving slowly, for safety's sake, so don't cave to pressure to ride right next to parked cars to allow traffic to move faster. Motorists can always use thoroughfares if they need to speed. And they will. But more and more, a cyclist has options which give them the freedom to move safely, bypassing those busy streets.<br />
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The Burrard St bridge infrastructure was a long time coming, and even so, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burrard_Bridge" target="_blank">it was resoundley rejected the first time the city tried to install a bike lane on it</a>. But we cyclists persisted in cycling, and the city eventually figured out how to accomodate us, so that now the bridge is the most used piece of bicycling infrastructure in the city.</div>
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And if you take a look online, you will find a route planning website which will allow you to make the best use of your city's cycling infrastructure.<br />
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We're lucky here in Vancouver to have some excellent infrastructure, with long routes of protected, separated bike lanes that allow a cyclist to travel safely through some of the busiest neighbourhoods in the city.</div>
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But it didn't just happen. It took a community of cyclists all determined to live a better lifestyle, and undaunted in the face of the loud opposition of people in denial of the unsustainability of the car-centric city. Chances are that wherever you are, your municipality has embraced cycling to some extent, because the benefits to the municipality of establishing that sort of infrastructure are well documented and undeniable. Get on it. Make use of it. Not only will your life look and feel better, but at the same time, you will be contributing to creating a beautiful, sustainable, liveable community. You'll glad you did.<br />
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babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-80972021211294697292015-05-17T19:49:00.001-07:002016-04-09T23:10:10.252-07:00Our turn has come. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We're winning. There's a revolution going on, and no matter how you spin it, cyclists are bound to come out on top.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--uqiETBqVqE/VVkVDR9cSSI/AAAAAAABSVc/U9XshETxZOI/s1600/screen%2Bgrab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--uqiETBqVqE/VVkVDR9cSSI/AAAAAAABSVc/U9XshETxZOI/s400/screen%2Bgrab.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://metronews.ca/news/vancouver/1367321/more-vancouverites-hop-on-bicycles-city-contemplates-new-bike-lanes/#" target="_blank">Metronews</a></td></tr>
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Ask any motorist what they think of cyclists, and almost inevitably they will go on a tirade about how we are all law flouting maniacs responsible for chaos and mayhem on their well ordered streets. Rare is the driver who is even aware of the mistakes they make behind the wheel, errors which may result in life altering injuries for any cyclist unfortunate enough to be in their path. But don't bring it up, because sacred is their right to drive.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://metronews.ca/news/vancouver/1367279/vancouver-drivers-at-fault-in-93-of-collisions-with-bicycles-city-report/" target="_blank">Metronews</a></td></tr>
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And even though we are scorned, resented, and even sometimes hated by ever so many motorists (self evident when you read the comments on any article about cycling in any publication), we are definitely on the right side of history. That's why cyclists can rest assured that a two wheeled way of life will be embraced by an ever growing number of people as time marches inexorably on. Our interests will be protected, even promoted by a growing number of governing bodies all over the globe. Here in Vancouver, where a progressive city council has embraced cycling infrastructure, despite the vociferous objections of many of the wealthiest, and thus most influential, people in town, the number of cyclists has dramatically increased in recent years. And that's a good thing, because along with the uptick in the number of cyclists comes a reduction in the number of automobiles congesting our city streets. And no matter how much you might hate me, dear motorist, you can't help but like seeing fewer cars on the road in front of you, and one more vacant parking spot when you do finally decide to stop.<br />
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Yep. It's a good thing that there are more and more of us on the roads. Why? OMG, can you imagine the gridlock if we continued to worship the motoring way of life the way we have for decades on end now? Vancouver is projected to <a href="http://www.movinginalivableregion.ca/metro-vancouver-1-million-regional-growth-needs-transportation/" target="_blank">grow by more than a million people</a> over the next twenty five years. Already our<a href="http://globalnews.ca/news/1913528/vancouver-remains-the-most-traffic-congested-city-in-north-america/" target="_blank"> streets are amongst the most congested in North America</a>, and as we have a geography clearly defined and limited by both the mountains and the sea, that isn't about to change any time soon. There simply isn't the room for a million more cars. Crossing 16th Avenue on a Sunday morning is an exercise in patience, so don't bother even trying it in the middle of rush hour.<br />
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And here's the kicker: The British Columbia Ministry of Transportation readily spent $2.6 BILLION dollars building the new Port Mann Bridge. When it opened, it was the widest bridge in the world, with a whole ten lanes of trafic, and it was and remains the second longest cable stayed bridge in North America. The only problem is that it has done nothing to ease congestion in the city, except for in the area immediately preceeding the bridge. So far, the only thing this investment has accomplished is to move congestion from one side of the river to the other. It has also increased the traffic on the next crossing, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/new-port-mann-bridge-toll-puts-pressure-on-pattullo-traffic-1.2488984" target="_blank">the Pattullo Bridge, which was a nightmare even before people started using it to avoid paying the Port Mann toll</a>. The Patullo was built in the 1930's, with very narrow lanes, and awkward approaches, and because the bridge was never built to handle today's big trucks, many of them need to take two lanes just to get onto the bridge. It's a mess. But don't worry, the Ministry of Transportation is willing to spend another billion dollars or so to build a bridge in New Westminister, too.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DT-YdwFrRKY/VVklqiJeHxI/AAAAAAABSV8/QwCKZW7lKJc/s1600/patt-bridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DT-YdwFrRKY/VVklqiJeHxI/AAAAAAABSV8/QwCKZW7lKJc/s400/patt-bridge.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> <a href="http://www.thenownewspaper.com/news/six-injured-in-pattullo-bridge-crash-1.936584" target="_blank">The Now</a></td></tr>
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Do you know what they're not prepared to do? They won't invest in transit. Nope. Nothing. De Nada. Zilch. Even though this government will happily drop billions of dollars to build bridges, (which only postpones the inevitable) it refuses to spend anything on sustainable development. What. A shocker. So the only way that residents of the Lower Mainland are going to see an improvement in the kinds of infrastructure which WILL create more liveable cities is if they pay for it themselves. That's right.<br />
No spending on transit unless we the citizens vote yes on a referendum asking whether we will accept a 0.5% sales tax increase to fund the development.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> WTF? A 180 fork alignment!</td></tr>
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It's all bass ackward. But then I expect very little from our government, what with its prioritization of the extraction and promotion of fossil fuels and its complete and utter lack of initiative when it comes to developing sustianable energy systems to see us into the future. No. This government is wedded to the past, with its prehistoric energy policies and will not budge till it, too, goes the way of the dinosaur. Our Premier, Christy Clark, is a bright little shadow of Stephen Harper, whom Pulitzer prize winning Chris Hedges recently declared a <a href="http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/chris-hedges-calls-harper-puppet-corporations" target="_blank">corporate puppet</a>. And please, give me one shred of evidence that it isn't so. Each and every one of the grave mistakes made during the Bush administration, is happening here and now, in a Canada unrecognisable to those of us who like to think of our collective native land as the True North Strong and Free. The devolution of Canadian politics is happening at an alarming rate, with the underfunding of health care, the dismantling of social programs, the criminalization of poverty and the militarization of police forces all echoing and mirroring the decline of civilization in America. Let's not even mention the illegal war you'll find Canadian soldiers waging over in Syria. (Yes, of course ISIS is pure evil, but our being there with no end plan only strengthens their ability to recruit our youth.) And in the name of Homeland Security, the conservative government just passed bill C-51, laying waste to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Sigh. Where are the mass protests which ought to be happening in every city across the country??!<br />
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Yes, <a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_pathology_of_the_rich_white_family_20150517" target="_blank">Hedges has a lot to say</a>, in fact, but the biggest take away I got from listening to his interview on <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-may-13-2015-1.3072112/chris-hedges-says-america-on-road-to-revolution-even-in-baltimore-1.3072170" target="_blank">The Current</a> this week is that America (and by extension Canada, too, with its corporation-serving administration) is in the grips of a protofacist movement dating back generations and gaining exponential strength today. Hedges goes even further. He says that America is on the road to revolution, and he incites us all to defiance and protest, claiming that we are morally obliged to stop our government (s) from continuing on this path of absolute unfettered domination and destruction.<br />
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Hear. Hear. He's right.<br />
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And guess what? You don't even have to take up arms to take back your country. The best thing about waging war on a corporatocracy is that the most powerful weapon of all is in your pocket. You use it every day. It's your wallet! Here in Vancouver, growing number of us are choosing not to buy in to the bullshit. You don't actually NEED to drive everywhere you go, despite what you've been taught to believe. Do you wanna to know why I call it the bike path to world peace?<br />
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It's simple. When you ride where you need to go, rather than drive, you're happy. Endorphins, serotonin, dopamine? Those are your brain's happy drugs, and they're yours for the making when you choose two wheels over four. So you're happy, and suddenly you're healthy, too, because all of that movement boosts your immune system and your sex drive, and actually slows the ageing process. (Does that look like a woman approaching the half way mark? I will turn 50 next year, but bikes keep me young and if it works for me, it will work for you.) And cycling does wonders for your legs, too, not to mention your butt. So. You're happy healthy, and hot, and suddenly you've got more money in your pocket, too, cause you're not donating it to the oil and gas industry, (already in receipt of unbelievable subsidies, so you can feel good about it on every level). If that's not a recipe for love, please tell me what is! Suddenly, you've got a great sex life going on, et voila. Your happy, healthy brain is saturated with oxytocin, the brain's love drug. What does that mean? It means that you see people as more loving and trustworthy, and concurrently you act in a more loving and trustworthy way. You see where this is going, don't you? If everyone rode a bike when and where they could, we'd be enjoying world peace in no time.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uPEvmXe4MwQ/VVgqquEXx5I/AAAAAAABSUk/Uq43kXGZ0Zs/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uPEvmXe4MwQ/VVgqquEXx5I/AAAAAAABSUk/Uq43kXGZ0Zs/s400/002.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Quick. Somebody buy our leaders a bike, so we won't have to hold any more silly referendums to fund what ought to come natually to us all. Of course there will always be a time and a place for cars, and a good reason to drive here and there, but the daily commute isn't it. Sustainable cities - you know, places where people live and work in the same community, and where everything needed for daily living is close at hand? It's the way of the future, no doubt about it. Whether our governments see the truth of their own volition - or whether we need to be firm in our resistance - is yet to be seen, but here in Vancouver, at least, there's a beautiful, soft light at the end of the tunnel. The revolution has begun.<br />
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babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-36925551576008094732015-05-04T10:14:00.000-07:002016-04-10T06:10:17.209-07:00May the Fourth Be With You. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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You could be forgiven for thinking that summer had arrived in Vancouver. The snow is all gone, and the beach volleyballers are volleyballing on the beach. Oh wait! <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2015/02/home-is-where-heart-is.html" target="_blank">We never had any snow this year</a>.</div>
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But wait again! Now that the nets are up, now that spring is well past sprung and now that the ski slopes are long closed? Yeah, NOW there's snow on them there hills.<br />
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You see that right there? That's whatchacall the contrary nature of life. And the signs of life are everywhere. The bears have come out of hibernation up in the mountains, and have<a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/black-bear-tranquilized-in-east-vancouver-part-of-a-chronic-problem-in-b-c-cities-where-garbage-calls-the-wild" target="_blank"> come to town to visit</a>, so you know that winter is well and truly over. The humans have come out to play, too. You'll find the signs of the season everywhere.<br />
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Longboards that were long languishing in condo closets are now prominently present on the promenade.<br />
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And all of the vacuous vehicles are out on proud display. The owner of this baby might easily have been <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2015/04/taking-shelter-from-infinite-ceiling-in.html" target="_blank">the guy who offered to buy the Shaugnessy mansion</a> at list price to store his car collection.</div>
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<span style="color: #0000ee;"><u><br /></u></span><a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2015/04/taking-shelter-from-infinite-ceiling-in.html" target="_blank"></a></div>
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Though I don't think much of his taste in vehicles, you've gotta give him points for matching his shoes to his ride.<br />
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And speaking of scoring points... a few people were playing croquet on the lawn, and they had the balls to offer me a drink to join them in their game. How wicket! </div>
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Just a little way away, another group of people tried to rope me into joining them. I TOLD them I'm not a well balanced person, but they were having none of it.</div>
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"Just toe the line," they said. "Try and be modest, because pride comes before a fall, you know." </div>
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Ha! Lol!! And don't I know it! Can you think of anyone who's had more experience with falling, except maybe that guy in the seventies... what was his name again? Evel Knievel. Despite all of his falls and mishaps, though, that man had a lot more going on in his head than me, cause he managed to get paid for his efforts, whereas I simply appear to be dain bramaged.</div>
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It doesn't take a lot of reflection to see that beautiful weather means that everybody's out doing the things they love most...</div>
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Naturally. Some of us enjoy our favourite pursuits year round, and while some pursuits are winter specific, many outdoor activities are for fairweather Freds.</div>
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I am committed to riding my bikes year round, because the correlation between activity and happiness is painfully obvious to me, but most people don't see it the same way, and so you will notice an explosion in the number of bikes out and about this time of year. </div>
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And for many people, bad weather makes pursuing their passions impossible. After all, the Inuit might enjoy a paddle in icy cold waters, but most people prefer to have feeling in their limbs. But now, with the warm sunshine's arrival, the outrigger canoes and the dragonboats are freed from their winter hiatus.</div>
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Let's face it.</div>
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It might not be strip-down-to-your-bikini-and-sit-on-the-beach weather just yet, but the signs of the season are everywhere. It's funny. No matter how happy you might be to see the days shorten toward the holidays, that's a feeling that quickly wears off, because everybody loves a warm, sunny day.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qAT3q50xCdo/VUbfndhUacI/AAAAAAABR-U/JCHi-l75WLU/s1600/040.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qAT3q50xCdo/VUbfndhUacI/AAAAAAABR-U/JCHi-l75WLU/s400/040.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Wouldn't it be lovely if every day were ripe with the promise of an endless summer in front of you? Don't scoff, but anything's possible, you know. Canada has just created its first <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/canada-s-version-of-hogewey-dementia-village-recreates-normal-life-1.3001258?fb_action_ids=10153275300327641&fb_action_types=og.shares" target="_blank">"Dementia Village" </a>based on the Hogewey project in Holland, where dementia patients live in a true to life fantasyland, a protected, sheltered, staged small town which simulates ordinary life, even as it keeps them safe and contained. I want to live there now!</div>
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If I lived in a dementia village, I might be able to forget the truth, which is easily and conveniently summed up thus: </div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WfGMYdalClU/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WfGMYdalClU?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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And upon further reflection, there is no-where I would rather be than with my head firmly buried in the sand. Between the wholesale destruction of our natural world, and the <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-03/there-no-solution-crisis" target="_blank">criminal undertakings propping up the global financial arena</a>, this particular Monday the Fourth of May is a dark day indeed, despite the bright sunshine and the approaching summer season.</div>
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But maybe you can see a light at the end of the tunnel - maybe you know something which has completely eluded me...? Is there a solution to the crisis fast approaching which my poor, addled brain has completely missed? If so, please do let me know. In the mean time, I need to seek some peace of mind, so you'll find me on my bike, pedalling my way to a place of serenity, and praying for an answer.</div>
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May the Fourth Be With you, dear friends, because sooner than later, we're all going to need it.</div>
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babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-49740492324975681712015-04-20T08:17:00.003-07:002016-04-10T06:10:50.144-07:00Snake oil and bunker oil... something's mighty fishy in English Bay these days.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Vancouver has a jaw-droppingly beautiful harbour. Despite being the fourth largest port on the continent, it's home to<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/killer-whales-spotted-near-vancouver-s-lions-gate-bridge-1.2992536" target="_blank"> killer whales</a>, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/whale-spotted-in-vancouver-s-false-creek-1.876555" target="_blank">grey whales</a>, harbour seals, sea otters, a multitude of fish and birds, and of course, the <a href="http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/01/2015-polar-bear-swim-photos/" target="_blank">exotic, blue-tinged polar bear swimmer.</a><br />
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It's a powerful place. It's teeming with life because it's here that the continent meets the Pacific, but it's also where the natural world collides with the industrial. </div>
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It's a relationship with an historically one-sided outcome; after all, how often does nature triumph over industry?</div>
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Industry enjoyed a slam dunk here quite recently. There are seventeen moorages in English Bay, deep water parking spaces for ships awaiting their day at port. Last week a brand spanking new grain ship on its maiden mission was awaiting its turn in the harbour and inexplicably fouled the waters when it lost many thousand litres of bunker oil. A recreational boater in English Bay alerted the authorities at 5:00 pm on Thursday, the 9th of April, but even though he waited for hours for the coast guard to arrive, he didn't see anyone. No one placed a boom around the leaking Marathasa until midnight. </div>
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According to the Bellingham Harbour master, <a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/Kits+coast+guard+base+would+made+difference+spill+response+retired+coxswain+claims/10968296/story.html" target="_blank">the alarm wasn't even sounded till 8:00 pm</a>, and it took them another four hours after that to get a boom around the vessel. That's seven hours from the call. Worse, it was sixteen hours before anyone alerted the city to the spill, so the first anyone in Vancouver heard of it was the next morning. You might wonder how it could take so long to respond to a spill in such a busy urban centre, but the nearest Coast Guard station is down next to the airport at Sea Island in Richmond, where the Fraser River meets the Georgia Strait, over ten kilometres away. The closest boom ship is in Port Moody, in the opposite direction. You'd think that a busy port like Vancouver would have a Coast Guard, wouldn't you? It certainly used to. With the abysmal response to this spill, a chorus cried "I told you so!" Why? Two years ago, the Feds closed the Kitsilano Coast Guard station, the busiest in the country.</div>
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Incredibly, the Coast Guard commissioner in Ottawa claimed that the response to this spill was "world class," and insisted that an open and operating Kitsilano coast guard station wouldn't have made any difference whatsoever. But then federal employees are not allowed to speak truth, didn't you know? You might think I am being facetious, but sadly, no. It isn't just our federal scientists who've been silenced, and scripted. There is a<a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/library-and-archives-canada" target="_blank"> "Code of Conduct" which emphasises a "Duty of Loyalty" to the "Duly Elected Government," which includes both a muzzle and a snitch line</a>. Any. Federal. Employee. And this code of conduct extends beyond the workplace to the employees' personal lives. They are not allowed to speak out against any aspect of the federal government. End. Of. Story. Can you believe it?! This is Canada, not North Korea, though you'd never know it. So of course the commissioner would say that this was a world class response. She was obliged -required by law - to lie, and to claim that nothing would have been any different had the station been open.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Take a gander out the window of the closed station and you could have seen the offending ship.</td></tr>
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I know a man, a federal investigator who is regularly called upon by the media, and he constantly struggles with that mad "Code of Conduct." He has a reputation for integrity decades in the making, only now the federal government demands he tow the line with heavily scripted propaganda he feels morally compelled to edit from his statements. In doing so, he walks a fine line, lest he invoke the "Ire of Harper." Was there ever any question, then, that the commissioner should made clearly and obviously false statements? <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/04/13/officials-hint-vancouver-oil-spill-worse-than-estimated.html" target="_blank">The size of the spill was understated.</a> And within a day or two, the feds claimed that <a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/english-bay-oil-cleanup-739644" target="_blank">"The lion's share" of the oil was already removed from our waters</a>, which is impossible, not just unlikely. They claimed that 80% of the spill was removed within a few days, when even an excellent, truthfully world class response would have amounted to a 30% removal. Assistant commissioner Roger Girouard actually had the gall to claim that "<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-oil-spill-removed-from-water-coast-guard-says-1.3029380" target="_blank">Just six litres of oil remained in English bay by Friday!</a>" Six litres. As. If. What an insult to our collective intelligence.</div>
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Six. Litres. He knew this because somebody flew a float plane over the bay. They hadn't even looked underneath the surface at that point. This is bunker fuel. Heavy, sludgy bunker fuel, which does, in fact, sink, by the way. Never mind the bathtub ring round the harbour, and the boats all around the region coated in oil. But he insists that we should take their word for it. He insists that this was a world class response to a small spill, and that there are only six litres of oil left floating around out there. We should happily embrace pipelines and the tanker traffic that goes with them, because they have the best possible spill response firmly in hand. Fer fucksake. I am not sure what is worse, that our government is content to so blatantly lie to us, or that we complacent Canadians are happy to bend over and take it, and then <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">keep on taking it</span>, even as the shit they're shovelling is getting <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">WAY</span> out of hand. My dear fellow citizens, please tell me: <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Why, Oh Why</span> don't we hold the federal government accountable for its responsibilities?! Why don't we force them to do the things they are legally, ethically, and morally bound to do? Why don't we have this administration recalled?</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Come ON, People!!</span> It's well past time to give those nasty, greedy leaders THE BOOT!</td></tr>
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Why DO they continue to get away with such criminal behaviour? Spin. They can spin a better yarn than the best bullshitters, and that's what they do. The conservative government has world class spin doctors at their beck and call, and they had their top notch public relations team working on this spill <a href="http://www.straight.com/news/429136/public-relations-campaign-heats-over-english-bay-oil-spill-vancouver" target="_blank">long before any oil spill response experts made their way to English Bay</a>. Seriously. Their oil spill experts were in Prince Rupert until two days after the spill occurred. The federal mouthpiece, Coast Guard commissioner Jody Thomas said that the Kits station was mainly a search and rescue operation, and therefore that it wouldn't have made a different to this emergency. She claims that the spill response was excellent, and that only negligible amounts of the toxins are remaining in our waters. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Get a grip, people. We have a right to the truth, and to a healthy, living planet, too.</td></tr>
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And it's LIES. All LIES. Captain Tony Toxopeus, retired Kits Coast Guard coxswain, said that<a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/Kits+coast+guard+base+would+made+difference+spill+response+retired+coxswain+claims/10968296/story.html" target="_blank"> his teams would have been on scene between six and fifteen minutes after the sailor's call at five pm</a>. The mouthpiece said that it wouldn't have made a difference to the cleanup, because Kits was mainly a search and rescue facility, but she failed to mention that the Kitsilano station was, in fact, where the coast guard trained its people in spill response. Toxopeus said<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "verdana" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"> "the base was equipped with a purpose-built oil pollution response vessel, 300 metres of self-inflating boom and other equipment. Crews were trained regularly to deal with oil spill response." </span> Unlike the Ottawa based commissioner, Captain Toxopeus knows exactly what he is talking about, because he participated in hundreds of spill response calls. He isn't just reciting a government sanctioned press release, a script designed to make the government look good in the eyes of the less than discriminating Canadian <strike>target</strike> er, citizen. And the good Captain most certainly knows enough to know that the likelyhood that the brutally slow and inefficient response to that nasty little spill most definitely did NOT contain and remove 80% of the bunker fuel that entered the waters of English Bay.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's nasty stuff, bunker fuel. Seriously toxic.</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "verdana" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;">Do you know who else knows the score when it comes to spill response? Retired Commander Frederick E Moxley, that's who. Moxley, a 35 year Coast Guard veteran, and former Commander of the Kitsilano Coast Guard station knows what he's talking about, because he has literally responded to hundreds of oil spill calls,and has trained countless men in spill response. </span><br />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3b3735; font-family: "droid_sans" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "nimbus sans l" , sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.5em;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "droid_sans" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "nimbus sans l" , sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.5em;">“I’ve been in hundreds of spills and never seen an 80 per cent recovery,</span><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: droid_sans, Helvetica, Arial, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.5em;">" </strong><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "droid_sans" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "nimbus sans l" , sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="http://www.vancouverobserver.com/national-observer/former-coast-guard-commander-casts-doubt-claims-excellent-spill-cleanup" target="_blank">Moxey said</a>. </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "droid_sans" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "nimbus sans l" , sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.5em;">"Usually you recover 30 per cent at most, more like 10, and that’s with an immediate response and a trained crew with sponges and straw pulling the oil out by hand.”</span></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #3b3735; font-family: "droid_sans" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "nimbus sans l" , sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 1.5em;"> </span>Moxley<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "verdana" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"> is not the only person to suggest that the government is not speaking the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but his objections ought to be given more than a little credence, because nobody knows the facts in this situation better than he does.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "verdana" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"><a href="http://www.vancouverobserver.com/national-observer/former-coast-guard-commander-casts-doubt-claims-excellent-spill-cleanup" target="_blank">Jody Thomas said:</a></span><span style="color: #3b3735; font-family: "droid_sans" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "nimbus sans l" , sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;"> </span><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="font-family: "droid_sans" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "nimbus sans l" , sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">the closed facility has been used for storage after the spill, but said having the Kitsilano station open would not have made any difference in the spill response. </span><span style="font-family: "droid_sans" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "nimbus sans l" , sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">Moxey contradicted this, stating that the Kitsilano base responded to oil spills as well as search and rescue before it was shut down. </span><span style="font-family: "droid_sans" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "nimbus sans l" , sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;">"It was a 24-hour-a-day operation," he said. "All the officers and crew at </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Kitsilano</span><span style="font-family: "droid_sans" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "nimbus sans l" , sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 24px;"> were trained and had responded to oil spills as well as search and rescue. For her to say that is just false and I will sign an affidavit declaring the fact we were and had been called to respond to spills often."</span></span></div>
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As Canadians, we shouldn't have to wonder whether our leaders are lying. But then we don't have to <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">wonder</span>, really, do we? it's patently obvious that they are. You can almost count on the fact that this administration will say whatever best suits its purpose, truth be damned. As citizens of a vast, resource rich nation, we have a responsibility to take our stewardship of this country seriously, and yet this particular administration is stripping the land of its riches, and putting the profit in the pockets of a very few individuals.many of whom are not even Canadian. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's time to put your foot down.</td></tr>
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For example, Kinder Morgan is planning to expand their Trans Mountain pipeline from Edmonton to the Vancouver port. They want to twin it. The National Energy Board used to hear from anyone with questions, concerns or comments about these sorts of projects prior to making a decision about whether or not to let it proceed, but Mr Harper put an end to that. The hearings are now closed to everyone but those with a direct stake in the plan on the table. Still. The cities of Vancouver and Burnaby posed some 1200 questions to Kinder Morgan about their plan, especially with respect to their spill response. The National Energy Board was satisfied with Kinder Morgan's heavily redacted response, even though it did not even begin to address a realistic spill scenario, and even though the company refused to answer half of the questions the cities posed. Oh, but if anything bad ever did happen to our coastline, at least Texas billionaire Mr Rich Kinder could afford to represent himself in court. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/pictures/eggh45jef/richard-kinder-of-kinder-morgan/" target="_blank">He took home $60,000,000 last year</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trans Am Totem: becasue Car is King</td></tr>
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You heard it here last week, though it's painfully obvious across the planet...<a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2015/04/taking-shelter-from-infinite-ceiling-in.html" target="_blank"> something is rotten in the country of Canada, Horatio.</a> It's not just the toxins in the water, either.</div>
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The earning inequality between executives and the rest of the working population <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/01/01/canada-ceo-pay_n_6404918.html" target="_blank">is staggering</a>, and it's <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/income-inequality-damaging-canadian-economy-1.2882793" target="_blank">laying waste to the economy</a>. But nobody has an appetite for change, it seems. Well, almost no one. There is a twenty first century hero amongst us, a Robin Hood for the modern age, except that this man is sacrificing his own bottom line to ensure that his employees have everything they need. His name? Dan Price. You 're not likely to forget it, either, because though he was already <a href="http://www.ypo.org/2015/01/10-questions-with-gravity-payments-ceo-dan-price/" target="_blank">cover worthy</a>, he is sure to get some serious air time in the weeks and months to come.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Price is right! (photo courtesy <a href="http://www.ypo.org/2015/01/10-questions-with-gravity-payments-ceo-dan-price/" target="_blank">YPO</a>)</td></tr>
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He started his company, Gravity Payments, as a freshman at Seattle Pacific, after learning that small businesses paid as much as five percent to credit card companies just to process their payments. He built the company throughout his education until last year when it realised a $2.2 million dollar profit, as he earned a million dollars. Over the years since founding the company, he noticed that he had two groups of friends: the wealthy executives, and everybody else, and what he saw bothered him.<br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“I was just experiencing the difference, and seeing both sides of that every day,” he said. The stark divide between the haves and the have-nots irked him, and he felt that the pay-gap between himself and his employees was just too much.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">One day, while hiking with a friend, she confided about the stress of having her rent hiked.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">About 30 employees will have their salary double, with others getting smaller raises to get them to the $70,000-benchmark. Before the increase, the average salary at Gravity Payments was $48,000, and about 50 employees were already paid above the cut-off, Price said. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">(From <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/04/17/forget-the-minimum-wage-gravity-payments-ceo-dan-price-sets-70k-happiness-wage.html" target="_blank">The Star</a>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">He cut his salary to $70,000, and cut into the company's profits, too, to pay for the initiative, but he sees it as an investment. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Price said the salary cut is just temporary, until the company makes back the profit lost to the higher wages.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“I think the team is going to do a great job and make that up,” he said.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“This is an investment, not charity, and it isn’t any more than what these folks deserve.”</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Although he wants to pay employees well, he said it’s also important to pay a CEO a market rate, so that if something were to happen to him, the company could afford to hire his replacement.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“I’m a capitalist,” he said.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Price said he’s been overwhelmed by emails of support from other businesses. He’s especially grateful for the support from his customers, who have applauded the move.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“We’ve literally had hundreds of businesses reach out to us and say that they’d like to do business with us,” he said.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“I think this is going to become a competitive imperative over time, and it will catch on.”</span></div>
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Genius. That's whatchacall <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Visionary.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> It</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">'s exactly the kind of thinking that will prevent our descent into chaos should the present levels of income disparity continue to grow. </span></div>
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babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-86691419580279527642015-04-08T23:50:00.000-07:002016-04-10T06:11:11.156-07:00Taking shelter from an infinite ceiling in a perfect storm.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Ride through Vancouver, and you will see that the city is home to far too many homeless people sleeping rough in neighbourhoods all over the place.<br />
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Less apparent, yet equally important to the equation is all of the Homes-Less-People, the multitude of condos and detached houses alike, entirely empty of inhabitants, sitting vacant year after year after year.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The path to this door has been unused for so long that it is almost completely lost to moss.</td></tr>
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Whole neighbourhoods are turning into ghost towns, so that fewer and fewer privately owned places are actually occupied. According to the 2001 census, almost <a href="http://bc.ctvnews.ca/anybody-home-posh-vancouver-neighbourhood-rife-with-vacancies-1.1206416" target="_blank">a quarter of the residences in Coal Harbour sit empty</a>, causing house prices to skyrocket as fewer and fewer homes remain available to Vancouver residents looking for a place to live. And it's not all condominiums, either.<br />
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It's happening all over the lower mainland, but the nicer the neighbourhood, the more it attracts the foreign investor. Vancouver's great beauty, its very liveability is working against our best interests. It's turning our nicest areas into empty, vacant villages.</div>
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Take a ride through Shaughnessy with your eyes peeled for the signs of abandonment, and you will be surprised at how many homes are unoccupied. Look for moss on driveways, and rott eating away at a back lane garage. We took just such a ride, and came upon a big old house listed for sale. We stopped by just as the agent was locking the gate. She asked if we would like to view the property, and of course we jumped at the chance.</div>
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This 8,000 square foot house is listed at $13.5 million dollars, down from the original $15 million. The agent is a lovely woman named Wendy Tian, of Sutton West Coast Realty. Her number is (604)375-6030, just in case you've an extra twenty million or so kicking around and a fierce yearning for a to-do project. This is one of those very residences which has been empty for years. The man who bought it was originally planning to turn it into a fifteen thousand square foot home, complete with an inside/outside pool. It will stand in place of the old pool which sits there now, in view of the neighbouring <a href="http://www.canuckplace.org/" target="_blank">Canuck Place Children's hospice</a>, which is simply the best neighbour a person could hope for, at least if karma has anything to do with it.<br />
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The owner's contractors had already begun taking the house apart, so it is without its fixtures and fittings.<br />
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He had a full set of blueprints drawn up, and all of the permits are in place, but after work had begun, the owner decided that he would rather build his mansion on the hill in West Vancouver, where he can enjoy a beautiful view. He bought another property, and began work on it there. And so this house sits empty, uninhabited and unliveable. </div>
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I asked Wendy whether she'd had any offers to date, because I had heard that <a href="http://globalnews.ca/news/1579786/33-offers-spur-bidding-war-on-west-vancouver-home/" target="_blank">bidding wars were becoming quite common</a> here in Vancouver. She said that when it was first listed at $15 million, a woman offered $13 million, and the owner declined. Then just a week or so ago, "A kid from China offered the list price for the property, as long as nobody told his parents about it." And Wendy told me that she replied to him that "No, sorry. We won't do that sort of thing." Apparently the boy wanted to store his car collection here, but he didn't want his dad to know what he was up to. !!!! That's some kinda garage. We won't even mention the <a href="http://www.biv.com/article/2015/4/property-sales-spike-sparks-money-laundering-fears/" target="_blank">money laundering that happens in Vancouver Real Estate Transactions.</a> Nope. Not a word.</div>
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You will find a fair few massive, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/03/10/vancouver-most-expensive-house_n_6842352.html" target="_blank">unbelievably expensive</a> homes scattered throughout the lower mainland, and increasingly they belong to foreign nationals who don't even spend a fraction of their time here. And despite the price of property here in southwestern BC, which impacts the price of everything, from food to clothes and beyond, wages have not even begun to catch up. That means that what would have been a comfortable, middle class salary ten, fifteen, or twenty years ago is now too small to make ends meet. What used to be middle class is today the working poor, folks struggling to afford their lives. People who used to hold a reasonable expectation that they would buy a home, and pay off the mortgage in twenty odd years must now dream an impossible dream. I met a couple the other day, both of whom hold masters degrees in their chosen fields. They have a baby, and would love another, but they can't afford two children. They also can't afford to buy a place, not even a two bedroom condo, and although they are both working full time, they are struggling to make ends meet. They are the very definition of middle class, and yet (depending on your definition of impoverished), they are also the working poor. <br />
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But Vancouver real estate wasn't always so far out of reach. Let me introduce you to the Vancouver Special.<br />
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These wonders of architectural mediocrity were createded to maximize square footage to a standard city lot, and were designed with the primary living space on the top floor, and secondary bedrooms on the ground floor. This made it a simple thing to build an inlaw suite, which, when rented out made it easier to pay off a mortgage, or to bring granny over from the old country to help care for the little ones. Between the mid sixties and the mid eighties thousands of these places were built to provide an affordable housing solution to immigrant and working class families. You'll still find them today, scattered all over town, though of course you will find way more of them east of Main than on the west side.<br />
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Given the obscene price of real estate and painfully low average wages, you would think that the Government would step in and create a buffer for the populace by building some affordable housing. After all, any self respecting G8 government would by nature be aghast at the possibility of being at the center of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_Vancouver" target="_blank">crisis of homelessness</a>, but our leaders don't care, just so long as their patrons are raking in the dosh. They hung us out to dry. Our federal and provincial governments both ended any and all support for affordable housing, preferring instead to build bigger prisons.<br />
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Now let me introduce you to the Vancouver Especially:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Homage+Vancouver+Special+time+when+housing+still+affordable/10833301/story.html" target="_blank">Vancouver Especially</a></td></tr>
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This is a scale model of the original Vancouver Special, created especially for the 2015 Bienale by artist Ken Lum, as a commentary on the soaring cost of living here in the Lower Mainland. Mr Lum (creator of the <a href="https://www.eastvancrossproject.com/" target="_blank">East Van Cross</a>) received $45,000 in grants to build this exhibit, which is what it would have cost to purchase one of these boxy residences in the mid 1970's. Originally, he had planned to build a replica the exact size of what $45,000 will get you in today's housing market, but that would be much too small for this project. Instead, he etched a $45,000 space into the front of the display.<br />
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Talk about living in a shoe box! Actually, with <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/micro-condos-tiny-units-with-big-challenges-for-married-noisy-slobs-1.2932300" target="_blank">the rise of micro condos,</a> shoebox housing is the only option left for plenty of people.<br />
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For a while, a fair few creative individuals were staying financially afloat by mooring their live-aboard boats in False Creek indefinitely, but with the coming of the Olympics, the tides turned, and the city put an end to that.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UqjESBVd54E/VSIRlfF_QbI/AAAAAAABRJQ/a_iTiphcarY/s1600/030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UqjESBVd54E/VSIRlfF_QbI/AAAAAAABRJQ/a_iTiphcarY/s1600/030.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Vancouver has a rich <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2015/01/the-art-of-living-well-or-well-art-of.html" target="_blank">history of sqautting</a>, and an equally strong record of <a href="https://vanarchive.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/history-of-squatting-in-vancouver/" target="_blank">evicting those willing to take a housing crisis into their own hands.</a> The Bank of Canada surprised everyone early this year when they dropped interest rates even further, despite what analysts have been saying for years about an overheated property bubble. If they drop it any further, they'll have to pay us to borrow money for a mortgage. And frankly, what with the price of housing, we're going to need all the help we can get. The obscene price of real estate in Vancouver isn't going to change any time soon, however. Not even if the bubble bursts. There is just such a limited supply, and an ever increasing demand.<br />
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Some people are doing what they can. <a href="http://www.atira.bc.ca/imouto-container" target="_blank">Atira</a>, the Vancouver Women's Resource Society, created Canada's first recycled shipping container housing development on Alexander St, just down the block from the city's very well patronised homeless shelters.<br />
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There are other examples of sustainable housing in the city, too. Cob houses are an interesting alternative to the bricks and mortar more commonly found around town.</div>
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And apparently <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/yurts-offer-young-canadians-simple-way-of-living-1.3015888" target="_blank">yurts are making a comeback</a>, too, providing a fresh perspective on the ancient issue of finding shelter from the elements. That's a whole new take on a tent city.</div>
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But the problem here isn't about the price of building a structure, it's about the cost of the land itself, and the ever widening chasm between the average person's earnings and the cost of living in the city where the jobs are.<br />
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Something is rotten in the country of Canada, Horatio. It's not right. The <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/news/bank-profits-canada/" target="_blank">banks are all making record profits</a> whilst the middle class simply disappears. Fewer and fewer Vancouverites can afford the roofs over their heads, even as a teenaged boy is prepared to drop fifteen million dollars on a Shaughnessy estate to house his secret car collection. Something has got to give. It's inevitable. Who knows? Maybe change will happen organically, and withougt resistance. Men like Warren Buffet give me hope. And then there's <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2013/02/19/mobile-phone-billionaire-caudwell-dials-in-for-gates-buffett-giving-pledge/" target="_blank">John Caudwell</a>. He is one of the wealthiest men in the UK, a truly self made man, who is giving half of his fortune to charity. He retired from his mobile phone empire to pursue a new direction and now he strives daily to become the greatest philanthropist the country has ever seen. His Instagram account has all of the usual photos of the life and times of a young and influential billionaire and his beautiful wife and kids, but one photo stands out:<br />
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The CBC recently aired a BBC interview with Mr Caudwell, which ended with his line "All I need is my health and my bike." Hear hear. I couldn't agree more.<br />
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babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-64647563264258300952015-03-29T21:35:00.003-07:002016-04-10T06:11:36.912-07:00Falling for Spring Series.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2015/03/warming-up-to-race-season-snow-time-for.html" target="_blank">Spring Series </a>is almost over now, though it seems just yesterday it had only first begun. I joined the multitude of Fast Freds racing in Langley and Aldergrove throughout the month of March as often as possible, though if every race didn't require the devotion of a whole day's time, I would have raced two days per weekend instead of one. But between the travel to and from, the registration, and the race itself, you can count on being away from home for the better part of a day. Big, big big kudos to the race organisers and volunteers, who put enormous time and energy into making these days possible.</div>
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Spring Series is made up of what might best be described as super sized criteriums. "What is a criterium?" you might ask. Global Cycling Network sums it up nicely:</div>
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GCN says that a criterium is typically a couple of kilometers long and can be held in the middle of a city. Spring series is a closed circuit course, too, though most of them are seven to nine kilometers long. I love the Gastown Grand Prix for all of the reasons they describe, the speed, the technicality, and the excitement of seeing the riders pass you by over and over again. Wouldn't it be sweet to compete in <a href="http://www.bcsuperweek.ca/" target="_blank">BC Superweek</a>?</div>
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This is a video of a 20 year old Lance Armstrong, who was racing for Subaru Montgomery at the time. He won the 1991 Grand Prix, but it was a surprise win. He wasn't even a contender mentioned amongst the favourites before the race began, and the color commentators certainly didn't focus on his performance throughout the race, except for when he was pulling up front. How quickly that would change. And the little bit at about forty four minutes explaining why cyclists shave their legs is good for a chuckle, too. "It looks and feels good!" Heh heh. And that's what matters, right?</div>
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Tell you what really feels good: winning a race, that's what. In <a href="http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2119066" target="_blank">the first race of the Series</a>, I was the thrid placed woman, though it was a little hilly a course for my liking. I led out the peloton, and ended up pulling hard for a few kilometers until we got to a steep section, where I was promptly dropped. I rode on my lonesome for a bit, until a couple of my team-mates came from behind (dunno exactly how that happened) and we worked together for the next several laps. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MIvmpv2DI-0/VRh1GNPzrKI/AAAAAAABQv4/BRZVsYdfW1c/s1600/IMAG0799.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MIvmpv2DI-0/VRh1GNPzrKI/AAAAAAABQv4/BRZVsYdfW1c/s1600/IMAG0799.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Teamwork is everything, y'know. We eventually caught up with a couple of other riders and became a chase group to be reconed with. I finished third amongst the women on that day, though I regretted not soft pedalling for the first few km, until someone else took a pull, and thus saving my legs for that hill. The <a href="http://ridewithgps.com/routes/4164945" target="_blank">second race</a> I signed up for was more to my liking, as it had gentler hills to contend with. I made almost the same rookie mistake that time round. I was trying to be a good team-mate, and again spent too much time pulling on the front. The person I was working with is a guy who is faster than I, and while he was able to pull for half of the race and still have the legs left to sprint, I regretted putting so much energy into the wind at the end of the race, when a few people passed me in the final 100 meters, including a woman on my team who raced a lot smarter than I did, and sprinted for the first place finish. (That's her in the photo up there... good girl.) So I finished second in my second race.</div>
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I missed the next weekend, but raced the Thunderbird course on the <a href="http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2127689" target="_blank">Saturday</a> following that. It was definitely a wet start to the day.</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S2FPnCmSaVE/VRh44zF-9BI/AAAAAAABQwE/ugGRhJG_QTU/s1600/IMAG0773.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S2FPnCmSaVE/VRh44zF-9BI/AAAAAAABQwE/ugGRhJG_QTU/s1600/IMAG0773.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
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I had an allergic reaction to something that sprayed up at me from the road at some point during our warm up. My legs were red, and the skin swollen and itchy where it was wet from the road. I expect I rode through a patch of something spilled on the road, because despite being sprayed all over by the end of the race, the reaction didn't spread. But it became quite disconcerting, as my lungs felt very tight, and I was wheezing and fighting for a lung full of air when I was riding at my upper end. (When I got home and took a shower, I was surprised to find hives all over my torso.) Anyway, the wheezing meant I had to back off, and so again I was dropped from the lead group. I did still finish first among the girls, though, and was shocked and amazed at how good it felt to carry that lovely orange jersey home! I do sort of understand why people like Lance up there have been inspired to do whatever it takes, especially keeping in mind the magnitude of the prizes and prestige associated with the pro races. But that's a whole nother topic of conversation, isn't it?</div>
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Still. As I have <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2014/05/knock-knock-knocking-on-uplifting.html" target="_blank">only just begun</a> racing, I need two wins or five top five finishes in one season in order to move up from a Cat 4 rider to a Cat 3, which is where I would have to be in order to register for the most interesting races. Not that I am anywhere near at the place in my training where I could actually do well in those super cool events, but one step at a time is the only way to achieve anything worthwhile, right? I headed into <a href="http://ridewithgps.com/routes/375194" target="_blank">the next race</a> with a little tiny bit of hope and a fair whack of determination. It was a course just made for me, without any hills worth mentioning, but it just wasn't meant to be. It was the most frustrating racing experience I have ever known, with an absolute lack of cooperation. Most of us girls were working well together, and one or two of the guys, too, but the rest of the guys were just off the wall. They would come up from behind, but then instead of taking a pull they would try to nose into the paceline at the second or third positon. We would try again and again to set up a rotating paceline, but again and again, it would be a guy's turn and he would take off way out front and just sit out there, leaving the person in the front of the paceline hanging out to dry. Bizarre. Still. We were getting through it when the guy in front of me (one of my teammates who was actually playing fair) had a mechanical issue with his shifter. He slowed a little and swerved suddenly and that was it for me.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4Zxu0QsJiw0/VRiAldwO-HI/AAAAAAABQwU/ld_uLf54K6k/s1600/IMAG0801.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4Zxu0QsJiw0/VRiAldwO-HI/AAAAAAABQwU/ld_uLf54K6k/s1600/IMAG0801.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Next thing I knew I was covered in a blanket and saying hello to the paramedics. They were surprised that I really wasn't interested in taking a ride in the white van with the flashing lights, and they were careful to warn me that the sudden swelling in my backside might well be an indication of a fracture, but I figured that if it was really bad, I could always go to a hospital closer to home. And my teammate, who felt pretty bad about the crash, offered to take me to the hospital of my choice, but at that point I just wanted to go home. I have had enough radiation for one year, and as much of a pain in the ass as this is, at least I am moving.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">another one bites the dust</td></tr>
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I was fully conscious as my head whiplashed into the pavement, and I heard my helmet crack even as it absorbed the impact which protected my already well addled brain. But it wasn't my brain which suffered this time round, nor my shoulder, which is swollen, bruised and bleeding. They say that your gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the body, and I am here to testify that when you bruise it, you certainly know it. This is a good week for a standing desk.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Early moments... before the bruise's true colours came shining through.</td></tr>
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A few people have asked why I continue to race, and certainly the question did cross my mind. It's true, that pretty much everything happens at speed, making mistakes costly. But I saw something today that gave me a little hope. </div>
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See that? Lucas Paolini won the Gent Wevelgem after TWO crashes. He's a little bruised up, but he's still racing. He's even winning. It's addictive, this sport, because it isn't all about strength, nor speed. There's racecraft involved, and something to be learned with every mistake. Ha! You'd think I'd know it all by now! Never mind, it was just a big-ass bruise, and another good story for facebook.</div>
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PS - Actually, Cosmos does an excellent job of explaining how the race was won right <a href="http://cyclocosm.com/2015/03/how-the-race-was-won-gent-wevelgem-2015/" target="_blank">here</a>. Er, and just to be graphically accurate, here's the bruise a couple of days on:</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-36AwWF8uv1A/VRra5jacNgI/AAAAAAABQ0w/0c9RyYNrywQ/s1600/IMAG0864.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-36AwWF8uv1A/VRra5jacNgI/AAAAAAABQ0w/0c9RyYNrywQ/s1600/IMAG0864.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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And on:</div>
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The colour is spreading down my thigh! My doctor figured he should give me antibiotics, just in case all of those dead blood cells turn septic, but I prefer to stay away from them unless it is absolutely necessary. Here's hoping they behave. You can't quite tell in this photo, because Vancouver is uncharacteristically sunny, but the colour is very dark and intense, even down the side of my leg.</div>
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The bruise is abating, the swelling remains. Apparently, that is going to take a while yet... :-/</div>
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babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com44tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-34351806698302744572015-03-19T08:24:00.002-07:002016-04-09T23:17:56.167-07:00Warming up to race season... snow time for cold!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Hello from the Lower Mainland, where spring is well past sprung. The hallmarks of the season are all around, and ever so easily found.<br />
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What about you? Are you watching the snow melt into blackened, polluted, dog poo infested piles of sludge somewhere east of the Rockies? Sorry bout yer luck. Here in Lotus Land, every mutt master carries a little blue bag to pick up after their defecating dogs. Not because of concern for their fellow citizens, but because the fine for ignoring the bylaw is rather hefty. But thawing doggy doo aside, it could be worse. You could be in Nova Scotia, where people are just digging out from under a decade's worth of snow which landed on them this week. No sign of springtime in sight.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo of Halifax's second blizzard in three days courtesy of the <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/snowstorm-drops-up-to-50-cm-in-parts-of-atlantic-canada-1.2999430" target="_blank">CBC</a></td></tr>
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On the west coast, we've been practicing spring for you, and celerating the growing seasons for weeks now, whilst the rest of the continent catches up. Yup. You've gotta love this town. It's not just the sunshine and longer days, either. Spring is here in the green grass, the budding trees, the buzzing bees, and the blooming flowers - NOT the frozen and inert bulbs buried under the ginormous mounds of snow blanketing the opposite seaboard.</div>
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Heh heh. Yep. The cherry trees are out in all their glory, and it's actually <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">warm</span> under that growing-stronger-by-the-day sunshine.</div>
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But the most obvious sign that spring has arrived is the sheer volume of Freds you'll find spinning their way along the city streets everywhere you go.<br />
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And no-where is Fred more apparent and abundant than at the Spring Series racing events. Holy carp there are a lot of us!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First start of the season.</td></tr>
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Last autumn, when I was looking for a club to join, I chose <a href="https://draft.blogger.com/"><span id="goog_1175385900"></span>Escape Velocity<span id="goog_1175385901"></span></a> for a number of reasons. Not only does the club host the Spring Series races, and the Tuesday Night World Championship criteriums in the summer, a service no other organisation in the Lower Mainland even comes close to matching, but - and in my mind this is significant - it is the club responsible for youth development in the sport in our part of the world. Escape Velocity is the home of <a href="http://www.escapevelocity.bc.ca/evdevo" target="_blank">DEVO</a>, Vancouver's only jr racing team, and thus the future of our sport. EV has a great track record of seeing members off to bigger and better things. And of course I chose this club because <a href="http://www.escapevelocity.bc.ca/sluggo" target="_blank">Sluggo</a>, the poet of the peloton.<br />
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The Spring Series are held in Aldergrove and Langley, so although the races are well within commuting distance of Vancouver, the roads are quieter than in the city itself, and the spectators furrier.<br />
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Nothing boosts the spirits like having a good cheerleading squad on hand - what could be better at helping a girl moooooove it along?</div>
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<span id="goog_1162424046"></span><span id="goog_1162424047"></span>Actually, I can think of ONE thing. Two, in fact. Fast wheels make the world go round, and this past weekend, a dear, sweet kind, lovely and generous friend has given me use of the rear wheel to match the front which I used for the <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2015/01/it-feels-like-very-first-time-trial.html" target="_blank">Team Time Trial</a> on the first of January. Pretty, deep dish <a href="http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.ca/2015/03/wild-in-streets-guns-locks-and-steel.html" target="_blank">crabon</a> things mooooooove you along, for sure!</div>
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My legs might not be a whole lot faster just yet, but that bike sure is... :) What a difference from last year! Never mind the new paddle shifters post crash, the new drive train after all of the winter riding wear and tear, and the new brakes to protect whichever wheels I am using. The cranks are carbon, the seat post is titanium, the pedals are Ti Mag, and the wheels are carbon. It's like a body which regenerates every cell over a seven year period. My bike is almost completely revitalized, except for that everlasting, sweet Ti frame. Now all I need is a few weeks of concerted power intervals to tune the top end of those massive base miles built over that short and sweet Vancouver winter, and look out, world! </div>
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And maybe the whole world will actually need to be on guard, too. See the sunshine coming through that doorway up there? That's an old-timey false-front of a western town movie set down on the shore by the northern end of the Ironworkers Memorial bridge. It has nothing whatsoever to do with road racing in Vancouver, but it IS symbolic of my hopes and aspirations for the upcoming year. You'll never guess what that involves!</div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/Speed_Docs" target="_blank">Wild Blue Media TV</a> is planning to do a show featuring racing across the world in its various forms across divergent cultures, and I really hope they choose me to be a racing contestant in it. If I do end up participating, we will go to a different location every month for 13 months, and we will participate in the race that's most popular there. So... we will go to the Yak Track to race the great furry beasts in Mongolia, we'll race dogsleds on the Arctic Circle, and mopeds (?!) in Africa. Keep your fingers crossed for me, mkay?</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prolo makes you stronger too.</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: left;">After all, these legs could totally rock a yak race, power intervals or no... :D</span></div>
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babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-24639659384537057672015-02-26T20:21:00.000-08:002016-04-09T23:33:22.901-07:00Home is where the heart is.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Know what I love about riding bikes? I love that you can just stop anywhere... ok, almost anywhere, and soak it all in. Here we are, soaking in the beautiful American landmark, Mt Baker, as seen from the Arthur Laing bridge. (Never mind the exhaust we were soaking in at the same time... :-| )<br />
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In a car, you can't stop on the bridge deck to check out the planes, trains and automobiles (and distant mountains!) the way you can on two wheels.<br />
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On a bike you can stop to take photos of other bridges from mid span, and you can take pictures of bridges from beaches, too.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Lion's gate from Dundarave in West Vancouver.</td></tr>
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They frown on people driving their cars onto the seawall to take photos. See how those trees are already starting to come to life? Some of the many varieties of ornamental cherries are <a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Early+bloom+some+Metro+Vancouver+cherry+blossoms/10805399/story.html">already in bloom</a>, having had the requisite 10 C (that's 50 American) and sunshine for a while now.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lifted from <a href="http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.ca/2015/02/on-your-marks-get-setread.html">BikeSnobNYC</a></td></tr>
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Poor snobberdooders was out riding in the snow last weekend, though kudos to him for not letting the weather shut him down. But whilst he was navigating the cold white carpet, we were enjoying a carpet of colourful <strike>crocuses</strike> <strike>crocuci</strike> flowers.<br />
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The sunshine and early springtime is lovely for us cyclists, but it sucks to be a skier this year. Our mountains and their ski hills are barren of snow. </div>
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Each of Vancouver's three local ski hills is closed for business at the very time of year when they are supposed to be in full swing. It's a far cry from your typical February in Vancouver, that's for sure.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/groups/snowy-mountains/pool/37373154@N08/">Flickr</a></td></tr>
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It's an even worse season than we had for the 2010 Winter Olympics, when they were <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2010/02/11/205486/airlifted-snow-olympic-ski-mountain-vancouver-global-warmin/">trucking snow in from the interior and dropping it on the slopes with helicopters.</a> You've gotta love it. Ha! Yeah, forget Canada. From now on, they're going to have to hold the Winter Olympics in places like <a href="http://www.weather.com/storms/winter/news/winter-storm-remus-south-snow">Texas, North Carolina, Alabama and Arkensas.</a> Y'know, places where they get actual snow.</div>
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I love living on the Pacific for its pacifying effect on the weather systems. Works for me...<br />
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Know what else works for me? A city that loves bikes. You've gotta love a place that goes out of its way to get you to tweet #lovebikeyvr! After <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2015/02/some-things-about-valentines-day-are.html" target="_blank">my last post</a>, somebody had this to say:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 15.27272605896px; text-align: justify;">It would be wonderful to get rid of the car and bike/walk everywhere. BUUTT... not all of us live in such an urban environment. My home town has been devoured by sprawl to the point that you HAVE to have a car or else ride as much as 3 times the distance just to arive at your destination. Public transport is an afterthought. Cycling here is something reserved for the DUI cases, extreme low income cases, and the eccentric fred types. Maybe thats why our hit and run count is so high. The last time i chased down a car that nearly flattened me, i confronted the driver and was told "yeah well, you never go back for cats and dogs". (Yes i replied that thats the reason i only #@!%'ed his mother once.) You can see the mentality thats created by this environment. Please, be thankful for your city and its virtues. It could be much MUCH worse.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SwUIYQtd0o0/VOohMb2NHtI/AAAAAAABP2s/VG8abdzPZas/s1600/035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SwUIYQtd0o0/VOohMb2NHtI/AAAAAAABP2s/VG8abdzPZas/s1600/035.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The city of many virtues.</td></tr>
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And you KNOW I couldn't leave it alone. I had just <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/surrey-bike-lanes-catching-on-slowly-with-commuters-1.2671023" target="_blank">read about Surrey, known as "car city,</a>" what with its expanding bike lane infrastructure, and their plan to convince more people to ride their bikes. I took a deep breath, put my hand on my hip, got in touch with my inner know-it-all, and replied in earnest, and at length...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pkTZ1wx9YYo/VOogX1YLizI/AAAAAAABP2U/IOVnQg7TRgA/s1600/020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pkTZ1wx9YYo/VOogX1YLizI/AAAAAAABP2U/IOVnQg7TRgA/s1600/020.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You'll find a better photo of this rack<a href="https://instagram.com/p/zgDdcPgZBP/"> here.</a></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 15.27272605896px; text-align: justify;">Sixty years ago most of your suburban American neighbours felt righteous in actively discriminating against their African-american neighbours, too. Just because they all agree, doesn't mean they're right. </span><br style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 15.27272605896px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 15.27272605896px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 15.27272605896px; text-align: justify;">Of course I am grateful for living in this particular urban center, but it's a chicken and egg sort of thing, isn't it? After all, we wouldn't have a bike friendly city without people who insisted on riding before we had bike lanes. In other words, I am exactly the kind of person who has made this city the bike friendly place that it is. But I have lived and ridden year round in a lot of other places. A. Lot. I started riding full time in Edmonton, Alberta, a city on the same latitude as Moscow, whose primary income is derived from the oil patch - worse, the tarsands. That was decades ago, and even though they have bike lanes now, it is still a place where car is king. I have lived in the suburbs, too, I was in White Rock, BC, before I came here to Vancouver, and before that, I lived in Surrey in the UK. And yes, of course I have encountered people like that asshole who wouldn't stop if he hit someone's beloved pet. I have also lived and cycled almost everywhere I went on island and in rural locations alike, places like Saltspring Island, and North Beach on Haida Gwaii. It isn't always simple, but it </span><span style="color: #666666; line-height: 15.27272605896px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">is</span></span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 15.27272605896px; text-align: justify;"> do-able. </span><br style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 15.27272605896px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 15.27272605896px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 15.27272605896px; text-align: justify;">And the thing is, nothing is going to change until normal people like you show the way. My friends in Vancouver's suburb of White Rock were astounded that I should choose to cycle when I could drive, but over time, they noticed the benefits of my lifestyle, and now a few of them ride, too.</span><br style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 15.27272605896px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 15.27272605896px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; line-height: 15.27272605896px; text-align: justify;">In the wise words of the Lorax, "Nothing's going to get better - it's not! - until someone like you cares a whole awful lot."</span></span><br />
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But the moment someone like you cares a whole awful lot, things do get better, guaranteed, and on the spot. It starts inside, but the goodness grows. Your choices will affect the people around you. Sooner or later, people will see that not only is it possible to make healthy choices, but that it acutally feels good.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ss4RivHtrcc/VOohhO7OWxI/AAAAAAABP28/8NdFR_qk0Uk/s1600/025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ss4RivHtrcc/VOohhO7OWxI/AAAAAAABP28/8NdFR_qk0Uk/s1600/025.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Till you find yourself living in a town that loves people who love bikes, because cyclists are accepted as normal, healthy, and sane. (Heh heh. Not that I am often accused of that!) We are still a little way from unconditional acceptance here in Vancouver, what with all of the drivers who hate us, but we're a far cry from the mean streets and fast traffic we cyclists suffered ten years ago, too. It's a work in progress, but at least it's working. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r1W3nwcVQHE/VOole6lqnbI/AAAAAAABP4E/gOPsGTb712o/s1600/052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r1W3nwcVQHE/VOole6lqnbI/AAAAAAABP4E/gOPsGTb712o/s1600/052.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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So here's to progress. Be the change that makes all the difference in your little corner of the world. You'll feel good about yourself as you do it, and you'll be happy with the results (specially the <i>bottom </i>line!) when all is said and done. Change is coming, slowly but surely. Take heart.</div>
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babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-7332629576751245602015-02-18T18:21:00.000-08:002016-04-09T23:32:48.822-07:00Some things about Valentines day are heart to beat.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Gidday! Greetings and salutations from an im<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>pulse</b></span>ive lescyclist in circulation in Vancouver. Here we are, finally over the mid-winter hump, having celebrated Imbolic and <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/02/14/386277255/canadian-police-say-theyve-foiled-would-be-valentines-day-massacre">survived St Valentine's</a> infamous day of love.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMUMf8o_oZeWp7hW1-KO-sm7Z8DpqnujBDX0KyB1BUVpOZWwDb4nWrFb8T-D6syVT9-0IKkqdBUTeGrt_UONUkLgxaKrGQIDPh1qwYdgiS7gAXZbWABKIQI4DJwQYvs35bfReuBwQWig4/s1600/IMAG0649.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMUMf8o_oZeWp7hW1-KO-sm7Z8DpqnujBDX0KyB1BUVpOZWwDb4nWrFb8T-D6syVT9-0IKkqdBUTeGrt_UONUkLgxaKrGQIDPh1qwYdgiS7gAXZbWABKIQI4DJwQYvs35bfReuBwQWig4/s1600/IMAG0649.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
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How did you celebrate? Not Imbolic. If you noticed it, you probably nodded farewell to the darkest nights of winter and hello to the first blush of light, and if you were on top of it, you started your seeds in the windowsill. How did you celebrate love? Did you go out with your favourite person, maybe for dinner or a drink?<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SklELWfPeKU/VOLZvOIDMSI/AAAAAAABPvg/4b4qmnO3Ad8/s1600/IMAG0646.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SklELWfPeKU/VOLZvOIDMSI/AAAAAAABPvg/4b4qmnO3Ad8/s1600/IMAG0646.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
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Did you notice how perfectly lovely restaruants turned into expensive, high end establishments, knowing full well that people are going to go out for the evening,<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LTaB3T4WiF4/VOLalCIqtqI/AAAAAAABPv4/W31m756LeYw/s1600/IMAG0648.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LTaB3T4WiF4/VOLalCIqtqI/AAAAAAABPv4/W31m756LeYw/s1600/IMAG0648.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Special heartless Valentine's day drink prices.</td></tr>
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and then capitalising on romance by nearly doubling their typical prices for the evening?? Unbelievable. Restaurateurs must absolutely love Valentine's day.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JGSZPzz7vTg/VOLftaP7CwI/AAAAAAABPwQ/Vcg0kMR3LfE/s1600/IMAG0643.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JGSZPzz7vTg/VOLftaP7CwI/AAAAAAABPwQ/Vcg0kMR3LfE/s1600/IMAG0643.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Note the six and seven dollar drinks on the standard menu</td></tr>
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Know what I love? I love my life. I love Valentines Day, and I love special wishes. One gorgeous soul wrote: "In the future, may all of your falling just be in love." Nice, right? Or how about this little gem<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GAfDH63KEWw/VOLSyzOUagI/AAAAAAABPuk/VlAREbniNIA/s1600/IMAG0659.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GAfDH63KEWw/VOLSyzOUagI/AAAAAAABPuk/VlAREbniNIA/s1600/IMAG0659.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
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with the sentiment inside</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5nvioft3GgE/VOV18j2GiLI/AAAAAAABPyM/U6NuM8c8A1g/s1600/IMAG0661.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5nvioft3GgE/VOV18j2GiLI/AAAAAAABPyM/U6NuM8c8A1g/s1600/IMAG0661.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I love living in one of the most beautiful, rideable cities on Earth.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DYd50NoYWIY/VLxe80A6xbI/AAAAAAABOsA/lt-cHfpMoMw/s1600/010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DYd50NoYWIY/VLxe80A6xbI/AAAAAAABOsA/lt-cHfpMoMw/s1600/010.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Yep, you've gotta love this town, and especially the fact that you can ride where ever you go, day in and day out, all rear round.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JNy7q2x6QY8/UKWOafzkHHI/AAAAAAAACW4/IBvbmRjV5i0/s1600/DSC02226.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JNy7q2x6QY8/UKWOafzkHHI/AAAAAAAACW4/IBvbmRjV5i0/s1600/DSC02226.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Check our that crisp, clean urban forest air... :)</td></tr>
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And while the Fraser Valley sometimes gets air quality advisories because of too many cars on the roads in Vancouver, those of us in the city get to breathe beautiful sweet, Pacific air. You've gotta love that. <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2015/01/the-truth-is-well-kept-secret-here-in.html">Do you remember</a> the study that proved that as little as two hours of exposure to diesel exhaust can trigger dangerous changes to human genes? You don't have to be in Beijing, either. All it takes is a couple of hours by the port...<br />
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I absolutely love love <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">love</span> that <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/11280067/London-will-follow-Paris-and-ban-diesel-cars-campaigners-warn.html">Paris is banning diesel cars, and pedestrianising a great number of thoroughfares.</a> <a href="http://www.thelocal.fr/20130128/paris-left-bank-closes-to-traffic">The Left Bank has been completely closed to traffic</a> since early 2013, and last year the mayor of Paris introduced a policy which allows drivers to use their cars only on every other day, so that one day even numbered plates were allowed on the roads, and the next only odd. (OMG you've <a href="http://www.thelocal.fr/20150217/chic-swingers-clubs-in-paris"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">gotta love Paris</span></a>!)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WnbfzjiMi0w/VOT1lZfsQCI/AAAAAAABPxA/Y9O5Ev0Cv5c/s1600/paris%2Bpollution.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WnbfzjiMi0w/VOT1lZfsQCI/AAAAAAABPxA/Y9O5Ev0Cv5c/s1600/paris%2Bpollution.jpg" width="263" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paris smog via <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2582658/Hundreds-police-street-stop-Parisians-numbered-plates-driving-bid-tackle-smog.html">The Daily Mail</a></td></tr>
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If you can make your way to work without your car on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, why do you need it to get there on Tuesday and Thursday? Why are people so brainwashed that they believe they can't possibly live their lives without their precious cars? It is such a recent phenomenon in the grand scheme of things, the car-centric city, and yet people can't even imagine living in a world without them. I guess it's understandable, really ... after all I can't imagine life without my happy place.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5bE8x_lIUwY/VOUDXlfv70I/AAAAAAABPxQ/kBvCQK1ZNHE/s1600/021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5bE8x_lIUwY/VOUDXlfv70I/AAAAAAABPxQ/kBvCQK1ZNHE/s1600/021.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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You've gotta love Vancouver: it embraces cycling almost as passionately as do I. <a href="http://metronews.ca/news/vancouver/1286788/map-vancouver-installs-heart-shaped-bike-racks-to-show-love-for-cycling/">The city has installed heart shaped bike racks</a> like that one in scenic locations all over town, in the hope that people will take photographs of themselves with the racks, and then share their pictures on social media with the hashtag #lovebikeyvr. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GiveNn9MwfQ/VOVyFD688pI/AAAAAAABPyA/I_v25FZATCU/s1600/heart%2Bracks.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="302" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GiveNn9MwfQ/VOVyFD688pI/AAAAAAABPyA/I_v25FZATCU/s1600/heart%2Bracks.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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And after all, everybody <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2014/12/the-day-of-rack-oning-is-your-city-bike.html">loves a great rack</a>. Heyyyy... come to think of it - that looks like a wonderful little field trip! Hmmm. Yep. Coming soon to a bikecycling blog near you, a #hashtag calling to Vancouver cyclists: Hail and Heart-y... making tracks to the heart racks.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_3ZQLHi86KI/VOUECBO9VII/AAAAAAABPxc/-JNlraZswjo/s1600/009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_3ZQLHi86KI/VOUECBO9VII/AAAAAAABPxc/-JNlraZswjo/s1600/009.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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Between the <a href="http://www.bonjourparis.com/story/paris-sex-clubs-theyre-everywhere/">sex clubs</a> and the traffic bans, I am all for emulating the City of Love...</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IP72sx-ykWE/VOLOytbRZrI/AAAAAAABPtk/kF82XMnLMf8/s1600/013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IP72sx-ykWE/VOLOytbRZrI/AAAAAAABPtk/kF82XMnLMf8/s1600/013.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Then all of this heart thumping bike loving cycle blogging will not have been in <i>vein.</i></div>
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babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-41647866364717506892015-02-10T06:38:00.002-08:002016-04-09T23:24:09.320-07:00The cycling scene has finally got legs.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This is it. We've arrived.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Gz6GlfOF_Ws/VNlOmDHt6II/AAAAAAABPV4/KYFyhXaGc8I/s1600/RIMG1986.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Gz6GlfOF_Ws/VNlOmDHt6II/AAAAAAABPV4/KYFyhXaGc8I/s1600/RIMG1986.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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We're here, and we're not going away. Cycling culture is beginning to make its mark on Vancouver's red hot hot hot real estate scene, so you know it's big. You can resent us, mock us, ridicule us or even hate us, but whatever you do, you'd better get used to us, cause we're here to stay. I would like to think that we cyclists were a grass roots movement which grew in numbers. I wish we had become bigger and stronger so that along the way the world recognised the value in our lifestyle, until finally we became the new normal, and we shaped the very nature of mainstream, but no. Instead, what once was an alternative subculture simply became a clever marketing trick, so that now for a mere $300,000 you, too, can have 25,000 hipster neighbours and a apartment the size of the double garage of yore.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://independentatmain.com/">The Independent at Main</a></td></tr>
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What used to be the parking space for the two cars any self-respecting family of four would have owned back in the day is now the square footage of your average abode. The Independent is marketed as a "Crafted Lifestyle," and sold as "Affordable Luxury." The truth is that parking spaces add zeros to the price tag of condominium living, and the gap between housing costs and salaries here in Vancouver is enormous and growing. A lovely friend of mine (clearly a tolerant, good humoured man) is a prominent architect here in town, and one evening we were discussing the costs of housing development. He said that the raw cost of building a parking space is $25-$40,000 for developers, so that by the time profit (who works for free??!), taxes and government levies are added in, housing your car adds $60,000 to the price tag of a condo here in Vancouver. Sixty grand!! You can buy a pretty nice little car for that much money.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U9U79gTJxAI/VNg_BHcugcI/AAAAAAABPUc/quVPh5wJgUw/s1600/300px-Two-Car_Garage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U9U79gTJxAI/VNg_BHcugcI/AAAAAAABPUc/quVPh5wJgUw/s1600/300px-Two-Car_Garage.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kathywaller1.com/tag/retro-phrases/">The Car House</a></td></tr>
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But it's inevitable, this shift. It is a reflection of the distribution of wealth in this crazy, mixed-up, modern world. According to Oxfam, this year marks a crucial tipping point. By the end of 2015 the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30875633">richest 1% will have more wealth than the rest of the world combined.</a> So it makes sense that here in Vancouver, developers have also created the smallest little tiny micro condos in the country to market to the average Joe. Again, they are marketed as Affordable Luxury, and again, they are the size of a garage of old.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/04/18/canada-smallest-condo-surrey_n_3109773.html">The Burns Block</a></td></tr>
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That is a photograph of the Burns Block, which is just down the road from <a href="http://www.immmersive.com/">where I work</a>, in perhaps the most gentrified part of town. If it had been built a mile east of here, in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_Harbour">Coal Harbour</a>, you'd find bathrooms bigger than that. But take a good look, because what you see there is the face of the future. <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2011/05/top-one-percent-201105">Unless, of course, we change our course</a>. So who is the 1%? I don't know about you, but whenever I hear that phrase, I always think about the 0.001%, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2919540/Oxfam-report-finds-80-world-s-richest-billionaires-wealth-bottom-50-percent-global-population-3-5-BILLION-people.html">those very, very few ultra rich people</a>, when in fact if you're reading this, (and clearly you are!!) you might just be one of the 1% yourself. In truth, if you are calculating the global 1%, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2082385/We-1--You-need-34k-income-global-elite--half-worlds-richest-live-U-S.html">Americans ARE it</a> , because on a global scale, all it takes to become one of the top 1% of earners is to earn $34,000 a year, whereas to be one of the 1% of Americans, you have to earn a lot more than that. In Canada, once you are approaching $200,000 a year you are a member of the 1% club.</div>
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(And if you are a member of that particular club, you wouldn't be riding the bus, so you would have missed the Toronto Transit Commission's big cock-up with the sign they recently erected... and you know that no matter what excuse they gave, the truth is that they took it down for a lack of balls all round. Heh heh.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.theloop.ca/penis-shaped-transit-map-yanked-from-toronto-station/">cock-up</a></td></tr>
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So I hate to admit it, but I kindov like that Independent place. It's silly, really, because it's so obvious that it was built and marketed toward the young hipster demographic (IS there really such a thing as a hipster demographic?!!) because the developers want to make a profit, and not because of the health and environmental benefits of the cycling lifestyle. But it doesn't matter why it was built, only THAT it was built. A lot of the commuters you see out there on the bike routes these days are cycling because the cost of running a car in the city has become prohibitive. Last I checked, a monthly parking stall in the financial district here in downtown Vancouver was between three hundred and three hundred and fifty dollars. Never mind the price of the car, the insurance, the petrol and the cost to the environment. People who are riding to work every day feel better for it, and they benefit the rest of us with their decision, too, and that works for me. Oh, and also, it's good to ride because Legs. </div>
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How can you argue with that?!</div>
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babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-76562616919336377212015-02-05T09:12:00.002-08:002016-04-09T23:26:58.604-07:00Crash Test Dummy Strikes Again.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I crashed last week. Twice!! I certainly wasn't alone, however. This was a whole <a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/news/topic.html?t=topic&q=traffic+accidents">month of many, many crashes</a>, in truth, <a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Cyclist+killed+late+night+Abbotsford/10773969/story.html">bicycle</a> <a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Cyclist+seriously+injured+East+Vancouver+bike+route/10735007/story.html">and automotive alike</a>. Each of these accidents had a different impact on the lives they touched. Some people were injured, some lost their lives, and a lucky few walked away unscathed.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first time round</td></tr>
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I was one of the lucky ones. Compared with some of the <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2014/06/brokenscene.html">other mishaps</a> I have suffered, this first one was a minor event, a slow speed tumble. But the other day, as I was riding near Science World, I noticed that the traffic lights were out all over the place. And a few blocks later, I heard a woman saying "OMG that was the scariest thing I have ever seen! That guy is so lucky to be alive." Just a little further on, I saw the accident she was talking about, and it dawned on me precicely why the power was out all over the neighbourhood.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilTntMdmau3cj_IM9ThKkH0bNFYYBnnL7t9tbgGTXzWTkpDxpDCz333NknFMU8IFiwijZjcXq8ITtmWUph-metC6r9Ln2aV6YqCv0PoA28ReRX1nIrOlP9dPHIOuUjrVhBPtpoFaz2zkI/s1600/009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilTntMdmau3cj_IM9ThKkH0bNFYYBnnL7t9tbgGTXzWTkpDxpDCz333NknFMU8IFiwijZjcXq8ITtmWUph-metC6r9Ln2aV6YqCv0PoA28ReRX1nIrOlP9dPHIOuUjrVhBPtpoFaz2zkI/s1600/009.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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It happened just east of the Georgia Viaduct, and for miles around, the traffic had descended into near chaos.</div>
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It was Saturday afternoon, and I had spent a lot of time on the roads that day, riding first with the club, and then with a good friend. The traffic was pretty calm in the suburbs that day, but it had a real edge to it here within the city limits. I saw several drivers running red lights and taking risks like doing that dodgy, high speed lane change that people do to mayyyyyybe save themselves a few seconds before they get to the next stoplight. And of course, I witnessed tons of drivers speeding. As usual. But you have to wonder just how fast you have to drive your minivan to take out two power poles and blow up the neighbouring transformers the way this guy did.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JFQCYuGqLtY/VM3F5e_vLaI/AAAAAAABPG4/8mt_e7coxxs/s1600/016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JFQCYuGqLtY/VM3F5e_vLaI/AAAAAAABPG4/8mt_e7coxxs/s1600/016.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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What a claim to fame. His fifteen minutes came at quite a price. There were probably a dozen fire engines in the neighbourhood, along with a number of ambulances several police cruisers, and of course, a few BC Hydro service vehicles, to boot.<br />
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He was stuck in his car, forbidden to move until those Hydro crews ensured that he wouldn't be fried in the aftermath of his mess.<br />
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And every so often he seemed to express regret, though who knows? Maybe he was sad to be missing his mates at the pub. And who knows how long it will be before he goes speeding along those very same city streets again, risking life and limb? It's a habit in this town, speeding, a habit we share with drivers across the globe.<br />
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How many people will paramedics have to scrape off the streets before we finally address the carnage on our roads? Or are those lives all expendable? How did we get to the place where ninety percent of the drivers on the road at any time are speeding, <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">and nobody is talking about it</span>, and yet cyclists are all tarred with the same brush, and branded criminals for treating a stop sign like a yield, even though the <a href="http://www.treehugger.com/bikes/more-idaho-stop-and-why-cyclists-should-be-able-roll-through-stop-signs.html">Idaho Stop Law has been effect for decades, and <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">has reduced</span>, <i>not increased</i> the number of accidents?</a><br />
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Cycling advocates argue that stop signs are designed to slow the flow of traffic, not to enforce right of way, and that in most instances they don't even do that. And if we were to consider our streets rationally for even a moment, the truth is that speeding and distracted drivers kill over a million people every year. That's right. MILLIONS. Not hundreds, not thousands, not even hundreds of thousands. <i>Millions</i>. <span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate"><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">According to the </span><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">World Health Organisation</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">, </span><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;">road traffic injuries</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"> caused an estimated 1.24 million deaths worldwide in the year 2010, slightly down from 1.26 million in 2000. That is one person is killed every 25 seconds</span></a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.3999996185303px;"> </span>Millions of people die in traffic accidents every year, and yet motorists have a hate on for cyclists. What. The. Fuck. ?!?! <br />
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So yesterday, after checking out the accident in which one man's leadfoot managed to shut down electricity to thousands of people, I tried to make my way safely home. Now, even though I choose to ride a bike, rather than drive a car everywhere I go, I do hold a valid drivers license. So I happen to know for a fact that in an instance where a traffic light is out of commission, drivers are obliged to treat the intersection like an uncontrolled intersection. And that means that you are supposed to approach the intersection with caution, and you are supposed to yield to traffic which arrives at the intersection before you do, which turns most intersections into a four way stop. Nevertheless, I was nearly struck by two separate vehicles as I attempted to cross the street here:<br />
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Because in Vancouver, an uncontrolled intersection is actually an out of control intersection. Nobody stopped. Nobody yielded to traffic sitting and waiting on the cross street, and nobody cared when pedestrians or cyclists tried to make their way across, either. And surely the vast majority of drivers in those vehicles think of themselves as law-abiding citizens, despite the evidence to the contrary. Most drivers are otherwise good people, and yet the vast majority of them speed every day, every chance they get. And we let them get away with it, enforcing their beliefs that they aren't really doing anything wrong. But heaven forfuckingbid that I should take the lane on my bike rather than risk death - <a href="http://globalnews.ca/news/1669322/drivers-seldom-charged-when-cyclists-get-doored-vancouver-data-shows/">yes death!!</a>- at the hands of a driver who carelessly opens their door without checking to see if I am there first. Because who DARES to slow the modern motorist down for even a few seconds?<br />
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It's true, that we all take risks out on the roads. Drivers speed and use their mobile phones and engage in other questionable behaviour, and cyclists do dumb things, too. This Crash Test Dummy in particular. I took a break from writing this babblelog, and found myself keeping pace with traffic, riding down Granville St as together we descended the mile long hill travelling southbound. After twenty or so blocks on the downhill without encountering a red light, both the traffic and I were moving at a good clip - 73 km/hr according to Strava. I hit something irregular in the road, and my bike bounced. When I was finished bouncing and had finally skidded to a stop I couldn't move. Paralysed. I found myself watching helplessly as the traffic barrelled toward me down Granville St. It was in fact the scariest thing I have ever seen. My first thought? " Oh Fuck. Here we go again."<br />
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And my first question to the first responders was "How's my bike?" Pretty silly, right? But surely a Crash Test Dummy gets a little leeway when it comes to asking intelligent questions. And it's more than a little ironic that I was in the process of writing about the consequences of speeding when I suffered them personally. Most of my injuries are invisible to the nekkid eye. Cept this one:<br />
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The doctor said that I was very, very lucky. My peeps already knew that. He told me that I could have broken my neck. Then he said that two other people were admitted that evening with the same injury to their spinal cord, and 36 hours later the woman still couldn't move her hands. The man will be hospitalised for some time to come, too. But I could even walk. For the first little while I had to use these fancy ski poles, because as I made my way around the hospital I appeared to be more than a little drunk, all weak, wobbly, and off balance.<br />
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Mostly I just stayed in bed, though, contemplating my navel, and the contrary nature of life.<br />
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And that's the thing. It's human nature. We all take risks. We all make mistakes. And we don't generally go about our lives with the potential consequences of those risks foremost in our minds. But the rules of the road have to be designed with everybody's safety in mind, rather and we have to re-consider how we enforce those rules, because OMG too many people are dying. How is it that Isis kills a few people, and suddenly entire nations mobilise to stop them, but millions of people lose their lives on the roads every single year, and it's just business as usual? The consequences when a motorist speeds are a lot more significant than the consequences of a cyclist rolling through a stop sign, and yet we cyclists are the only ones branded scofflaws even though the majority of motorists are guilty of speeding every time they get behind the wheel. Every time a pedestrian is killed here in Vancouver, the police put out a bulletin telling people not to wear dark clothing, as if it were the pedestrian's fault, somehow, that the driver wasn't playing by the rules. It's an enormous injustice, and it's time we did something about it.<br />
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Sigh... we really do have a long way to go. It definitely IS a war out there on the roads, and the casualties are enormous, but we absolutely do have the power to change all that. Let's begin with a dialogue, and see where that takes us. Everybody wants to arrive safely home from their journey, however long or short it might be, and whichever mode of transportation you choose, you have the right to safe passage. Let's re-think our transportation priorities, shall we? Change doesn't have to be painful, though the longer we put it off, the more challenging it is going to be.</div>
babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com44tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-49494269446551825512015-01-26T22:52:00.001-08:002016-04-10T00:06:56.004-07:00The art of living well, or... well, living the art.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A mid-week miracle happened the other day. It was sunny and beautiful outside at the very same time that I had a few hours on my hands. It was the middle of the day in the middle of the week, and I wasn't strictly compelled to be somewhere, doing something, so I went for a ride. Because I could. :)</div>
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Isn't it gorgeous? That's Brunswick Beach, the day's destination. I followed the Sea to Sky highway from Vancouver, headed north toward Squamish, which came in at number 32 on the New York Times' <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/01/11/travel/52-places-to-go-in-2015.html?_r=3" target="_blank">52 places to go in 2015</a>. It must be one of the most beautiful stretches of road anywhere on the planet, that bit, and I love that I can ride there in just over an hour.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo from <a href="https://highwaybandits.wordpress.com/2010/07/05/british-columbia-sea-to-sky-highway/">The Highway Bandits</a></td></tr>
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That glorious view certainly makes the price of the Whistler Gran Fondo worth your while, especially since there are no cars on the road during the event. But on Wednesday I was happy enough to share the road with the motor vehicles, and delighted to bask in the sunshine for a few minutes on Brunswick Beach. And as I did, it occurred to me that two of my previous employers both live there. Needless to say, beautiful Brunswick Beach, a wee tiny suburb of the lovely village of Lion's Bay, is one of the more exclusive neighbourhoods in the Lower Mainland. One of my past employers is on the spit, with one beach in the front of his house, and another in the back! Can you imagine? What a great way to live. And as I sat there in the sunshine, it occurred to me that both of them are people who are doing what they are passionate about. One of them is a geologist, and the chairman of a group of mining companies, and the other is an interior designer, and a good one at that. They inspire me because the two of them have both figured out how to make a good living doing what they love. What better life can there be for any of us?<br />
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I am certainly happy working with another great, inspired entrepreneur. I am part of a team which is taking the reality gaming world by storm. We just opened the first of three exciting, <a href="http://www.immmersive.com/" target="_blank">Immmersive</a> and interactive adventure rooms, which are challenging the very nature of entertainment. No more going to the movies to see Indiana Jones. Now you can come to <a href="http://www.guesshq.com/">G.U.E.S.S. HQ</a> and BE Indiana Jones. My current boss is another person achieving success by pursuing his passions, and that got me thinking...(don't worry, I didn't hurt myself this time round. Even small brains need exercise, you know.)<br />
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I have always admired artists, because they spend their time creating beauty for the rest of us, and better yet, the beauty that they create challenges people. Good art inevitably causes us to think, an to respond, and sometimes it even inspires us to change our ways.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The writing is on the wall.</td></tr>
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I went to the Vancouver Art Gallery the other day, to see the Forbidden City artifacts, and though I did enjoy all of the beautiful and interesting relics from days gone by, I was enchanted with the more modern Unscrolled exhibit upstairs.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bang at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Ai Weiwei always challenges the status quo.</td></tr>
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Art is a noble pursuit, especially when its purpose is social change. <a href="http://www.vancouverbiennale.com/artworks/f-grass/">Ai Weiwei has another installation</a> here in Vancouver, a part of the new <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2014/07/where-art-thou.html">Bienalle</a> exhibit scattered about town, and that one is definitely making a statement. It's called F-grass, and it looks just like a calligraphic F, too, because the Chinese word for grass sounds just like the F-bomb. He is telling the government censors to go fuck themselves, bless his heart. Sometimes art takes great courage.</div>
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But thank goodness for courageous souls like Ai Weiwei. It's really no wonder that <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30939668">tyrants are afraid of art, and beauty</a>. Hitler hated the modernist movement, and no wonder. And Canada's very own tyrant has <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/vincent-gogolek/harper-gag-orders-canada_b_3498606.html">gagged scientists</a> and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/capt-trevor-greene/science-cuts-canada_b_4534729.html">burnt libraries</a>, so it's up to us to fight back with beauty, and truth.</div>
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We went to the Belkin Gallery up at UBC a short while ago, to attend <a href="https://tomburrows.wordpress.com/">Tom Burrows</a>' opening night. </div>
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He has a long history of challenging the status quo, our Tom. After <a href="http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2015/01/09/tom-burrows-the-mythology-of-the-maplewood-mudflats-squatter-community/">the District of North Vancouver burned down his house on the mud flats east of the second narrows bridge,</a> the UN commissioned him to examine squatters' communities around the world. A few decades on, the Vancouver Art Gallery build a mock-up of that legendary community in front of the Shangri-la, the most expensive real estate in the city. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://projects.vanartgallery.bc.ca/offsite/exhibit/ken-lum/">From Shangri-La to Shangri-La</a></td></tr>
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Given all of the <a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Empty+Vancouver+homes+receiving+global+attention+with+blog/10223503/story.html">perpetually empty properties</a> owned by foreign nationals here in Vancouver, the idea of establishing another squatters community, this time in the heart of waaaay more vacant than it appears <a href="http://www.adamjamesrealty.com/shaugnessy#i">Shaugnessy</a>, is more than a little appealing. After all, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_housing">housing is a human right</a>, and there are a lot of people sleeping on the streets in this town. I love the way Tom solved his own housing needs. After he returned from his squatters inquiry, he bought a beautiful piece of south facing property on Hornby Island, and then <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2013/09/hobbit-nobbing-it-up-way-past-fanny-bay.html">he built - by hand! - a beautiful little house into the cliff</a>, where he could happily settle in and create to his heart's content. Everywhere he has gone in life, Tom has left behind him a legacy of beauty and social change. I love that in a man.</div>
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He always has his finger on the pulse of culture itself, does Tom. He sees things few others are aware of, and he does it decades before it dawns on everybody else. He thinks so far outside the box that the box itself is irrelevant. He is one of those rare, beautiful individuals with a truly planetary consciousness, a man whose life is a kind of switch which serves to awaken the rest of us. A few years ago <a href="https://tomburrows.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/tonys-13-bikes.pdf">he held an exhibit of bicycles.</a> Yes, bikes. He strung them up throughout the gallery, a jungle canopy of two wheeled beauty, hung to inspire contemplation. And <a href="https://tomburrows.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/tony-nadler-essay3.pdf">this is what he had to say about them</a>.</div>
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I hope Tom's messages of sanity soak in soon enough that we see significant change over the next few years. It might still be possible to create a world where all life is honoured and respected, and where we live in harmony and dignity, instead of in absolute obeisance to profit, and the worship of this endless cycle of obscene consumption. Well, it isn't exactly endless now, is it? All lifestyles are created equal, but some are more equal than others.The writing really is on the wall. </div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">“At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas which it is assumed that all right-thinking people will accept without question.”</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">― </span><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3706.George_Orwell" style="background-color: white; color: #666600; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">George Orwell</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">, </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/2207778" style="color: #666600; text-decoration: none;">Animal Farm</a></i><br />
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The irony is that there is so much joy to be found in a simple life. And function really does create form. So many people comment on my legs - daily, weekly, monthly... it happens all. The. Time. But though it looks as if I spend endless hours in a gym, I never, ever do. These crazy-assed gams are nothing more than the manifestation of many years of living in my happy zone, and of staying true to my convictions. You know. Four wheels bad, two wheels good. Better than that, though, my two wheeled place of joy keeps me sane when madness rules all around. Harmony, symmetry and balance are yours for the taking, too. Just park the car for a month and give your friendly neighbourhood bicycle a spin. You will be glad you did when all is said and done. Promise. xo</div>
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babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-36139051914270020222015-01-18T22:31:00.000-08:002016-04-09T23:28:07.807-07:00Woman about town.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Humanity's complete and utter dependence on fossil fuels is something I've been known to get all worked up about. I needed to take my mind off any and all serious subjects this past weekend. It was definitely time to kick back, to become a tourist in my own backyard, and what better place to do that than in Vancouver's historic Gastown?</div>
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Sure, the cobbles are quiet now, </div>
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but this is the site of the Gastown Grand Prix, one of the marquee events in BC's very own Superweek, held this year from July 10-18. I would love to compete, but they don't have a Superweak category for us crash test dummies.</div>
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Still. I can dream. And this weekend, that's precisely what I did. I sat and dreamt of fast rides</div>
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and of ...</div>
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artisinal underwear. That's right.</div>
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And lo and behold! Imagine that!</div>
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Not all knickers are created equal, y'know. All it takes is mere cash.</div>
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A whack of cash will buy you a seriously suggestive ball and chain of a chair, too. If you're into that sort of thing. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XlA2xJhX8Mk/VLxjlzTEHSI/AAAAAAABOt8/tfjsiYXhA1E/s1600/040.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XlA2xJhX8Mk/VLxjlzTEHSI/AAAAAAABOt8/tfjsiYXhA1E/s1600/040.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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And if you're not into sitting on something so divinely voluptuous,</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CwuOUYBcwKI/VLxjghFqoEI/AAAAAAABOt0/B2-U8CsDYU8/s1600/038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CwuOUYBcwKI/VLxjghFqoEI/AAAAAAABOt0/B2-U8CsDYU8/s1600/038.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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</div>
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You can always find yourself seated upon something velo-uptious. I wandered around the hood a little more, but something was missing.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HkqVVdUFPQg/VLxpNS3N7uI/AAAAAAABOvQ/pCpG8-IOAQ4/s1600/050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HkqVVdUFPQg/VLxpNS3N7uI/AAAAAAABOvQ/pCpG8-IOAQ4/s1600/050.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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Something really is missing, too. And Gastown is nothing if not creative. You never know what you'll encounter when you go searching for the Gastown steam-clock these days: </div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xevyx-U4Vck/VLx15hNlSxI/AAAAAAABOww/GoHVj1vn5hg/s1600/IMAG0263.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Xevyx-U4Vck/VLx15hNlSxI/AAAAAAABOww/GoHVj1vn5hg/s1600/IMAG0263.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
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Some days it looks like this,</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_Jx0jT7KmvU/VLxgqPOe0MI/AAAAAAABOs0/d__q-oy8J3k/s1600/021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_Jx0jT7KmvU/VLxgqPOe0MI/AAAAAAABOs0/d__q-oy8J3k/s1600/021.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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while others, like this. But in the tourist books it always looks like this:</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qiaA31gZttw/VLx4Jq_W92I/AAAAAAABOw8/863XG-mDWB4/s1600/steamclockb.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qiaA31gZttw/VLx4Jq_W92I/AAAAAAABOw8/863XG-mDWB4/s1600/steamclockb.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://hqworld.net/gallery/details.php?image_id=22215&sessionid=87555f83efa9f49d6bc4e9893792c1fb">hqworld.net</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Things are not always what you'd expect. But never fear. There are some things you can still count upon in this town. No matter where you find yourself, beauty always abounds, and no matter where you're going,</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GfSQYoiAurQ/VL1kLj037eI/AAAAAAABO0Q/2SDHsIcwqKw/s1600/011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GfSQYoiAurQ/VL1kLj037eI/AAAAAAABO0Q/2SDHsIcwqKw/s1600/011.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<br /></div>
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two wheels are always the best way to get around.</div>
</div>
babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-68033392791751051962015-01-11T21:00:00.000-08:002016-04-09T23:37:58.698-07:00The truth is a well-kept secret here in Ford country.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Hello! Here you go - an extra large picture of an extra large pick up truck. Way to go, Chevrolet! You really outdid yourself on that one.</div>
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<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RopjGWUAk9k/VLDD-gmacpI/AAAAAAABOaU/yOer53JOUPo/s1600/IMAG0455.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="361" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RopjGWUAk9k/VLDD-gmacpI/AAAAAAABOaU/yOer53JOUPo/s1600/IMAG0455.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When does "Bigger is Better" beome just plain stupid?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Un. Believable. What would prompt a person to purchase such a Leviathan? It serves no purpose, except perhaps to make up for some sense of SHORTcoming, as it were. It doesn't even have a fifth wheel. It's a four wheel drive with duelies, a super heavy beast of a machine with the capability of hauling five tons, only it's all for show. That box in the back there has no more capacity than any other off-the-lot half ton pick up truck in the country. A Toyota can haul as much, and it can do it with an order of magnitude less fuel. The Dickus Minimus who chose this joke of a truck obviously needs it to haul his ego. He carted it in this monster, along with his ass, clear across the country. Can you see? It's sporting Ontario plates.<br />
<br />
And like the rest of us, he has undoubtedly witnessed the effects of climate change over the past decade or so, with the increase in extreme weather events. You've gotta wonder whether he just doesn't buy it, that climate change is real, or whether he figures his actions have no impact on the greater whole. Either way, we clearly don't see eye to eye, he and I. <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2014/11/keep-on-truckin-drive-towards-global.html" target="_blank">Pick up trucks are a plague upon the Canadian economy</a>, and the scourge of our environmental efforts, but try telling that to your average redneck.<br />
<br />
I've had arguments about climate change with a few people over the past few months. Way back in the day, even before the<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/twenty-years-after-the-protest-what-we-learned-from-clayoquot-sound/article13709014/?page=all" target="_blank"> protests at Clayoquot Sound</a>, back when I first started thinking about my impact on the planet, and wondering about ways that humanity might alter its course to halt the full scale destruction of the Earth's natural spaces, we environmentalists were a rare species. Sure, everyone was aware of David Suzuki, Canada's very own Lorax who speaks for the trees, but few people claimed much of a sense of personal responsibility until 1993 and the Clayoquot Sound protests. Twenty some odd years on, and the landscapes themselves - both literal and political alike - are vastly different. Literally. Just ask Naomi Klein, or better yet, read her epic work entitiled <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/books/review/naomi-klein-this-changes-everything-review.html?_r=0" target="_blank">This Changes Everything</a>. These days, climate change is a concept on everybody's radar, and most people claim an understanding, an awareness of how their lifestyle, their actions, and their habits of consumption impact the rest of the world.<br />
<br />
And yet those who deny the obvious are always so strenuous in their protest. Take Mr Moore, for eample. the CBC's early edition introduced him as one of the original founders of Greenpeace. Despite his environmental beginnings, he turned to the dark side. He has become a spokesperson for the very industries he so vehemently decried thirty years ago. But now he earns a comfortable living, so there's that.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kFL8P_P1lg0/VLK_eA2daKI/AAAAAAABOgw/Ekuz1paa8ZQ/s1600/Moore%2Bclimate%2Bchange%2Bdeniers.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="569" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kFL8P_P1lg0/VLK_eA2daKI/AAAAAAABOgw/Ekuz1paa8ZQ/s1600/Moore%2Bclimate%2Bchange%2Bdeniers.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The one thing you can't help but notice about climate change deniers is that they tend to make a ton of dosh off the very industries at the heart of our global warming issues. Besides, who want to actually bother to change? Change is challenging. It's easier to just carry on with a comfortable lifestyle, and instead point fingers, calling the rest of us mad. Mind you, Mr Moore was introduced as Patrick Moore on the CBC, and yet when I tweeted in response to his interview, a fellow named John Charles Moore took up the sword to do battle, so maybe multiple personality disorder explains his change of heart, and his loose connection to his name. You'd think in that case, he would embrace change, and pursue a sustainable global economy, instead of sitting back and calling environmental activists crazy.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
And plenty of people truly have gone mad. You don't have to travel all of the way to Paris to find people who have lost the plot. We have our own home grown lunatics right here in beautiful British Columbia. Like <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/mountain-bike-traps-trigger-arrest-of-north-vancouver-woman-1.2892616" target="_blank">the 64 year old woman who was arrested a couple of weeks ago for laying potentially lethal traps for mountainbikers</a> on the North Shore mountains. As if life isn't dangerous enough as it is.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
In fact, all you have to do is spend a few hours in traffic, or down at the ports, and you risk changing the structure of your genetic make-up, at least you do if you're exposed to deisel exhaust. Why? Some researchers at UBC determined that a mere <a href="http://news.ubc.ca/2015/01/07/breathing-in-diesel-exhaust-leads-to-changes-deep-under-the-hood/" target="_blank">two hours of exposure to deisel exhaust</a> is all it takes to interfere with the body's methylation, a coating that attaches to many places on your DNA, affecting the expression of some 400 or so genes. And that truck up there? Not just too big to be beautiful, but deisel, too. Figures.</div>
<br />
It's overwhelming, sometimes, how very far we humans still have to go. But I can always find peace on two wheels. Even when the world leaves me reeling in the chaos, there's a moment of inner calm, and quiet contemplation available any time, any place. All I have to do is head out of doors to go for a spin.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-an7SGboZ53o/VLMI5KsFi_I/AAAAAAABOhg/6Cdzg884Uk0/s1600/IMAG0462.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-an7SGboZ53o/VLMI5KsFi_I/AAAAAAABOhg/6Cdzg884Uk0/s1600/IMAG0462.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
It's not rocket science, but it is tried, tested and true. Riding a bike is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face, even on the most challenging of days. And it's not even one of those guilty pleasures... :)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CX0lJ9E3f-o/VLMJGkPj-ZI/AAAAAAABOho/Y_VTZHKpVI8/s1600/IMAG0477.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CX0lJ9E3f-o/VLMJGkPj-ZI/AAAAAAABOho/Y_VTZHKpVI8/s1600/IMAG0477.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Works a charm, every time. It's the honest truth: the best pick-me-up is the farthest thing from a pick-up truck. Don't believe me? Give it a go. Try it for yourself and see.</div>
babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-35104054019880361482015-01-05T06:19:00.000-08:002016-04-10T06:15:40.444-07:00It feels like the very first Time Trial...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Hello! Here you go - an extra large picture of an extra large pick up truck. Way to go, Chevrolet! You really outdid yourself on that one.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RopjGWUAk9k/VLDD-gmacpI/AAAAAAABOaU/yOer53JOUPo/s1600/IMAG0455.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="361" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RopjGWUAk9k/VLDD-gmacpI/AAAAAAABOaU/yOer53JOUPo/s1600/IMAG0455.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When does "Bigger is Better" beome just plain stupid?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Un. Believable. What would prompt a person to purchase such a Leviathan? It serves no purpose, except perhaps to make up for some sense of SHORTcoming, as it were. It doesn't even have a fifth wheel. It's a four wheel drive with duelies, a super heavy beast of a machine with the capability of hauling five tons, only it's all for show. That box in the back there has no more capacity than any other off-the-lot half ton pick up truck in the country. A Toyota can haul as much, and it can do it with an order of magnitude less fuel. The Dickus Minimus who chose this joke of a truck obviously needs it to haul his ego. He carted it in this monster, along with his ass, clear across the country. Can you see? It's sporting Ontario plates.<br />
<br />
And like the rest of us, he has undoubtedly witnessed the effects of climate change over the past decade or so, with the increase in extreme weather events. You've gotta wonder whether he just doesn't buy it, that climate change is real, or whether he figures his actions have no impact on the greater whole. Either way, we clearly don't see eye to eye, he and I. <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2014/11/keep-on-truckin-drive-towards-global.html" target="_blank">Pick up trucks are a plague upon the Canadian economy</a>, and the scourge of our environmental efforts, but try telling that to your average redneck.<br />
<br />
I've had arguments about climate change with a few people over the past few months. Way back in the day, even before the<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/twenty-years-after-the-protest-what-we-learned-from-clayoquot-sound/article13709014/?page=all" target="_blank"> protests at Clayoquot Sound</a>, back when I first started thinking about my impact on the planet, and wondering about ways that humanity might alter its course to halt the full scale destruction of the Earth's natural spaces, we environmentalists were a rare species. Sure, everyone was aware of David Suzuki, Canada's very own Lorax who speaks for the trees, but few people claimed much of a sense of personal responsibility until 1993 and the Clayoquot Sound protests. Twenty some odd years on, and the landscapes themselves - both literal and political alike - are vastly different. Literally. Just ask Naomi Klein, or better yet, read her epic work entitiled <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/books/review/naomi-klein-this-changes-everything-review.html?_r=0" target="_blank">This Changes Everything</a>. These days, climate change is a concept on everybody's radar, and most people claim an understanding, an awareness of how their lifestyle, their actions, and their habits of consumption impact the rest of the world.<br />
<br />
And yet those who deny the obvious are always so strenuous in their protest. Take Mr Moore, for eample. the CBC's early edition introduced him as one of the original founders of Greenpeace. Despite his environmental beginnings, he turned to the dark side. He has become a spokesperson for the very industries he so vehemently decried thirty years ago. But now he earns a comfortable living, so there's that.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kFL8P_P1lg0/VLK_eA2daKI/AAAAAAABOgw/Ekuz1paa8ZQ/s1600/Moore%2Bclimate%2Bchange%2Bdeniers.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="569" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kFL8P_P1lg0/VLK_eA2daKI/AAAAAAABOgw/Ekuz1paa8ZQ/s1600/Moore%2Bclimate%2Bchange%2Bdeniers.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The one thing you can't help but notice about climate change deniers is that they tend to make a ton of dosh off the very industries at the heart of our global warming issues. Besides, who want to actually bother to change? Change is challenging. It's easier to just carry on with a comfortable lifestyle, and instead point fingers, calling the rest of us mad. Mind you, Mr Moore was introduced as Patrick Moore on the CBC, and yet when I tweeted in response to his interview, a fellow named John Charles Moore took up the sword to do battle, so maybe multiple personality disorder explains his change of heart, and his loose connection to his name. You'd think in that case, he would embrace change, and pursue a sustainable global economy, instead of sitting back and calling environmental activists crazy.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
And plenty of people truly have gone mad. You don't have to travel all of the way to Paris to find people who have lost the plot. We have our own home grown lunatics right here in beautiful British Columbia. Like <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/mountain-bike-traps-trigger-arrest-of-north-vancouver-woman-1.2892616" target="_blank">the 64 year old woman who was arrested a couple of weeks ago for laying potentially lethal traps for mountainbikers</a> on the North Shore mountains. As if life isn't dangerous enough as it is.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
In fact, all you have to do is spend a few hours in traffic, or down at the ports, and you risk changing the structure of your genetic make-up, at least you do if you're exposed to deisel exhaust. Why? Some researchers at UBC determined that a mere <a href="http://news.ubc.ca/2015/01/07/breathing-in-diesel-exhaust-leads-to-changes-deep-under-the-hood/" target="_blank">two hours of exposure to deisel exhaust</a> is all it takes to interfere with the body's methylation, a coating that attaches to many places on your DNA, affecting the expression of some 400 or so genes. And that truck up there? Not just too big to be beautiful, but deisel, too. Figures.</div>
<br />
It's overwhelming, sometimes, how very far we humans still have to go. But I can always find peace on two wheels. Even when the world leaves me reeling in the chaos, there's a moment of inner calm, and quiet contemplation available any time, any place. All I have to do is head out of doors to go for a spin.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-an7SGboZ53o/VLMI5KsFi_I/AAAAAAABOhg/6Cdzg884Uk0/s1600/IMAG0462.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-an7SGboZ53o/VLMI5KsFi_I/AAAAAAABOhg/6Cdzg884Uk0/s1600/IMAG0462.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
It's not rocket science, but it is tried, tested and true. Riding a bike is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face, even on the most challenging of days. And it's not even one of those guilty pleasures... :)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CX0lJ9E3f-o/VLMJGkPj-ZI/AAAAAAABOho/Y_VTZHKpVI8/s1600/IMAG0477.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CX0lJ9E3f-o/VLMJGkPj-ZI/AAAAAAABOho/Y_VTZHKpVI8/s1600/IMAG0477.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Works a charm, every time. It's the honest truth: the best pick-me-up is the farthest thing from a pick-up truck. Don't believe me? Give it a go. Try it for yourself and see.</div>
babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-46823022815033962172014-12-31T22:00:00.003-08:002016-04-09T23:29:09.515-07:00The weight is over. This year, less is more - more or less.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
OMG! Where did the time go? I can't believe it's almost 2015. Seems like just yesterday we were down on the beach, hanging out in the sunshine!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7Nxc2pycdZc/U8Gwm0QEjqI/AAAAAAABJJE/ww6K0NUWs9Q/s1600/048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7Nxc2pycdZc/U8Gwm0QEjqI/AAAAAAABJJE/ww6K0NUWs9Q/s1600/048.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
I should really stay away from New Year's resolutions at all costs, cause they are nothing more than a recipe for failure. The last couple of years I tried to quit swearing, but I just can't fucking do it. This year is different. This year I am joining the masses, as it were. In 2015 I am going to shed a few pounds. Sure, almost everybody wants to lose a little weight. Every New Year, millions upon millions of people resolve to eat healthier, and to exercise more, and that's why the diet industry is worth billions of dollars. And even though I am not carrying a whole lot of fat round the middle, I do want to lose some weight. Five pounds. I want to lighten the load by five pounds.<br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It's not going to be easy. Or cheap. Some people say it costs as much as a thousand dollars a pound when you're dealing with a hefty, big boned frame like mine. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Where to begin? The frame isn't going anywhere. Not yet, anyway. And I took care of the seat post last week. What about the crank? There's a few ounces in that baby, for sure. But it's soooooo pretty. I love my Campy crank... it looks like a flower. See?</div>
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But it's metal, and that means it weighs more than <a href="http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.ca/2012/02/slip-it-in-finding-new-places-for.html" target="_blank">crabon</a>. And this year I resolve to lighten up, so at least for the moment, it's gotta go. Luckily for me, one very kind and generous soul happened to have a crabon fiber crank laying around in his parts bin, and he very generously donated it toward the lighten up babble project. Blessed be.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zLA8_GX9HmI/VKOdPCtOQAI/AAAAAAABOFI/1D8RkTmb2ts/s1600/001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zLA8_GX9HmI/VKOdPCtOQAI/AAAAAAABOFI/1D8RkTmb2ts/s1600/001.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zipp Speed Weaponry - truly a weapon of MASS destruction</td></tr>
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It even has ceramic bearings. How cool is <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">that</span>?! Never mind that until a few days ago I didn't even know that there was such a thing as ceramic bearings for a crank.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4nqfgxMSs-A/VKS6NhDS57I/AAAAAAABOF0/sgS_KmOk43A/s1600/024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4nqfgxMSs-A/VKS6NhDS57I/AAAAAAABOF0/sgS_KmOk43A/s1600/024.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These ceramic babies have a lot of bearing on my overall weight.</td></tr>
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My friend very kindly offered up some deep dish carbon wheels, too, though only the front wheel is compatible with my bike and its eleven speed Campagnolo groupset.<br />
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She's helping, too, only she's shedding hair instead of weight.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-btHadubTtUA/VKOdYLdYbdI/AAAAAAABOFQ/-MORlODMHWI/s1600/010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-btHadubTtUA/VKOdYLdYbdI/AAAAAAABOFQ/-MORlODMHWI/s1600/010.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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I need all the help I can get. I'd have passed on the wheel, but on January 1st, 2015, <a href="http://www.escapevelocity.bc.ca/" target="_blank">Escape Velocity</a> is holding a two-up Time Trial on River Road, and as you should always begin the year as you mean to continue, I intend to go out there and give it my very best, <a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2014/12/the-year-of-living-dangerously.html" target="_blank">bum knee n'all</a>. They're giving teams with girls on them a handicap, and I have always avoided thinking of myself as someone with a handicap, but today I am happy to claim one.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CwTzAD76lRs/VKTXS92Tj0I/AAAAAAABOKc/ggCWu3wFbts/s1600/018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CwTzAD76lRs/VKTXS92Tj0I/AAAAAAABOKc/ggCWu3wFbts/s1600/018.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and my handy cap.</td></tr>
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I have always loved pretty things, too, and yet my precious Ti Baby has become a frankenbike for the sake of a ride which means nothing at all in the grand scheme of things, but matters to me as the best way to begin a brand new year. What's become of me?!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PsMVqXpCJ3o/VKTRAvmP1zI/AAAAAAABOGw/ptUpL56rprw/s1600/010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PsMVqXpCJ3o/VKTRAvmP1zI/AAAAAAABOGw/ptUpL56rprw/s1600/010.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cat 1? Naaah. One Cat.</td></tr>
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Never would have guessed in a million years that I'd care about shaving weight off a bike. I don't even weigh myself! My bathroom scales have siezed up, so rarely do I use them, and when I bought Ti Baby I chose titanium because other than the odd Gran Fondo, I planned to use the bike to do some touring in the summer. I chose something light but sturdy. Now I dream of riding one of those fifteen pound Fred Chariots, and I hardly recognise the person I see looking back at me from the mirror.<br />
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I have become everything that my hero Snobi Wan despises. I am a stravaddicted weight weenie who loves nothing more than the Saturday club ride, and the Tuesday night criteriums. Yet the one thing I know for certain is that happiness is never 'out there' somewhere. It always comes from acceptance, especially self acceptance, and from finding peace in the moment. So in the end, who cares what people think of me? Lol!! In fact, maybe they should all take a page out of my book and lighten up a little. :D<br />
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But who knows? Maybe I'm just being lb foolish. I'll let you know how tomorrow's race goes.<br />
Thanks for joining me on this beautiful journey, peeps. I hope you enjoy the happiest of new years!<br />
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babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85530486549729740.post-84354334363216360042014-12-28T10:55:00.002-08:002016-04-09T23:30:17.851-07:00The year of living dangerously.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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What. A year. As always you'll have found me mugging it up for the camera throughout. It was a big one, 2014, and scary at times, too.</div>
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<a href="http://spokenscene.blogspot.ca/2014/01/confessions-of-true-dope.html" target="_blank">January started off with a bang</a> when I went into sinus arrest and found myself in the Cardiac Unit at VGH after drinking some tea which disagreed with me.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NyXbZkUp8G8/UuFuSOQPogI/AAAAAAAAMPw/SMe4iv4HzKg/s1600/008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NyXbZkUp8G8/UuFuSOQPogI/AAAAAAAAMPw/SMe4iv4HzKg/s1600/008.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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In June, I crashed and burned on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/127815390624637/" target="_blank">Vets' Ride</a> in Richmond, destroying both my scapula and my clavicle in one fell swoop.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The spectacle</td></tr>
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It was way past time to bone up on my skillz, so I shouldered on and joined the guys at <a href="http://www.escapevelocity.bc.ca/" target="_blank">Escape Velocity</a>, once I'd spent the summer healing up, that is.<br />
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My shoulder is much more stable now, but this body is nothing if not unpredictable, and for the last month I have been struggling with a very painful knee. The doctors even kept talking about trying to save the joint. !!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9SujnHAyQTw/VJ9gk5aUggI/AAAAAAABN-I/5NGZWO2JUyw/s1600/IMAG0309.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9SujnHAyQTw/VJ9gk5aUggI/AAAAAAABN-I/5NGZWO2JUyw/s1600/IMAG0309.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">They say cannabis makes for great pain relief, but this is NOT my idea of a swell joint!</span></td></tr>
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It looks as if the doctors succeeded in their mission, fingers crossed, cause most of the tissue swelling is gone now, blessed be. But the bones themselves are still enlarged. Who knew bones could swell?! Er... never mind! That kind swelling is strictly on a a knee-d to know basis.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S1e3p4ZPi3k/VJ9eWbcUaAI/AAAAAAABN94/1d-jsbhwxkM/s1600/IMAG0371_BURST001_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S1e3p4ZPi3k/VJ9eWbcUaAI/AAAAAAABN94/1d-jsbhwxkM/s1600/IMAG0371_BURST001_1.jpg" width="252" /></a></div>
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It's funny. Even though it hurts something fierce sometimes, and even though I was lucky just to have survived the 2014, I really do love my life. Seriously. What a gift!! I've been blessed with two gorgeous, kind, sweet, bright sons; I have a remarkably tolerant family; beautiful, wonderful, paitent friends; and <a href="http://www.guesshq.com/" target="_blank">the coolest job</a>. <a href="http://www.immmersive.com/" target="_blank">Ever</a>. And even though this crazy old body is <a href="http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/ehlers-danlos-syndrome-pro" target="_blank">unbelievably mutarded</a>, it has taught me how to live well, and the pain involved has even made me into a decent athlete. See? I'm a very lucky woman. Aaaaaaand, if you ask me what Santa brought for Christmas, I'll smile and tell you it is long and hard, with a knob on top, and that you can sit on it. Mmmmmm. That's happy making. :)</div>
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You might be a little bit surprised to learn that it's shorter and narrower than the one that it's replacing, and that I'm good with that.</div>
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I was surprised to discover that of all of the many the things that happened this year, and of all of the stuff I did, handling the shim was likely amongst the most dangerous of them all. Really! What, you don't believe me? See for yourself:</div>
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You see? It might look harmless enough, but it's practically a lethal weapon, the shim. </div>
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Cycling can be dangerous, and failure to heed those strident warnings up there "may result in very serious injury or death!" Even just handling said shim can cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm! Good thing I've already had my kids. Poor boys share my defective genes - the last thing they need is some life threatening shim messing things up. And wouldn't you know it? Whilst installing the bloody thing, I didn't wear my hazmat suit. It was at the cleaners.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What a risk taker!</td></tr>
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Cycling can be dangerous they say. That's why I like to wear safety shoes as often as possible. When I used to teach kids how to ride horses - now there's a safe sport - we always insisted that they wear a heel so that their foot wouldn't slip through the stirrup, so I like to wear a proper heel to ensure my foot doesn't slip off the pedal.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Safety shoes - they're good for the sole.</td></tr>
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Cycling can be dangerous... In this, the year of living dangerously, I couldn't help but notice just how many people driving vehicles were running red lights. Almost every day, I see at least one person in a car run a red, but the real hazard is Vancouver's bus drivers. In the last month alone, I saw nine separate bus drivers honk their horn, speed up, and run a red - not a stale yellow!!- light. I kept track of the bus numbers, the times and the routes of the vehicles involved, and after the first two, I wrote to Translink to let them know about what I've seen, and their response was to ask me to keep the details of thier private investigation private. They asked me not to talk about it. I asked them to ensure that it doesn't happen again, and then I saw seven more drivers do the exact same thing - within a few weeks! So I'm talking about it. Loudly. In this city living dangerously can mean something as simple as walking across the street with the walk signal. So please, the next time you see some crazy-assed, determined cyclist out there on the roads, trying to get to work and back, please just suspend your judgement for a minute, think about the big picture, and slow down a little. Cycling can indeed be dangerous, but it doesn't have to be. Just stop for the lights, and stick to the speed limits, please and thank you. Cause, y'know what the sticker says... failure to heed these warnings may result in serious injury or death.</div>
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Plenty of people think that cycling is a dangerous pastime, even without riding a roadbike, or joining a race team, and sadly, maybe as things stand it actually is. I like the idea of riding safely off into the sunset to live a healthy life - happily ever after...</div>
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but humanity is a long, long way from a healthy happy anything. The small boy wanted a snowboard for Christmas, so Santa -mummy indulged him. Only he can't use it yet, because there isn't any snow on the hills. Nothing. None. De Nada.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ironic, isn't it? Sandbags for rising sea levels, and no snow on the mountains. </td></tr>
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But we continue blithely on, consuming without any thought for tomorrow, with cities full of motorists commuting daily, and driving everywhere, all the time. Worse, much of the time it's one person per massive SUV, whilst the tides rise higher and higher around us. Last month the king tide caused damage throughout the lower mainland, and now sandbags seem to be a permanent feature down at Jericho beach. </div>
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Forget bike racing. <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">That's</span> living dangerously. Sit back a minute, and contemplate the big picture. We really are all in this together, and your choices absolutely do make a difference - every single day.</div>
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Have hope. The times, they <span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">are</span> a changing. This week, <a href="http://www.theprovince.com/travel/Cyclist+wins+from+driver+after+angry+confrontation+crash/10679445/story.html" target="_blank">a judge awarded a cyclist $100,000</a> after a confrontation with an angry truck driver who used his vehicle to threaten the men on bikes caused a cyclist to crash. That might not give YOU hope, but it cheers me up immensely. But there's all sorts of evidence that humanity is slowly but surely changing course, if you look closely. Take Medicine Hat, for example. This is a city in Alberta with a history in the natural gas industry dating back over a century, and yet they are facing the future, and <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/medicine-hat-solar-thermal-plant-embraces-green-energy-1.2883470" target="_blank">embracing renewables</a>. They have installed wind turbines, and even Canada's first solar thermal capture plant in an effort to achieve their 2025 target of supplying 25% of electricity from renewable resources. And even better yet, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/toyota-displays-hydrogen-fuel-cell-car-at-tokyo-motor-show-1.2433862" target="_blank">Toyota has promised to mass produce a hydrogen fuel cell car by 2015</a>.</div>
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Who knows? Maybe there's hope for us yet. With any luck... well, and with the courage to make a few unpopular decisions, we<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> can</span> turn this mess around, so that we won't be living quite so dangerously in a few years time.</div>
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babble onhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08895102832912891306noreply@blogger.com12