Saturday, October 21, 2006
Metropolitan travels
Lately, I haven’t had much exciting to write about. Is it because of my changing definition of “exciting”?
I doubt it.
I’ve barely pushed my bike around at all; only once to work, plus a few short trips. Instead, I’ve needed to be pulled around by my car for 3 work days out of five. I say “needed” because I’m covering huge distances around the metropolitan area, and I like my job. I don’t expect it to last long.
The traffic jams on the major highways are unbelievable sometimes. I'm glad it's a rare occurence for me to see them. I can't understand how people choose to spend hours there every day.
At least on the weekends, I’m getting outside. Last weekend I rode down to meet up with the fine people from Human Powered Vehicles Toronto (we’re working on a new name, albeit slowly). It’s always a fun time, and anyone who likes to eat, drink and/or talk about anything bike related is welcome to join us.
On the way there, I passed one cyclist towing around a trailer with a huge laundry sink. The sink obviously wasn’t enough of a challenge for him because he had stacked all kinds of other stuff on top and in front.
Then I pulled up to a red light where a guy collecting money from passers-by asked me if I wanted to buy his bike. He said it was a birthday gift from his friend. “It’s a really nice bike, but it’s too small for me.” It was a mid sized hybrid bike and he was a mid sized guy. I guess I could have explained to him how to adjust his seat height, but I wasn’t sure my time would have been well spent.
After I reached a bike lane on College Street, I got distracted watching the way a guy on a fixie was pedaling. He was approaching a red light and was sort of hopping his rear wheel up and down. I was dazzled trying to figure out how this affected his pedaling and if it was for any particular purpose. I snapped out of it when I realized that I had just passed a car that was stopped in the rightmost-car-lane with its right turn signal on. Not so smart, I thought to myself.
Tomorrow, I’m riding downtown with a friend of mine. We’re meeting up with one more person to go watch a radio show be recorded. The show is Go. I'm sure it'll be exciting since those people on Oprah always look like they're having a good time. Although I think they're a little drunk from the anticipation of being given a new car or house.
I was talking to my cousin recently about language. He mentioned the roots of the word “Metropolis” and the modern words connected. Here’s my summary -->
I doubt it.
I’ve barely pushed my bike around at all; only once to work, plus a few short trips. Instead, I’ve needed to be pulled around by my car for 3 work days out of five. I say “needed” because I’m covering huge distances around the metropolitan area, and I like my job. I don’t expect it to last long.
The traffic jams on the major highways are unbelievable sometimes. I'm glad it's a rare occurence for me to see them. I can't understand how people choose to spend hours there every day.
At least on the weekends, I’m getting outside. Last weekend I rode down to meet up with the fine people from Human Powered Vehicles Toronto (we’re working on a new name, albeit slowly). It’s always a fun time, and anyone who likes to eat, drink and/or talk about anything bike related is welcome to join us.
On the way there, I passed one cyclist towing around a trailer with a huge laundry sink. The sink obviously wasn’t enough of a challenge for him because he had stacked all kinds of other stuff on top and in front.
Then I pulled up to a red light where a guy collecting money from passers-by asked me if I wanted to buy his bike. He said it was a birthday gift from his friend. “It’s a really nice bike, but it’s too small for me.” It was a mid sized hybrid bike and he was a mid sized guy. I guess I could have explained to him how to adjust his seat height, but I wasn’t sure my time would have been well spent.
After I reached a bike lane on College Street, I got distracted watching the way a guy on a fixie was pedaling. He was approaching a red light and was sort of hopping his rear wheel up and down. I was dazzled trying to figure out how this affected his pedaling and if it was for any particular purpose. I snapped out of it when I realized that I had just passed a car that was stopped in the rightmost-car-lane with its right turn signal on. Not so smart, I thought to myself.
Tomorrow, I’m riding downtown with a friend of mine. We’re meeting up with one more person to go watch a radio show be recorded. The show is Go. I'm sure it'll be exciting since those people on Oprah always look like they're having a good time. Although I think they're a little drunk from the anticipation of being given a new car or house.
I was talking to my cousin recently about language. He mentioned the roots of the word “Metropolis” and the modern words connected. Here’s my summary -->
Darren J 10/21/2006 12:50:00 a.m.
1 Comments:
I do the back wheel jumping for 2 reasons:
1) if you aren't stopped yet it is easier to stop pedaling the back wheel while it is in the air.
2) it is easier to do a track stand with the pedals level with the ground, so if you want to inch forward, you can skip, rotate the pedals backwards a bit, and then inch forward until the pedals are approximately level again.
1) if you aren't stopped yet it is easier to stop pedaling the back wheel while it is in the air.
2) it is easier to do a track stand with the pedals level with the ground, so if you want to inch forward, you can skip, rotate the pedals backwards a bit, and then inch forward until the pedals are approximately level again.
