This is what you signed up for. Actual biking in HRM. Whooda thunk that I’d get around to doing what I said I’d do.
Ms. Ayanami
This isn’t bicycle related, but it combines a few of my other hobbies, so I’m getting a few things out of my system with a single stroke. I do rather enjoy Japanese animated cinema, especially the TV series this character comes from: Neon Genesis Evangelion. She is Rei Ayanami, a pilot of a giant robot combatant (those nutty Japanese, eh?). I’m not a particularly avid photographer, but once in a while, you just gotta snap a few.
Posted by cbt260 on 13 April 2010
http://c260.wordpress.com/2010/04/13/ms-ayanami/
A Demise Narrowly Averted
Danger! This is probably the reason more people don’t ride bicycles. In the video below the screeching tires you hear aren’t the car’s. They’re mine. I didn’t know that a bike could come to a screeching halt, but you heard it here first.
The car didn’t exactly come out of nowhere. You can see it pull out of the shop across the street and slowly cut across all lanes. One can easily imagine that the driver of the car did see me and just didn’t expect me to brake, since I could have passed through there if I hadn’t slowed down. I just decided to be cautious.
I can’t say that this happens often. Ninety nine times out of a hundred, I barrel down this hill at the same speed without incident. I’ve travelled easily near a thousand kilometers on this bike, and a car has never nicked me, let alone caused any harm. But it’s scary. Let’s not beat around the bush here. This sort of thing you don’t want to happen because it represents, if nothing else, a grey hair that you just didn’t need.
I like to think it might have helped if was travelling in the centre of my lane, rather than the far right side of it. I was coming down the hill pretty fast—nearly at par with the cars behind me. When you’re travelling at traffic speed, there’s no reason anyone should need to pass. If I had been in the middle of the lane, it would have been harder for that driver to ignore my approach and required space.
Posted by cbt260 on 16 November 2009
http://c260.wordpress.com/2009/11/16/a-demise-narrowly-averted/
Pump it up
I’ve known this for a while, but yesterday I was reminded that something as simple as checking the pressure in your tires can make a truly enormous difference in how easy it is to ride. Once a week, or every time you ride. You’ll be glad you did. I’m serious. You’ll have a brand new bike. Don’t bother to ask how much pressure—it’s written for you convenience on the side of the tire. Do it now.
Posted by cbt260 on 28 October 2009
http://c260.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/pump-it-up/
Acquisition
Around the end of April last year, I went to the local Canadian Tire hardware store to check out the bicycles. I had a birthday coming up, and I wanted to know if there was one that impressed me enough to ask for one. My other gift choice had been an iPod touch, which I’ve wanted for months, so I would have had to be very impressed by a bike to use a birthday wish on one. I was.
Schwinn iZIP
I had known about electric bikes for about a year. I had seen them before and had seriously considered it then. But this fateful evening I just happened to stumble upon a deal. Some of the electric bikes they had were on sale that day. Not one to refuse a bargain or miss an opportunity, I phoned home and discussed getting an early birthday present before the sale ran out. It was agreed.
So I ended up buying a Schwinn IZIP electric bicycle and a helmet. Since I had got to the store by bus, and couldn’t get the thing home that way, I had to ride it back to my apartment, several kilometres away. I was lucky, though, because the battery had already been charged. Otherwise, I might never have made it.
This bike, for all its utility, is very heavy. Fully loaded, it weighs almost as much as I do. I say “fully loaded,” because within only a few days was outfitted with six optional accessories. I got a rear carrier, a bag to go on the carrier, a tire pump, a front-wheel fender, a tail light and a first aid kit.
Don’t be fooled, however. This isn’t the biking equivalent of one of those RVs with the satellite dish on top. This ride is certainly not “pimping.” Its full title is an electric-assisted bicycle, which means that it has regular pedals and seven gears for the vast majority of the ground that it covers. I only use the motor when I’m going up hills or when I need an extra-fast start.
I’m really enjoying getting out around my neighbourhood and getting to know my city. I find that when I’m walking I’m always trying to follow the most direct route, and when I’m riding a bus I always see the same routes over and over. Now I get to explore and not worry about how long it’ll take or how I’ll get back. It’s not a stretch of the imagination to say that I’ve covered a lot of ground since then. Six hundred kilometres would be a reasonable estimate.
Posted by cbt260 on 4 October 2009
http://c260.wordpress.com/2009/10/04/19/
Where I’ve gone
My many happy wanderings around the county I call home.
This is a map of Halifax county, courtesy of Google Maps. All the red dots indicate a place I’ve stopped or visited while riding around on my bike. The green dot on the middle represents the approximate location of c260 world headquarters.
Posted by cbt260 on 1 October 2009
http://c260.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/where-ive-gone/
Push the button, Frank
In a nod to my favourite blogger, I’ll start the way Andy finishes. There will be a number of things here, but the heart of the matter is getting around Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford and the Sackvilles without the use of an internal combustion engine. It’s tough getting from A to B in HRM, a city designed from the outset to have everything in walking distance, or require a car to anywhere else.
What’s going to get you there? I lean towards bicycles, but your milage may vary. If you do like to bike, maybe I can help you get where you’re going a little easier.
Posted by cbt260 on 1 October 2009
http://c260.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/push-the-button-frank/
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