Take the Lane

Here's my bike, #11

I met Kelly Gray and Pam Gray at the start line for the second half of the MS Bike Tours Brampton to Waterloo fundraising ride on Sunday.

I couldn't help but notice that his Giant Cypress was pretty heavily loaded for a fully supported charity ride, even for an all-day ride in hot weather. He wasn't just packing extra water.

Kelly, of Brampton, is a ham radio operator (VE3VGP-9) as is Pam (in the blue and shirt jersey, VA3PAM). He was kitted out with a portable ham station, linked to his GPS. The result was that he was broadcasting his location as the ride progressed, and could monitor weather and road conditions ahead. Having all this gear meant big-time battery power, but his Giant carried the load well.

Here's my bike #10

Scott Little of Kitchener has been riding a bicycle since he was six, which would make that about 40-something years of cycling.

His current bike is a Kuwahara Fastlane 150 that he has had for six years, and uses for errands around town and up to St. Jacobs.

"I just enjoy being able to bike around. I travel with the bike . . . I've biked in Costa Rica and Jamaica. When I go camping, I throw the bike in the back of the truck."

Here's my bike, #9

When the weather is good, Luc Duchaine of Waterloo can put some serious klicks on his Kona Fire Mountain. He uses his bike to cycle-commute, five times a week, from Waterloo to Cambridge and return.

He sometimes rides it in the winter, where the disc brakes prove their worth. He's had the bike "a few years" and before that, owned a Specialized product.

His worst biking moment? "Almost getting hit by a truck. I had to slam my hand on his hood to stop."

His best biking moment? "When I can beat my record riding to work." It usually takes him about 90 minutes. His best time so far is an hour.

Here's my bike, #8

Shannon Pennington of Waterloo has the right idea. It's a nice day, we've got errands to run, let's take the bikes.

So yesterday, she went on a ride down to Kitchener via the Iron Horse Trail to pick up some Wonderland tickets with her daughter Abigale Struyk, 7, and son Jonah Struyk, 4.

Pennington has been riding for more than 30 years (she started as a tot!) and is passing on her cycling genes to the kids.

She's riding a venerable Raleigh Sentinel. Abigale is on a fully suspended used Raleigh Firestorm that was a recent gift from a neighbour. The bike has already had two bike-loving teen owners who kept it in great shape. Jonah is riding behind Mom on an Adams Trail-a-Bike, but Abigale reports that "he has four or five bicycles," including a pedal-free walking bike from Germany.

Forget Beautiful People; try Beautiful Bicycles

My blogging peers will no doubt have great sport with the Canadian launch of BeautifulPeople.net.

It's an elite club where those who can give great face post their pictures and are rated by others members (who gets to be the first members, I wonder). Anyway, I thought that was what FaceBook was for. Apparently I misunderstood the intention of that social networking system.

The object of BeautifulPeople.net is to be an online meet market where the prime cuts can exchange relevant bio information (hmmm, FaceBook again) and eventually hook up.

Doncha think we should have a two-wheeler version? It could take the idea behind Here's My Bike! and ratchet it up a notch or two. Submit a photo of your bicycle and then the existing members of BeautifulBikes.net can vote on whether the bike is beautiful enough to play with the rest of the bicycles.

Oh, wait, that's what weeknight training rides are for...

Here's my bike, #7

Julie Anne Kent of London is the proud owner of Princess Pinkerella, a True North bike built for her by Hugh Black a few years back.

Kent was a bit hesitant about showing her wheels, but felt encouraging people to talk about bikes, and then ride them, is a worthy endeavour.

She uses the Princess to commute, get groceries or just adventure.

Princess P. has travelled the streets of Vancouver, visited the west coast islands, drifted through jazz and folk festivals and even took part in this year's Paris-Ancaster race.

"She handled superbly. She's a faithful steed," said Kent.

Here's my bike, #6

Here's a group shot for Here's My Bike.

The members of the 21st Waterloo Scout troop went on a bicycle hike two weekends ago, from Burlington to Toronto.

According to Scouter Liam Morland, they rode 89 kilometres, from Burlington to Toronto, over two days. (Since it appears they used mountain bikes and hybrids for this trip, they should get a round of applause.)

If you are interested in knowing more about the 21st Waterloo, click here.

False start on Here's my bike!

I liked the idea of showing pictures of people's bikes, which is why I started Here's my bike! last year.

Only a few people sent me pictures of their bikes, so this year, I thought I'd carry a camera around with me and just take pix of people on their bikes.

I figured I had a likely target today: young couple on their bikes, just heading somewhere with some plastic grocery bags of stuff. Great. Utilitarian cycling. I stopped, talked to them about their support for cycling, took their picture and watched them ride off. And as I looked at my notes and looked at them riding away, I realized that neither was wearing a helmet and both were under 18.

I want to keep this real, but not promote illegal activity. So, this time, no picture, no story.

Here's my bike, #5

Bill Parker of Edmonton is living the cycling dream. Or nightmare, depending on your point of view.

He's spending the bulk of this year riding from Edmonton to Newfoundland, in the not most direct of routes.

A marriage breakup meant "it was time to start something new," he said, when I got him to pull over on Homer Watson Boulevard in Kitchener a few minutes ago.

In March, he set out from Edmonton, with the goal of visiting a few addresses in Newfoundland. He may not make it quite that far, depending on how long his money and the goodwill of the people he meets hold out.

He's slept outside in minus 30 degree weather, in $100-a-night motels and in spare rooms and rec rooms. One family in Winnipeg -- "And their last name was Alberta" -- put him up for nine days of bad weather.

In eight or so bags, he has his life packed on a Trek Navigator 100 with a step-through frame: 170 pounds of bike and gear, including his shaving mirror, a crank flashlight and a tiny Casio colour TV. The 47-year-old Parker himself is only 135 pounds.

Today he came into the Waterloo Region from the Niagara-Hamilton area, using the rail trails. He's heading for Toronto, and then north into Barrie and Orillia, seeing the sights, meeting people, and covering about 80 or so kilometres a day.

The worst part of the trip? "The north. So isolated. Nothing to look at. You look forward to seeing a radio tower."

The next big goal? "Montreal. I haven't been since Expo 67."

Here's my bike, #4

This road warrior is the companion of regular contributor Alan Medcalf, who says,

"Meet Barbarella. She’s a Cannondale R2000 road bike born in the summer of 1999 in Bedford, Penn., handmade in aluminum and outfitted with Cane Creek and Shimano components. Since I adopted her, she’s carried me 52,000 km of the 55,000 km I’ve ridden since Fall ’99.
"Barbarella and I have crossed Canada from Vancouver to St. John’s, ridden from Vancouver to Calgary via Jasper twice, toured Vancouver Island, all over Ontario, and around Nova Scotia. Last summer, her aging frame carried me on a tour of the B.C. interior, climbing 9,200 m in six of the seven days of the adventure.
"It also took her almost two hours to carry me the 1,200 m and 20 km from Vernon up to the Silver Star resort. After a large ice cream, she redeemed herself by making the trip back down in only 20 minutes.
"Barbarella is definitely showing her age though. Her frame, handlebars, cranks and seatpost are original, yet everything else has been replaced more than once as it wore out. 
"She’s still quick and nimble, especially since I gave her a nice light set of wheels I built myself. Befitting her age (and mine) she’s got a stem that puts the bars at the same height as the seat, a rear rack, and mountain bike gearing on the back."