The Wingnuterer

Archive for the ‘Biking Toronto’ Category

Well it was a great long weekend, and even better if you were not stuck in your car trying to get around Caronto, The Ford Nation,… Seriously, didn’t Rob Fraud Ford say he was going to fix this traffic gridlock thingy that was causing all the car drivers major grief?  Look don’t get me wrong, I own and drive a car in Caronto,… although I am trying to do it less and less.  Why?  Simple, you can get around this city faster on bike than you can by car, proof of this was getting down to Ashbridges Bay for the fireworks show.  Mark and I outstripped the car traffic easily.  We got from the High Park area to Ashbridges Bay in about 25-30 minutes.  After the fireworks, we got out of there and home while people who drove were still driving to get out to main road.

Anyhoo, I managed to get a few pictures of fireworks and one of the CN Tower doing a good impression of the UFO from ELO.

[View with PicLens]

Other reasons to reduce your car use and cycle include

1. I have loss more then 15 pounds in the last 3 months
2. You save money in gas
3. Rule #1 and rule #2 Less Gas, Less Ass
4. You’d be amazed at what there is in this city, and you’ll never see from your car.
5. You will piss off Rob Ford by merely being on the roads of OUR CITY

I know I haven’t been blogging much lately,… but I really have a good excuse for it,… actually it is more of a series of excuses caused by one event in my life,… but the excuses are for another blog post,… one that will do it justice.

Anyhoo,… I have been out biking around Toronto, mainly at night.  I have started to pack along my Nikon D80, now that I proper bags that fit my bike.  On my ride last night I was coming back from Tommy Thompson Park and I was passing Cherry Beach and I saw a music video shoot.  It was the band Low Level Flight (not that I ever heard them before)  Don’t know what song they record for, it didn’t sound too bad.  I managed to get a few semi-non-crappy pictures

I know they are not the best, but since they were shooting a video, I didn’t think they would want a flash going off and I didn’t have a tripod.  So I pushed the ISO to 1600 and tried to hold as steady as possible.

Just got hit on my bike while cycling south at Yonge Street.  It happened at one of those intersection where it is two “T” intersections.   I saw the guy creeping forward into the intersection and I was already in it.   It was happening like it was molasses.  I started to break and veer and knew it was too late.  The only thought that went through y mind was, “This is really really going to hurt”

Surprisingly it didn’t hurt, a very minor scrap on my knee.  My bike’s rear derailleur is really messed up thought.  It can’t set a gear properly know when the chain is on the larger of two front sprockets.

Hopefully nothing else is damaged.  There’s a bike shop right around the corner from my place and I’ll see how good the shop is.

This really sucks.

Last Thursday there was a story being aired on 680 News that Rob Ford was going to get rid of the Bike Lanes on Jarvis.  The 680News went out of it’s way to find and interview motorists and cyclists who were against the bike lanes.  Later on Ford’s office claimed it was all rumours and innuendo, yadda, yadda, yadda.

We are now expecting Ford’s grand new cycling plan for the city with $50 million for new off road trails for bikes and $5 million for cycling road lanes,… ya, I’ll let you do the math,…

Anyhoo,  when I heard the news, rumour, innuendo from our Corpulent Overlard, Jabba the Ford, I wrote him a letter asking how many phone calls constitutes a “Flood” , Here’s my letter/email;

I heard on the news (680 News) that Mr. Ford’s Mayoral Office has been “Flooded”  with complaints about the bike lanes on Jarvis Street in Toronto.  As a result of this “Flood” it has been reported that Mr. Ford is thinking of eliminating the these bike lanes.  This is a very serious issue and I would appreciate it if Mr. Ford’s Office provided some documentary evidence of these phone calls, the actual number, what percentage of the people complaining are actually Toronto Tax Payers.

I thank you in advance for the speedy reply.

Philip XXX Zorpheous

Now remember, this was before Ford’s Office released “it was all rumours, and innuendos”.  I thought this might be an interesting exercise in seeing how quick Lard Tubby got back to me,…  Well tickle me pink and slap my mother, I got a very quick response Rob Ford,… Ok his office,… ok automated RoboMail,… not very impressive after all,… An OOO Reply in Outlook can handle this,… I guess we should thank one of Ford’s lackeys for taking the time to set it up.  Anyways, here is the Timely, RoboMail Response from our Corpulent Overlard’s MS Exchange Server (I highlighted the double plus goodie parts)

From:	Mayor Ford <Mayor_Ford@toronto.ca>
To:	XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

---

Thank you for your email.

As I promised during the mayoralty election, I am dedicated to delivering customer service excellence, creating a transparent and accountable government‡, reducing the size and cost of government and building a transportation cityΘ.

I will continue to work on behalf of the taxpayers to make sure you get the respect you deserve.

This note is to confirm that we have received your email and that we are looking into your matter.

Please feel free to follow up to check the status of your email.†

Thanks again and have a great day.

Yours truly,

Mayor Rob Ford

City of Toronto

We’re all in this together.

Θ ~ Build the Transportation City.  Ah, one of Ford’s greatest “say everything and do nothing” election slogans.  Ok, so Ford wants people to get around quickly and efficiently, that just great.  On days when I drive my car, I spend more time in traffic jams than I can ever remember.  The drive from my place on Davenport to my main clients place take 30 minutes during rush hour.  On my bike 16 to 18 minutes, and I don’t need to pay for fuel or parking.  You do the math,…  Oh and by the the, the Cars actually slow me down, not the other way around.

‡ ~ Transparent and Accountable Government,  Ok, I have zero doubt in my mind that the original news was leaked from Ford’s Office, after all, where would have rumours of “A Flood of Complaints” come from.  So why the false story and then the old denial bs?  Simple Ford wants to be seen as the type of mayor who isn’t going to do anything rash and seen as the guy who has a plan.  $50 million for bike trails and $5 million for cycling road lanes,… so where are these “Off road bike trails” suppose to go in downtown Toronto?  Is Ford going to dig a subterranean network of interconnected biking tunnels that crisscross the GTA?  Will there be elevate bike trails running up Yonge Street and Jarvis?  Maybe Jabba the Ford is thinking of Helium Suspended, Lighter Than Air, Cycling Superstructures,…

Can’t wait to cycle the lighter than air fantango.

† ~ Please feel free to follow up to check the status of your email. Gee isn’t he just great, I am free to check my own email to see if one of his Lackey’s has followed up (automated RoboMail doesn’t count for shyte).  So I guess all this “I am dedicated to delivering customer service excellence” is just noise.  After all, real customer service usually means a time line for completion, a realistic measure of real response time.  So I wonder what a reasonable response time for Jabba the Ford’s Office should be?  I think ten business day is an appropriate amount of time to expect a real and proper response.  Now not expecting Ford to email me his cycling infrastructure plans for my approval, just proper response to my questions.

The clock is ticking,…

It has been days since we had an descent weather, and I was not about to waste an evening like last night.  I had just picked up my repaired iPod from the Apple Store (note to self, do not machine wash the iPod again), and got my limited music collection restored to it.  So I grabbed my little Sony P7, iPod, lights, netbook, rocketstick and all the gear required when you are 24/7 IT guy and hit the road,…

Toronto is an amazing city, with hidden oasis’s of maximum zen,…  Personally I just ride, with a general idea of where I want to go,… but rarely ever get there (or at least that is my track record so far).  I ended up in the Outer Harbour last night as dusk was hitting the city when I finally ran out of road, path and finally land.  At Lands End I found a curiosity, it seems someone went for sail and ran out of water,…

Ponderous man,… Truly ponderous,….

Last night was new personal best for me, covered 46.5 km in 2 hours and 19 minutes with an average sustained speed of 20.0 kph.  No too bad considering my shape