MM Oct 12

So I headed out as usual, and arrived arround midnight. It was a pretty big turn-out. I guess everyone thinking this would likely be the last good weather ride in a few months and decided to make the best of the chance.

We headed S on Commercial, then E on 1st, S on Victoria, E on Vanness, S on Nanaimo, E on Kingsway to Central Park (the kids playground). Hah, it was funny watching all (well, many) of these city riders exerting themselves going up mild grades. Huffing and puffing, swaying side to side like a bunch of flatlanders.

I don't know if it is further evidence of the obesity epidemic in today's society, but all the hookers on Kingsway were, shall I say, large. At one of the intersections (either Joyce or Earles, I wasn't paying that much attention), after the lead group I was in got separated from the 'peleton' and was waiting for them to catch up when the lights change, some guy pulled up in the centre lane beside our group (the rear part, as we were in the right lane), got out of his car and ran across Kingsway. He left his female passenger in the car with its motor running. I think he went to an ATM . It was kind of funny, a group of hookers on the sidewalk, 6 or 8 cyclists on the road, and a driverless car.

After socialising for quite a while in the play ground we decided to leave (a significant portion, perhaps half, had already left in ones, twos, and threes). We bombed down Boundary past The Boot ont on to Grandview, headed west, took the cycle route on N. Grandview. When we got to Victoria and the group amassed, the concensus was 4 Brothers pizza on Commercial. Some lined-up straight away, some hung around outside. By the time I got too the head of the line, all the awaiting slices were gone, and there would be a 3 min wait for more. Some of the outside group heard that all the pizza was gone and did not want to wait for more, so they went to another pizza place. Kind of odd, considering the amount of time to go to the new place and having to line up again, they would have been better off waiting. Oh well. Two slices, $3, and conversation time later, I decided to hit the road. Stopped for a bit to watch the outdoor entertainment. Some drunken crack-ho on a (stolen, no doubt) mountain bike was trying to get leftovers from a few of the guys. One of them said he would give her his drink (a can of Five Alive) if she could read what it said on the side (he had the French facing her). She couldn't. Probably couldn't focus- she was swaying and weaving about. How she managed to get there on the bike will forever be a mystery. The guy eventually gave her the rest of his drink, after the entertainment value ceased. She had been trying to sell the bike for $15, but nobody would take it.

I thought I had allowed enough time to get back to Main & Kingsway to catch the bus to Whalley, but I spent too long on my good-byes. I had neglected to account for some drivers' treatment of "Timing Points" as irrelevant. The Fraser and Coquitlam night buses went by the other way on Broadway when I was halfway between Fraser and Kingsway, and the Surrey one is the last to leave downtown. Yet I did not see it cross Broadway, and I got to the stop right at 0300 the timing point. After waiting 5 mins I knew it had gone already and was debating whether or not to head to meet the 0309 departing Howe & Dunsmuir bus, wait for it, or just ride south all the way. I decided to wait. At 0310 a bus approached, but it was not an articulated one as the last N19 is, then I remembered that there were other N19's that operated only as far as Metrotown, and this turned out to be one. So I took it, figuring I could decide my next step en route. I decided to ride on from Metrotown, figuring the 20mins head-start would make a Queensborough/Alex Fraser route faster. I was almost right. Other variables came into play.

Anyhoo, got off the bus on Willingdon (so close to where we had been in Central Park! Oh the irony), rode to the "BC Parkway" bikepath under the SkyTrain and went East to Griffiths, down Griffiths/Ruble/19th/20th to the Queensborough Bridge, through the residential area to Boundary Rd to the cycle route of the Annacis crossing, swith to the right side on anus island to cross Alex Fraser, along the bike path to by the weigh scales, almost have an accident due to about a dozen bricks pulled out of the path paving, spent a few mins replacing this hazard, carried on by zipping down 91 to 72nd, up the hill (when I got to 116th St, it was 0419, the ETA for the N19 at Surrey Central), carried on my usual route (in reverse) to 128th and then Hwy 10 to KGH etc.

Weeeellll, that darn construction at hwy10 & KGH is always a wrinkle. So I'm going along the shoulder (a designated bike route) when suddenly there are barriers blocking the shoulder and those 4ft tall orange plastic pipe/pole markers right at the very edge of the traffic lane's left and right. Since the motorised traffic here tends to travel rather quickly and there is only one narrow usable lane available, I decided to reclaim the shoulder after the cross-wise barriers are past. I did so and had only been on that portion of the road (the shoulder had expanded in width to be that of another full lane plus the shoulder) for about 10 seconds when for some reason unbeknownst too me, my bike went left and I carried on straight. We went down very hard. I sure am glad I always wear full-fingered gloves at night and I had my leggings on. Otherwise the roadrash would have been nasty. I have a huge bruise on the heel of my right hand, a couple of strawberries on my right knee, and a scrape on my hip. My wrist, elbow, shoulder, ribs and back are very sore. After I managed to recover the odd item that departed company from my bike, figure out why my handle bars wouldn't staighten (they were turned almost completely around, so the cabling etc was binding), I decided to find out what had happened. The fresh asphalt was so black that all my lights couldn't reveal the change in the surface. There was a 2nd layer of it to my right (as I was travelling) and it went left to where the right hand side of the current single lane was. The height difference of these two layers was 4", with a nice sharp edge. It was like angling into a sidewalk. I carried on as per Newtonian laws of motion, as did my baby. Too bad we were following different aspects of the laws. I got the continuing in motion part while my bike was influenced by an external force. So the rest of the ride was much slower as I had to do it mostly with one arm/hand. Got home only 15 mins behind schedule, had some tea and two 222's and stuggled to bed. Of course Mr Cat had to jump on my ribs. Ow! Ow! Ow! Getting up in "the morning" ( just before noon) was difficult. Had to roll out. Couldn't sit up.

Last Midnight Mass

Midnight Simon has blogged his account of our last ride (the one I started, then interrupted, and final recounting while on bus disappeared into nothingness, and I didn't redo fully). So check out the Midnight Mass blog from my Velolove links. He has posted pictures and a short video clip (I appear at the 4 second mark, screen left. Recognisable by the left-rear pannier on my baby, blinkies under my saddle and on my knapsack, and I'm the only one with bare legs).

here is a little video Simon shot of Bicycle Polo in East Van

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTIQX2rNYlQ

to see some of his other clips, search YouTube for "midnightmass" (his youtube user name), and you will also find 2 "thunderdome" ones, from the minibike madness party.

There is another ride tonight, and it looks like we'll have good weather. So I'd better stop and get some sleep. I have to change my chain and do some work on my rear derailleur. Oh, and I have a NEW light. A really bright 3watt LED. It is actually a very small aluminium flashlight (about 4" long) that I have mounted on a removable handlebar bracket. Now if I could rig up some other mount for the 55watt halogen spotlamp from Canadian Tire (it's just as bright as a car headlight), then I could really surprise some unsuspecting motorised-death-agent-on-wheels. HaHaHa, maybe soon. But not for a MM run, too much light would spoil the atmosphere.

just for pix

Stupid Bus Patrons

There is a reason some people call the bus "The Loser Cruiser", it surely does have more than its share of idjits. Like the ones who line up blocking the exit doors so people can't get off the highway coaches 'cuz they're standing in the way. Just step back a pace or two. Or the ones who think that a cyclist who was at the stop before them, but must put the bike on the rack before getting on (it would be rather hard to do otherwise, methinks) is in the line behind them. It usually makes no difference, but it is really annoying. And the people who pull the bell one or two stops too soon, or only 30 feet before the stop they want and blame the driver for missing the stop. Or the ones who stop bus#XXX, then ask the driver how long till bus #XYZ arrives. How about those who stand at the stop for over 5 mins, then get on the bus and say "it'll just be a minute for me to get out my change". WTF!!!! Get your F-ing money out while you are waiting you F-ing moron! Arrrrgh!

Pirate Quiz Sucks!

Red Harry Kidd. WTF!!! What a dull name for a pirate! And it's not that I don't have any Pirate-like qualities. I've even been involved in pirate sea-battles, weilding a cutlass and all. OK, true that was in a dream, but it was very real. I even got stabbed in the chest with a sword (and it was very painful. Hot-burning sensation).