Midnight Mass May 24th

For Royalists, May 24th is the REAL Victoria Day. (Just a little aside). I headed to MM with purpose. To make sure that Simon's baby has a life of its own. The 1st one while he is away. I arrived 23:40, mere seconds behind the first arrival. It was his 2nd one (his 1st was last summer) so he wondered where all the people were. Sure enough, 23:47 a few more arrived, and by 11:55 there were at least 20. The atmosphere was a little subdued, being Simonless I presume, and people seemed a little hesitant, not sure how it would turn out. There were some new faces, a good bunch of regulars, and some newer to MM in the past few rides.
At a couple minutes past midnight, somebody asked when the ride would leave. Another person responded with 'then call "5 minutes" '. Then Kati J showed up, and I said "here's Kati J, we can go now" and another person seconded the motion. A few people made the roll-out call of "2 minutes", somebody else called "5 minutes", and another started calling numbers randomly, like a rocket launch count-down that had been jumbled. But we actually started rolling about 00:10. Destination 'Oak & 33rd'.
So we go along Commercial and turn onto 10th Ave, nothing unusual in that, after all 10th is a bike route, but the leading riders pull into the China Creek skate park. There were a few boarders there, eventhough it is pitch black, no lights, and we start talking with a couple of them. Then a couple bikes go for the bowls. I took a couple of spind too. Never having visited them in daylight, it was kinda eerie, a black abyss when going over the edge, then the bike light is at the right angle to shine into the bowl and then the bike is in the bottom, and speed nust be maintained to get out the other side or to ride the bowl itself without sliding down sideways. If you don't go fast enough you can't ride at an angle which will allow full pedal rotation, and if you can't pedal fully, lack of speed means side-slipping into the bottom, and not enough speed to ride out of it. It was a fun little detour, but it didn't last long, only 1/2 dozen or so tried it, them we aboandoned it to the boarders.
Onward to our quest. At Oak & Douglas a few stopped as the lead goup carried on, and asked if we weren't going to "The Ghettodrome" (alias 'The Crescent' to motorists and Shaughnessy residents). The response was 'no, Oak & 33rd, we can always come back if it sucks'. Further along Oak st we attained 33rd, and Eric Hamber S.S. in particular, noting the oval track. In we go. After stopping briefly to extinguish headlights and putting rear ones in 'steady' mode (no flashing) we boot it around the track a few times. OK, so not EVERYONE did, but most went around at least once. After testing the track a bit we hung out as usual. As the night went on, a few people departed bit by bit till it was suggested to go for food. About a dozen of us headed for the Naam again. Some turned left at 12th some at 10th, but I like going down Broadway at this time of night (it was only about 01:30), so I did. Then when I hit Arbutus, I felt like doing something different. I was at the Naam 2 weeks ago with the gang, why not go to Seigels. So I did. Only problem was that I didn't know Seigels is no longer 24hrs. I check my watch, lots of time to catch the 02:09 NightBus back to Whalley. Went to Vanier Park, took a few pictures of the city lights and their reflections from English Bay, then cruised over Burrard Bridge, down Hornby to Dunsmuir and wrong-wayed it over to Howe, put my bike on the N19's rack, and waited for the driver to get back. Had a nice conversation with another couple waiting for the bus. At 02:15 we note that he's a little late, and just then he arrives. The woman had been saying that they usually leave right on time, and then notices that their bus isn't one of the ones in line. Turned out their's waits south of Dunsmuir, while all the other are on the north side, and it had left already. Ah well, they'll only have another 20 mins or so to wait now.
The bus driver sits for a bit, and we don't leave until 02:20. The run was quite busy, therefore quite slow. But that just meant we didn't have to wait at the various 'timing points', and arrive Scurvy Central 03:23. I arrive home after a 48 min ride. Some time in the future I'll have to race this guy. Without telling him of course.

One More Reason to Hate Anaheim Mighty Ducks

'Cuz now I have to hope Ottawa wins the Stanley Cup!

Add'l Add'n

So last night after I got off the bus I checked out where the bikes were left for pick-up, and yes, the one I didn't take was still there, so I wheeled it home. Maybe I'll hack it up and make a skookum trailer out of the pieces. Also, the 2nd one's handle bar looks like a perfect fit to be my mini's new seat post. Hah! Full leg extension here we come!
It's nice that our neighbour's WiFi is more predictable these days (wink wink, nudge nudge)
1st day off of 3, errand day, 'cuz tomorrow is Midnight Mass, and Friday Critical Mass (THE PIRATE RIDE! YAAARRRR!!!). Oh yeah, this evening is a pre VeloDeco gathering. What is "VeloDeco"? Check the Bicycle Bee link the the right.
JE(A)F: Woodward Hill is the one on KGH from Colebrook Rd to 64th Ave, Johnston Hill is the one on Hwy 1 from the Port Mann Bridge to the 152nd exit, and for further knowledge, Peterson Hill is the one on KGH from 128th St to 108th Ave (East of the Patullo Bridge).
Ripped a couple of CD's and scanned the booklets for David.
Well, I'm off shopping for now. I need comestible supplies.

Another addition

On my way to work I found 2 more bikes somebody on the Surrey side of 16th had put out curbside with the recycling. But I didn't have time to take both back home, so I just took one. Perhaps the other will still be there when I get home. They were older mtb's, ladies frames, steel, not bad shape mechanically on cursory inspection. Good chopper material.

Carrying on the week-end's activities (read scans 1st)

So I watched the polo Saturday, looked like a lot of fun. But as I really couldn't risk accidental dammage to my main ride ('cuz bike polo can be hazardous to your bike's health) I didn't join in when any of the games started. I t did rain off and on, at one point enough for me to put on my rain pants. I did have some left-overs from Fri. night, so I drank them (4). I took a few pictures, I'll put them up on Picasa soon. Ditto for Fri's BBQ. Eventually the last few players started to pack it in, and I headed for the bus. It was into the hourly service time, so I had to wait 45 mins, and got on @ 19:11 Broadway & Granville. Got home an hour later, had some bulgur again, and went to bed.
Sun. 0300, alarm goes off. I'm still tired and I have preparations to do, but I decide to wait for alarm #2 (0315), same again, but for #3 @ 0330 I actually get up. I have my pre-ride drink (an own preparation of Creatine, açai powder mix (from Nu Greens, has other stuff in it), Glutamine, Chromium/Vanadium, and some other pre-mix I can't recall at present, mixed in juice). I pack up my breakfast and put in in my pack, along with my ride drink, stuff I might get around to doing during the slow times at work, snacks, lunch, cameras, etc., put on my gear. Doing these things while tired takes alot longer that it should. Now it is 0400, what I consider ideal departure time. But I was hoping to rig some way of taking the mini with me for "RolloDerby" (like rollerderby, but on mini-bikes). After about 15 mins I thought I had it all set, but when I tried it in the driveway it became obvious that it wouldn't work. So more time wasted as I detatch the mini and put it back in the house. A quick time check, 0422, eeek, gotta hammer it all the way now. The usual removal of now superfluous clothing at KGH & 144A, time check KGH & #10 0445 means I've made up some time, but I'm still behind schedule, got out my drink early @ #10Hwy & 138th (the street doesn't actually go through, but one can see it through the trees), on 128th turning left onto 72nd its now 0500, and I should be at Scott Rd, so I'm doing OK now, as long as I can keep up the pace. I boot it down 72nd averaging 37km/h, but when I hit the downhill by 112St I'm up to 60km/h (I think the car behind me that is inchingly gaining is surprised, I past by him/her at stopped at a cross street a ways back). I know 60 really isn't that fast, but when carrying weight it makes a big difference to the handling, and that hill isn't steep enough or long enough to go much faster than that. The weather starts to change as I'm on the Alex Fraser, so mid-span I put my jacket & pants back on as well as reverting to the full fingered gloves. The sidewalk is wet, so I can't go more than 35km/h down the other side (when dry it is safe to do 42km/h). I get accross the footbridge over Hwy91A at 0525, meaning I'll get to work on time. When I make it to Westminster Hwy west of the 91 overpass I settle in to a 30km/h-90rpm groove which lasts all the way to Sidaway/Jacombs. Cool. Usually I change up my cadence and gearing because it feels better, but this time I really hit "the zone". I felt great. I had been travelling on the bike path on the South side of Westminster, but now I had to change to the right side. I didn't do it when the path ended because of traffic (didn't want to spoil the groove), and now on the Frontage road at Sidaway there was more traffic, including a cop car, so I had to stop & hit the "walk" button. When I restarted my legs didn't feel to co-operative at first, but then it was OK. The groove was gone, but I still maintained a decent speed, varying from 27->32 km/h., and got to work with a few mins to spare. Time check 0556. 1 hour 34 mins. My best "loaded" time yet. About 6 yrs ago I did 1hr 25 min trip, but I wasn't carrying any weight, and I had slept in and was going to be late. Younger legs + incentive = better time.
The work day was pretty much the same crap as always, unfortunately, and it pissed rain most of the time, and still was when I left. So not having the mini was OK, I just went home. After a while I made a fire from the willow I stashed away the other day. I was looking forward to tomorrow (today) with a planned group ride from E Van to Sasamat Lake before going to work.
Unfortunately, when I got up at 0800 I had a kink in my back, and its muscles were sore, so I decided not to go after all. Reported such on the Fixed Van. forum, had breakfast, and went back to bed. Got back up at Noon, went to work, and here we are in the present tense. Ahhhh, holiday Mondays! Extra slow (how else could I finish this long narrative), and real money to boot.

Kickball & Bar-B-Q

So the day started off OK, as the weather was co-operative, except my mood was not. Thus I did not get up til after noon. With the shortened time available to do stuff, I prioretised. 1. Improve spirits by checking my bike out (needed some air in the tires) and riding around a bit just outside the house. Then did the same for the mini. Felt better. Next was to attend to the cheapo trailer. I tightened the spokes up a bit while making sure they were close to true (the tires still seem a little suspect). Then I put them on the trailer, bolted on two pieces of tubing, and popped it into shape. Now to attatch it! #@*&^$*@!? thingy! Had to play around with the clamp to get it to work. Stupid thing. At last for a test ride. Wasn't too bad. Didn't have time to do a disassemly to remove the nylon kiddie-carrying capacity. I suppose that will follow soon though. With the prospect of rain forecast, I then tackled the lawn. Finished it in the nick of time, just as the first few droplets arrived. Then I moved a bunch of the firewood (put it in big buckets) to under the sundeck. I left the twiggy bits still in heaps. Have to tend to them later. So into the house for a quick clean-up and dash off to catch the bus to town. OK, to Surrey Central, as time-, schedule- & weather-wise it would be better to do that and then the SkyTrain rather than 351 & ride east.
I was a couple mins behind so I raced off in hopes it wouldn't be too far ahead. As I crossed 152nd on KGH I saw the bus I wanted off in the distance, just approaching 148th/32nd Div with the Black Forest on the far side. Now I knew I had just barely a chance of catching it. I would need a little bit of luck. So I crouched and hammered it. After I passed Fi's old Starbucks and came to the trailer park, the bus had just passed Crescent Rd, and was heading for the Bailley bridge, nobody at the stop to slow it down, eeek! My only hope now was for the Park & Ride to have people to catch him there. Racing along, the light changed against me at Crescent Rd, so I nipped off to the side by the golf driving range entranced, arround a car stopped to leave the Range, hop the curb back onto the road, accross the bridge's "sidewalk" (in quotes because it really isn't what one thinks of as a sidewalk. The width is barely 6" wider than my handle-bars), but oh no! as I'm about 5 seconds from turning into the Park & Ride, the bus is just starting to pull out, so quick plan B, keep on going on KGH to the stop @ 40th Ave and hope that traffic slows its exit from the P&R. Frequent shoulder checks AOK. No bus yet. When it comes into view on the overpass I'm mere seconds from the stop. Almost out of breath, I board the bus.
The rest of the bus/skytrain was just the typical "scum run" riff-raff nonsense/banality.
I get off at Nanaimo Station, it is really raining now. In my hurry to leave, I left my rain-pants behind and had no leggings, but at least I had my booties. I put them on and headed for Trout Lake. Got there, crossed through to the other side by the rec centre, and there, by the tennis courts under a tree is Kim, with the barbeque. So I approach, the time is about 1845, I'm theoretically 15 mins "late" PDT, but about 90 mins early VBT. Simon was aldeady there, but not in sight at the moment. A few minutes later Andrew (I think his name is) showed up with the ball. A bouncy rubber one, pink, with "Girls Rule" printed on it. Just purchased for the occassion. Over the next 40 mins a few more people show up, it is raining more, so we decide to head to the east side of the lake where ther is a shelter. Simon leaves a note on a found kids mini-bike telling any more arrivals of the relocation. The barbeque tank was severly lacking in plenitude. After another while and more arrivals, a C3H8 party headed by Simon left for said same gaseous substance. Of course all the while people are quenching their thirsts.
(running out of time at work, very busy today, the nerve!). Anyhoo, almost no solid food was brought, so afew, including myself, went to Safeway for supplies. When I got back, eventhough is was really dark, the kickball game was in progress (the rain stopped while on the way to Safeway). (ARRRGHHH! Renée Fleming problems! The stage door is locked and the Diva can't get in to rehearse!)(shift over, gotta go)

I started this "yesterday", so HBD2RESM,ILU!

Darn funny colours! The scanner wouldn't detect the fluorescent orange.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Click on pix to view full size. All paper used was the back of a junk fax.

Last Thursday's MM

So I went to the Midnight Mass ride Thurs. 10th, and it was a "Themed" ride. "Dressed for Success" it was called, meaning dresses for all & sundry riders was de rigeur (OK, so a few didn't wear dresses, but most did). On the grounds of self incrimination I can't go into full details of my garb, but it was 54% angora. I wanted to be at the meet-up for a bit of socialising 1st, so I left on the 22:30 321 &c. and arrived Grandview Park 23:45 (the slight delay due to "dressing" after I got off the SkyTrain and a shooting necessitated detour @ Commercial Dr & Gravely St). The "founder" of Vancouver MM, MidnightSimon, is of to cycle parts of Europe soon, so this ride was one of his send-offs. Be sure to check his progress via the lynx (Midnight Miles) to the right. http://picasaweb.google.com/bikingpenguin
to see my pictures of the ride & more.(and click on this picture to see it full size.)

After the usual pre-ride fortifications (mine was rum which had a huge cinnamon stick macerating in it for 5 days. Mmmmm, sssinnymon.), we went to QE park, rode around there a bit in the parking lot (it has some fun features for urban skilz, inebriated style), chilled, conversed &c. Some people left sooner than others, and I left with the last group. The gate to the parking lot was open when we went in, but locked when we went to leave. A bit of a surprise, but in a way funny that nobody tried to kick us out when they went to lock the gate. Its not like we would not have been noticed, and we could hardly have been confused as a threatening group, but I digress.

As we were going back along the Ontario bike route, I was contemplating whether to go straight downtown to catch the Night Bus to scurvy central, or risk 2-bikedom rackage when it arrives Kingsway & Broadway. Then I noticed, when we were nearing 12th ave, that Simon Was still with us. I thought he had peeled of the pack sooner as I hadn't seen him when we left QEP. So I decided to go with the pack to The Naam. Wouldn't be much of a send-off to be one of the early departers, 'cuz the others would probably have way more opportunities to say adios amigo.

Eventually the 10 or 12 of us left the Naam, heading E on Broadway. The last of the other riders finally peeled off to their respective locales, Bob of You Never Bike Alone, at Nanaimo St. The time was 04:08. I went straight east, stayed on Lougheed all the way to Gagliardi, south to Cariboo rd, and carried on through Bby, NW, Sry &c like before. I had made such good time getting to scurvy central that I didn't wait for the 1st 321 S-bound (which would have been faster) but carried on home to see what my time would be. Arrived home 06:02. Ride time 1hr 56 mins. It was a great ride. Only had to stop twice (KGH @ 88th, & KGH & #10).

April Showers?

So if April showers bring May flowers, what do April Flurries bring? 'Cuz we's gots a bunch o' sno' thi's'morn'n' . I took a couple of pictures, but the stupid computer at work can't handle the # of pix on my camera's card. I connect it, and 5 mins later it still hasn't loaded them (not even transfer, just showing what files are on the card, not even thumbnails, just the list). So mebbe later.

For JE(A)F, I'll assume that was a request. I did know the origin of the quote, sort of, previously and could have found if I felt so inclined (which I'm sure you know), that is why I'm taking the comment as a request. I'll burn you a copy and sent it your way. How are the Shreddies/Vector supplies?

Surrey Critical Mass

So an inaugural Critical Mass was "organised" and it took place yesterday. There were about 50 to 55 riders (I counted 50, but could easily missed a few while we were milling about pre-ride, and a few more could have arrived after I counted; somebody else counted 55). We started of from "City Central", formerly known as Surrey Place Mall, outside the SFU Surrey tower just south of the Rec Centre. We went North along 135A st (past the former Stardust Roller rink where I worked back in '83-'84) to 104ave, East to East Walley Ring Rd, South to Fraser Hwy, East to 148th St (but not before an 'incident' happened while going by Green Timbers, by 144th), North to 100th, East to 152nd, North to 102A, left turn into the mall parkinglot, rode around a bit in the lot making noise & showing our signs to people etc., back out to 152nd North from 102A, West onto 104th all the way back to 135A st and to City Central to complete the circuit.
The ride went pretty well generally speaking. The rain was just a drizzle at the beginning, and about half way through it stopped. A few 'notables' showed up (Bob Bose on a fixie, the local MLA, a neighbouring MLA's spouse...).
To see some video bits of the ride, check out Bob Alstead's cliphttp://www.youneverbikealone.com/surrey-critical-mass-inaugural-ride-20070325 including the "incident". It was pretty freeky, but I could see it developing. I was quite sure that some serious carnage would result.

Quote of the Day

So I was in the South Pointe parking lot, having just purchased my wedge-fries &c. for lunch on the way to work, and I came to a 4-way stop at the same time as an oncoming vehicle (a black Chevy Cavalier thingy, like the one Fi's Jeff drives) and another vehicle, on my right, had just arrived before us. Naturally the one on my right goes 1st as per R-o-W rules, and then I start as soon as he has gone past. But the stupid MoFo Chevy starts to turn left into me, and he doesn't have his turn signal on. Needless to say I yell at him "SIGNAL! SIGNAL!" And then the moron, who had his window down, calls back "But you're on a bike though." As if my being on a bike meant that he didn't have to comply with the MVA, RSBC. He was just lucky I was in hurry to catch my bus or I would have gladly apprised him of his intellectual deficiencies.

Thanks Cpt Fun/Warchild

Man, does Gabe ever come up with The Goods. Check out these clips.




The Guy is Jean-Yves Blondeau, AKA The Rollerman. Here is another clip found by Gabe (similar vein, but not The Rollerman).

Stuff to check out

I know you really want to see what happened during Mini Bike Winter, so this is a reminder to check out the YVR Bikerazzi link to the right. It has a whole ton o' stuff organised (mainly by Yours Truly, but lots of other people had to post their stuff first for me to be able to link it). I still haven't got around to splitting up my Chariot Wars Death Match video into smaller chunks. My 28 min "clip" is toooo long for Youtube, so I'll have to break it into 3 pieces minimum (thanks to their 10 min max rule). I have put all the clips together and made a DVD for those who would like one. Ask and you shall receive. Ditto my digi-pix. Its hard to believe that MBWIV was only 3 weeks ago. It seems like it is so long since I was in Portland, chugging Sparks etc, cruising around on my mini, meeting all sorts of new people. It really makes me wonder why I come to work. Dealing with morons all day is a real downer. And worse than that, it is in an industry which exemplifies excessive consumption, not just of fossil fuels, but of many things. I'm surrounded by wastrels (except for my favourite reservationist). Oh well, at least I get to go to another Bike Bee planning Pot-Luck this afternoon après-travail.

Blog Hiatus over, for now.

It is 12 days since the last post, but I was a little busy. I decided to go to Portland for Mini Bike Winter IV ( Feb 14-19, but I wasn't going to be there for it all). Which meant that I had to finish prepping the mini by Thurs 15th when the 1st batch were leaving town in order to get a ride. We left the vicinity of The Pink Palace about 23:30, and arrived in Portland (PDX) at our crash-site (AKA The Kitten Shack, home of the previously mentioned Agent Lapis) at 04:15. I left Portland Mon 19th 09:15. In between was one BIG, LONG, ACTION PACKED FLURRY of MADNESS and PARTYING. I had thought about blogging the gory (litterally) details, but I was too tired afterwards that I needed recovery time. And now that nearly a week has gone, I don't really feel the urge to blog it. So go to the Midnight Mass blog (check lynx on the right) and let Midnight-Simon tell you his version. I have a bunch of pix/video not uploaded to any site, but I'll get around to it eventually. Note, while Simon has a 6 min. taste of the Charriot Wars Deth Match, mine is 28 mins long (just excuse my giggling in the background [when you eventually see my video] as it was extremely funny and wild, plus I was under the influence of Sparks*). My shift is coming to an end, gotta go.

Climate Change

Triane, of the Recyclistas in Victoria (www.recyclistas.ca) came to the Winter-Bee, and did a little talk about making Zines, as they had received some sort of grant to publish one about climate change, and then asked if any would like to submit something for it. Well, my creativity doesn't kick in at someone else's behest, it just comes on its own, unbidden, randomly. But on the bus ride home, I was inspired. My brain came up with a virtual epic. So I had to pare it down to 1 sheet of legal sized paper. Here it is (but it will be hard to read unless you double click each image to see it full sized).

Something Funny

Back in early December, it was so cold, Mr Cat needed a sweater (although he didn't quite believe us).

Winter Bee Wrap-Up

So the Bike Bee, winter version AKA the Winter-Bee, was held Feb 10/11, for those who didn't check out the link, and it was held just around the corner from Gilly Gilly bo-hilly (for those who know the song, yes I know it should be Gilly Gilly bo-billy), and I even saw Gilly & Megoon on my way to a pre-bee planning meeting. We did a variety of "winter" (Wet Coast style) workshop/maintainance things, socialised, and generally had a ton-o-fun (and it wasn't even CH3CH2OH powered)

Bikes Inside party, the brief version

It started 20:30 Sat 3rd, ended, that is to say I left, @ 04:47 Sun 4th., I finally felt recovered ca. 16:00 Mon 5th. I don't have enough time left in my shift for the full story and work both.

Un-Race

So a while back on the "fixedvancouver" forum (www.fixedvancouver.com) there had been a bit of discussion of an informal race in traffic, only start and destination predetermined. It boiled down to a "lets meet 17:30 at the art gallery fountain fri feb 2 and see what happens".

I went there, so did a few others (about 8 total) but some of them did not come to "race". With excuses like "I didn't bring a helmet" or "I brought the bike with no brake" or "I have to be somewhere else at XX:XX, and there isn't enough time" or "I can't race, I'm too old" (I guess I covered all their excuses). Of course my sarcastic side came out immediately to ask why s/he didn't bring a helmet/bike with a brake, quit wasting time because if we had left by even 18:00 the "race" would have been over by now (we didn't actually leave till 1845), and as to age, the over-the-hill decrepit person was some mewling wet-behind-the-ears 29yo.

The four of us who decided to make a go of it were "Alex", a 17yo on a 'cross bike; "Camillo", a mid 20's (I guess) bike messenger on a fixie, "Clancey", a 36yo (I think he said, but maybe 35, mid-30's anyway) high-school teacher on a flip-flop SS/fixed hub, and I on my Brodie (a significant disadvantage technologically unless a lot of hill-climbing AND soft ground is involved). The destination we chose was the UBC pool, by the old bus-loop.

We headed off down Howe St in some very heavy traffic, I was the last one to hit the actual street, but by the time we got to Davie St, I was ahead by several car lengths. It was quite a thrill, zipping along at the edge of the curb past the stopped cars, between two lanes of moving traffic, but only moving 1/2 the speed of the bikes (eeeeyyikes! that was close! A transit bus on one side and an SUV on the other!), nipping around the right-turner... I was still in the lead as I was crossing the Granville St bridge, and a couple of times I thought I heard something behind me, but still nothing. Then, as I turned my head to do a shoulder check before moving into the lane to take the Fir St off-ramp, I see him. It's Camillo, draughting me, and the he passes as we take the off-ramp. I almost catch him at Broadway, but he is just a bit ahead. I catch him at Burrard St (red light, lots of traffic), and we blast off again ASAP (just before the light actually goes green). Same thing happens at Arbutus. I looked behing us both times to check for the other 2, but no sign. Did they have worse traffic luck, or take a different route? Unfortunately, the sprinting and icy cold air was not a good combo for my lungs. At Vine I had to back off considerably, to a slow cruise pace to be more precise, about 24km/h. My right lung felt like it was going to explode with every exhale (inhaling wasn't too bad, oddly enough). My legs were fine, but my lungs were done. After a little while I was able to speed up a bit, but not very much. Broadway was a mess because of roadworks in the Macdonald area, which slowed me down to a sub-lung pace. Single lane, stuck behind a mini-van which insisted on hugging the curb, but was too erratic in its lane placement to risk a left-sided pass (traffic was only 1 lane each way). Finally I was able to get by when she had to stop for a person who didn't know how to turn his wheel for a right turn (or so it would seem. There was nothing to prevent him from completing the turn).

I plugged along, past Alma, zig-zagging at Highbury to 10th Ave and on to UBC. I stopped at the lights at Wesbrook Mall. There was no traffic at all except for the 2 vehicles beside me also on 10th W.bound. I couldn't see any of the other cyclists there, so I decided to wait for the lights. I shouldn't have. It took 2 minutes, no lie; I checked my watch. So when I got to the pool, Clancey and Camillo were already there. No Alex. Clancey got ther 1st (he went Cornwall, Pt Grey, 4th, Blanca, Chancellor) and Camillo arrived 2 mins later (according to Clancey) and I another 7 mins after that. Alex arrived about 3-5 mins after me. If it hadn't been for the icy air and waiting @ Wesbrook, my timing would have been much better. But at least this "old" geezer wasn't DFL. We all agreed that the 1st bit in all the traffic was the most fun, and decided to do something like it 1st & 3rd Fridays. We all rode back, more leisurely, and I said goodbye at 6th & Granville, to wait for the bus home.