Walking the Bear - my day with the Salsa Beargrease

Having rented such a wonderful bicycle for the day, I set out to fully enjoy it.  That meant some trail riding, but mostly it meant retracing the routes I commonly took growing up in Ottawa.

Although the paths of my youth would look much different covered in a foot of snow, and some 30 years later, they absolutely succeeded in resurrecting a lot of good memories.

Starting from the far east, the route traces back to itself counter-clockwise.  Turns out the route that took me four hours (including a couple of rests) was only 27km long - but it sure felt a lot longer than that.  I would equate the workout to doing 60km, full-out, on the road.

Salsa Beargrease

I arrived at Phat Moose Cycles with the impression that I had booked a Salsa Mukluk II.  I had never been on a fat-tire bicycle before and to say I was looking forward to it is an understatement.  They opened at 10 and I was there for 9:55 in full gear.  

 
The weather was ideal and although I wouldn't have the time to get to any of the  recommended trails, I had a route well planned out that would include a variety of challenges.
 
I was stunned when the two guys at Phat Moose had instead prepared for me a  Salsa Beargrease.  Holy cow. It was like getting the ultimate, free upgrade at Budget Rent a Car.
 

Are these streets half clean or half dirty?

I think you need to be an optimist if you choose to commute by bicycle.

After a few days of heavy snowfall I was finally able to safely get onto the streets of Hamilton by bicycle.  Here's what the bike lanes looked like.

They sort of disappear for a bit, then reappear a little further on.

Yet Another "Day of Rest"

There's no denying I love a snow day.  They really don't happen very often.  Can't get to work by car, bicycle or bus.

It bothers me that I haven't managed to get on my bike in days, and this didn't help.  Makes me feel like a fair-weather cyclist.  However, I plan to get in the home-shop and do some wrenching, and it's certainly a good day for that.

I haven't done any bike-centric posts recently,  but hopefully I'll get back to that as well.

A Weekend Retreat (without a bike)

Whisked away to the (even snowier) north this weekend for a retreat of sorts, and as always, on the lookout for signs of the year-round-cyclist. I can't prevent my thoughts from dwelling on the recurring fantasy of carving through the icing sugar forests whenever I am in an environment like this. 

I am sentenced to live vicariously through other's BLOGS - which although I appreciate very much - I hope only serve to satiate my yearning until I join the ranks of the fat-tire revolution.

An Ottawa dealership maintains that they cannot keep Pugsleys and Mukluks in stock because of the demand but I have yet to see any evidence of that this winter.

I did find this lonely and abandoned fellow outside the dining hall but given the condition of his rear brake lever I chose not to disturb his winter's sleep.

I certainly have no right to complain when I have this as my fall-back plan though.

Good cycling, everyone.

Olympic encounter?

I am blessed to work in the industry that I do.  It puts me into conversations with a wide variety of people from all over the world.  Oftentimes my area of discipline attracts the attention of grad students looking for insights into the practicalities and realities of my field.

Last week I had one such request from a wonderful young woman named Annie Foreman-Mackey.  Through the interview I had noticed she looked particularly strong. Exceptional athlete kind of strong.

I was excited to learn that she cycles for Canada's national team and is attempting to make the leap to the Olympics.

I won't post any photos because she's not aware of this post, so I want to keep things to a minimum to be fair.  But feel free to check her out via Gooogle, or whatever.

You never know who you will serendipitously meet.

James Street North is Gentrifying

Stopped out front of Mixed Media today because I was on James North.  The whole street is really changing.  There are now several bakeries and coffee shops, and a few furniture stores with truly different and interesting items.  James Street is very enjoyable by foot with a coffee in hand!

The white poster up top caught my eye because it mentions bicycles.

I can see that whatever it is is $8 at the door but the poster is certainly wanting!  What the heck is it advertising? Maybe its bicycles made out of ivory.  A frame building class perhaps? Now wouldn't that be something (Illegal!).  We'd have carbon, titanium, steel, aluminum, bamboo and now ivory.

Save the narwhal! Ban ivory bicycles!