Becel Ride for Heart!

Wow! I am up super crazy early today. 4 a.m. Red Deer time. I can still see the moon outside my window, which is really quite nutty if you ask me. I know you didn’t. But I’m just saying it. My blog. Nuff said!

I just learned from my pal Al that this is the weekend for the Becel Ride for Heart and I am kind of bummed because this will be the first time I will miss the event after participating in it for 2 years straight. This is a great event for cyclists in Toronto because it is the one day every year when we own the Don Valley Parkway (DVP), a highway that takes you right into the heart of Toronto. In fact, if you reach out your hand far enough out from a certain section of the westbound lanes, you can touch the side of the Air-Canada Center!

But possibly the greatest thrill for me about the whole affair is watching people of all races, genders, and riding disciplines make their way to the starting line. Last year I showed up at the Wilson subway station to take the TTC bus ride down around 5 am on Sunday morning. I was hoping to get a spot on the bus bike rack. I did. I was joined by a middle-aged lady who toted her bike and her pink helmet onto the bus. We smiled at each other because we knew where we were both going. It was her first time and we were both pumped.

When people describe watching the Tour De France live they often say that they can hear the chorus of bicycle chains humming in unison long before they see the peleton. They say it is like music to one’s ears especially if one is passionate about bikes. And that is exactly what one will experience around 6:30 am on the morning of the Becel Ride for Heart.

I remember setting my freshly tuned and cleaned bike against a post and munching on a PowerBar as I watched the riders whir into the parking lot. The bike geek in me drooled over the Cannondale’s, Trek’s, and the occasional exotic Bianchi that came cruising in. I was diggin’ it when a few people complimented me on my ride. “Dude nice Thompson post you got there” or asked me questions, “hey how you like those disc brakes on a road bike. They work well for you?” I ate it all up.

The ride is only 50k and it is done too soon. But the DVP is a dream to ride on. People complain about it being steep for the first 25k but that’s because they probably don’t ride as often as I did. But I will agree that the last 25k are better. In fact I’ say they are quite kick ass because they travel slightly downhill back into town. I clocked my fastest computer read speed going back. 57 km/h. On a bike under your own pedal power that is flying!

Well, to all you riders heading out on Sunday… Have an amazing time! And I look forward to rejoining you in the coming years. Lord willing and all that…

The Never Ending Battle...

It is no secret that I have an affinity for The Batman. I think I first took a liking to the character when I watched the 1989 Tim Burton movie at my Uncle Jun’s house in Glendale, California on VHS video. I distinctly remember a chill running up and down my spine when those rubber boots crunched on rubble followed by some thief being hoisted by Bats while the famous line is uttered, “I’m Batman.”

Who could forget Tim Burton’s take on the Batmobile? I didn’t know the word “badass” yet when I first saw the film, but that car definitely fit the description. I loved the car so much that when my mom and I saw the model kit for it at our local K-mart, I begged her to buy it for my birthday. She complied and it is now the only surviving item from my model building days.

This is where you’d expect me to go into a whole origins story. But you probably know it already. And if you don’t, well go rent Batman Begins with Christian Bale playing the role. They do a decent job in that film of explaining how Bruce Wayne dons the cape and cowl and assumes the responsibility of "the never ending battle."

I love Batman because he is human and he has issues “lots of issues” . Real life psychologists have studied this character and many have come up with the sobering conclusion that this is a damaged person who has never properly grieved over the death of his parents. Despite this, he commits himself to an ideal and dream much greater than he is. Some writers have deemed this dream too large for him to ever fulfill.

In many accounts Batman never cleans up Gotham of crime. Sad but true. In the process, his fanatic devotion to his calling, forces everyone that he loves away from him. He becomes obsessed with his dream knowing that if he slips, more than likely many will suffer. It is a thankless life. The truth is that Bruce Wayne never left the alley where his parents were killed. He died that same night at their side.

Caught between Love and Fear...

So I randomly checked my Friendster account today to just to see how things were. Before I was on Facebook and Myspace, I kicked things off with that social network back in 2003. I remember things were tres crazy when I ran into people I hadn't seen for years. Sometimes it was cool (dang girl you all pretified now!) or sometimes not so cool (dang boy what happend? U on drugs or somethin'?). But Friendster truly revolutionized how we kept track of each other.

Anyway, I totally forgot that I had kept a blog on Friendster. As I read through some of the entries I thought to myself, "hey this is some good stuff!" I figured I'd copy them over and preserve here on Blogspot. So here are 2 to start things off..

A Good Man...

Love hurt me today because I masked an imposter and passed it off as being her. She reeled as I paraded a charade in front of an innocent audience and passed off affection that appeared in no mirror. A sham I sculpted. A lie instead of truth.

But I learned through truth spoken from lips confessing pain. I was humbled by a life lived hard but with spirit and hope. I was shamed when lust eclipsed honest intimacy but was forbidden because of a true epiphany. And my desire was turned to genuine empathy and its lover sympathy. Every inch of male in me had screamed for satisfaction as her body curved around all my senses. But then she spoke.

"You're a good man. There are so many reasons why I know this. Good and bad. There is nothing wrong in being good."

And then, I wanted her to be right about me.

Truth...

If this path is truly our own to discover then should it be limited to the conventions that and clichés that often surround it? Or should we be free to allow it grow out of the conventions that people consider to be the one true path?

Isn’t this behavior a contradiction unto itself? If truth is to be sought out for oneself, then by nature since all of us are unique beings, then aren’t all our paths unique as well? One might say that these thoughts are put on this page out of fear of affirming that there is one way…

But then again this is me facing my fear and embracing it. By exploring my fears am I not truly walking the path? If I search with a sincere heart and am truly open would I not then find the fundamental truths as promised? Do all paths truly lead to God in the end?

A teacher can only show one how to walk after all. It should be up to us to choose where to walk too. A teacher can show us how to achieve clarity it should be up to us whether to embrace this precepts and then use them to seek truth on our own.

Hopefully proper instruction for the open and willing heart teaches us to scrutinize each proposition with openness devoid of fear and realize we have the freedom to explore. Because in the end, it is God who gently guides us to his side…

Truth is God. God is truth.

My Day Off and A Child Abuse Rant...

So today was an off day for me. Not as in things not going well, but a day off from class work. I turned in a major paper last night and as I looked over this weeks schedule, I realized that it was light. So I could afford to kinda chill for a day. So I did.

Although chilly, today had lots of sun and I decided to do an impromptu photo shoot of myself. I found an old narrow suit jacket that I had purchased in college and I was amazed that I still fit in it. So I slipped on my UB jeans and a plain white t-shirt (can’t go wrong with the basics). I also grabbed my sax and headed for the backyard.

The logistics of doing a shoot without any outside help, less a tripod, and with a tiny cell phone camera are somewhat daunting. But thankfully, a digital camera allows you to preview your work almost instantaneously so you can make adjustments for errors you might make. Nevertheless, it took close to 30 shots to come up with 4 or 5 worthy of further manipulation in Photoshop. The results are posted in my Facebook and Myspace profile shots.

After learning a lot from my little 2 mega pixel wonder, I’m hankering for a shot at the big guns. I’ve been reading the reviews on Nikon’s D300 and this thing is a 13 mega pixel wonder. I’m drooling over the images I could shoot using its super fast frame rate capabilities (freeze time baby!) and I really want to explore close-ups without actually shoving a camera in someone’s face. The only thing that kind of gets me is the astronomical price tag… that being upwards of $2500 CAD for a decent kit.



Time to start shaping more plans within plans boys and girls. Sprinkle in a bit of divine intervention and anything is possible.

Speaking Against Child Abuse!

On a somber note, I was truly bothered by a news story posted on CNN.com which states that children in war torn countries as young as 6 years old have been molested by U.N. aid workers. In exchange for assistance such as food, these children have been forced to perform sexually lewd acts on aid workers and peacekeepers.

After interviewing hundreds of children, an investigating charity said it found instances of rape, child prostitution, pornography, indecent sexual assault and trafficking of children for sex.

This story totally appalled me and truly tainted my view of U.N. peacekeeping, which was an organization that I have held in high regard for some time. I was particularly proud that Canadians are known for such international efforts. Although no Canadians were implicated in the investigation, it still sickens me that depraved people such as these sex offenders were allowed to even be close to peacekeeping and aid work.

In an appropriate correlation the spiritual material that I’ve been studying this week covers Jesus’ attitude towards children. Jesus rarely spoke harsh words to anyone nor condemned many. However he spoke with authority and condemnation for those were to destroy the faith of children.

“It would be better for such a person to have a millstone tied around his neck and cast into the sea,” he says with authority.



I could not have put it better myself.

What Dreams May Come...

The “story” starts off with a group of thieves who have successfully gotten through a heist and are now hiding out on a houseboat. The waves lap at the side of the boat and they laugh as they celebrate their success.

Cut to the houseboat being surrounded by a crowd of quiet people. How the hell did they get there? It is all a blur. Anyway these “people” seem quite aggravated and one of them jumps out and makes a grab for one of the thieves. Colors start to brighten and the sun is inexplicably hot. Suddenly waves of energy begin to shoot out from one of thieves’ finger tips and they toast the individual who made the grab.

Cut to a plaza, probably in New York (realistically in Toronto because we are on a budget… hah!) and we see what is left of the thieves running to the center of the plaza screaming “we need the apple! That will stop them.” A crowd of people in a single file start coming out of an alleyway and in the middle are 4 really tall women who have giant heads. It is instantly understood that they were products of genetic engineering in some evil lab in Seattle.

“You have to use the power Jack!”

But unfortunately Jack can’t seem to use his power. He needs the apple. The crowd is closing in and Jack reaches for the apple but it slips from his grasp onto the pavement and shatters. He looks up at the sea of faces in shear terror.

I wake up to the hum of my computer. It is 4 am.

I groan and fumble for my glasses. An unfinished episode of Macross Frontier is on my computer screen. The Heroes logo is half covered in an article that I was reading online.

Hey, that Heroes logo… looks like a burning hot sun. And darn it I forgot to eat the apple I brought up for supper...

Compassion and Service...

The rains are back. Yup, it is drizzling outside and a bit chilly at that. But I’m enjoying a quiet Sunday morning reading some really enlightening spiritual material on the nature of compassion as demonstrated through the life of Jesus. I think I’m being shown the conclusion that the outward manifestation of the existence of love in our hearts is the act of compassion. Profound stuff.

I got to go the community service center where my Dad serves for the first time yesterday. The building was situated in what is considered to be the ghetto of Red Deer. I laughed when I learned this because I’ve ridden through places at midnight in Toronto that are 10 times worse than this. I guess everything is relative after all!

Anyway I wasn’t sure how helpful I would be to anyone. But I was soon cutting up buns and buttering them, tossing salads, and pretty soon I was in charge of washing pots and pans. I swear I still have a slight smell of Caesar salad dressing on my fingers!

After doing a dozen pots and several pans I joined the praise team in singing songs for the “guests” that were arriving in droves for the free food. I was fascinated by how diverse the group was. There were classic looking drunks who were not quite there and spent half the time with their heads buried in a bowl of soup. A young couple with baby sat to the side so the mom could nurse her child in relative privacy. They were just passing through on their way to better opportunities in the northern part of Alberta. There was a guy who had converted a child’s bike into a cruiser with a large basket attached to the rear. He packed food into the basket and rode off into the early evening.

The College Heights Pathfinder club (kinda’ like a scouts club) came out to help and that brought back memories of my days in the same organization back in California and later in Brampton, ON. These kids were really helpful and I got to chat with a few them as we worked on getting the food out. They were planning to make it to the 2009 Pathfinder Camporee to be held in Oshkosh, WI and were totally “stoked” about it. I resisted replying with a “gnarly dudes and dudettes! That’s like totally righteous… err on all levels!”

Well I need to get a major paper for my class completed over today and tomorrow so I had better get to it. Not too worried about it because I’ve been developing it over the past few days. But I guess its time to really get something concrete typed up.

The Clan and A Fan...

So I guess there is an official coat of arms for the Daquila family. I’m like, “well “aint that awesome?” Discovering this makes me want to do a whole Roots thing and track our family history past our grandparents. Heck... I don’t even know all my uncles or aunts on either side of my family. Very strange state of being for a Filipino family especially with all these other Flip clans running around with reunions hosting guests of a 100 or more. Apparently our family is as big just all spread out across the globe.

Dad has me up early this morning for church. I laugh because we are just doing the local thing and attending at the Red Deer SDA church. I have to say that after being to a different church every weekend since I’ve moved here, Alberta has some of the nicest churches I’ve seen in an SDA conference. I guess being the richest province in Canada has its effect in every sector.

While reading up on the Greg Lemond/Trek fiasco of recent weeks I ran into this photograph of Greg and this new rider chic Cynthia. (Flip you think?) Apparently she just fell in love with the sport of cycling in 2007 and got to ride with the Tour De France champ in July of that year. How lucky is that! Plus this chic is so into bikes and aches to race! I had to admit after reading through some of her blog entries and exchanging some pleasant bike geek stuff with her, I was so totally crushing! In a friendly, distant, isn’t looking for a girlfriend, but I’ll acknowledge you are dang cute sorta way! Crap... I'm a fan...

Anyway I did an awesome workout yesterday. I finally got the courage to really go all out and add extra reps all around. I felt good!!! I’m really pumped to really focus on both increasing and refining my technique to build core strength over this summer. I do feel a little sore this morning but in that I must be doing something right kind of way.

Well I better get this thing posted so I can squeeze in some pushups and a few curls before church.

Feliz Sabado!

Rumblings, Passings, and Other Thoughts...

After two days of much needed rain the sun finally broke through this morning and things seem to be heating up again. I have a lot to do today and I hope I get to it all before sunset. Wow… what an SDA thing to say!

I was rather disturbed to learn this week that Greg Lemond, three time Tour De France winner and American cycling icon, and Trek have decided to part ways under hostile circumstances. Things began when Lemond decided to sue Trek based on the grounds that the brand had put marketing his line of bicycles on the backburner and thrown all their support behind Lance Armstrong, (he who won the Tour a record 7 times under now questionable circumstances) during his string of Tour wins. Trek countersued to get out of their obligations to not only manufacture but also market the Lemond line till 2010. They announced on their website that they would terminate their relationship immediately.


I find this news disheartening, seeing two of my cycling heroes going up against each other over underlying business reasons. The sport of cycling is already suffering from the effects of the doping allegations of the past few years that culminated in the ousting of 2007 Tour De France race leader Michael Rasmussen on the eve of his win. These events are furthering the tarnishing of cycling.

I’m also saddened because the Lemond brand was finally turning out some noticeable machines including the flagship Tete De Course which rivals Trek’s own Madone 6.9 in innovation and performance. The competition is taking advantage and manufacturers like Cannondale and their System 6 (which I briefly covered in my last blog) are spearheading new marketing campaigns with the recent crop of fresh young riders.

And that is really where the future of cycling lies. In young riders like Alberto Contador, Danielle Bennati, and Tom Boonen. By marketing these new “clean” riders the sport eventually pull out if it's slump. This will take time. And, off course, this only applies to the professional side of things. The sport will continue to live on in the hearts of us who ride just because it is just so darn good to do so!

SPECIAL BULLETIN

I haven’t listened to Stephen Curtis Chapman music in a while but I remember being introduced to it in university by my then girlfriend. I loved his rhythmic guitar work on songs like “God is God” or the romantic undertones of “How do I love a Woman”. So it was truly tragic to learn of the accidental death of his 5 year old adopted daughter Maria. Even more tragic was the fact that it was Chapman’s son who hit his sibling with the family SUV that precipitated her passing. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family.


"My peace I give unto you."

Rainfall, Recovery, and Liquigas...

It is STILL pouring out there and I’m STILL enjoying it! As predicted by Edmonton Weather on CTV, the rain is continuing and it is welcome because the days have been dry leading up to this week. (Edmonton even had some fires due to the dryness of foliage.) I can see the effect on the trees outside my windows. Life is returning. (Cue “Circle of Life” from the Lion King…)

My Dad is doing better after going through a period of health issue after issue. First it was the chest pain incident earlier this month, then it was congestion coupled with fever, and now big toe gout. After initially refusing to go the doctor regarding the last issue, he relented and went to a walk-in clinic with my Mom. The medication they prescribed offered relief from the pain and as of last night he is doing much better.

I’m a little under halfway with my readings for class. It is definitely a research class with a lot of reading about ehm… research... I have to come up with 3 topics by Monday to serve as proposals for a major research project that will span a 6 month period. I still haven’t come up with anything significant. Maybe completing the readings over the next 2 days will trigger some ideas.

I’ve been keeping track of the 2008 Giro d’italia on and off over the past few days. And while the story at the moment is Alberto Contador and his positioning to be on the final podium despite an arm fracture, there are also some side stories that interest me. These include some bike geek stuff like Daniele Bennati’s custom Cannondale System 6 carbon rig.

Bennati has an unusual build for a cyclist: short legs, long arms, and long torso. (The reverse is true of most other professional cyclist and thought of as ideal.) Cannondale decided to explore carbon frame building by creating a frame that was “shorter” with a 3 cm longer down tube to accommodate for this rider’s dimensions. (Since carbon frames are built from a mold, this required the company to invest in making a single custom mold. Costly.) This frame incorporated other custom changes made to his earlier frame which included a reshaped down tube that made the headset side stiffer. Bennati rewarded Cannondale’s efforts by winning stage 3 of the Giro only 8 hours after receiving his new bike.

Anyway, my treadmill calls me for my morning run. Oh... to you David Archuleta fans... sorry...

Sayonara!

I'm Writin' In Da Rain!

So I’m pumped from this morning’s workout. I spent some quality time with the WESLO treadmill, barbells, and pushup stands. I’m trying to establish an early start habit in order to beat the heat when summer really kicks in. Plus it’s a great way to wakeup my sleepin’ noggin and get myself focused on all the reading I have to do for class.

It is pouring out there this morning and I love it! I have enjoyed the rain ever since my childhood days in Suriname. Although no North American thunderstorm compares to those we experienced in that tropical country, I still look forward to waking up to spring raindrops. The moisture also does wonders to ease my pollen allergies.

I’m excited about my new class even though it appears to be loaded with a lot of reading and writing. Here is a bit of perspective... In my last 3 classes, I didn’t have to write anything significant till the 2nd or 3rd week of class. Here, I am looking at an analysis paper due in the first few days as well as 2 responses due in the next 2 days. I also have 6 articles, 3 lengthy book chapters, and a handbook to get through this week. Splendalicous! And can I just say... APA is a monotonous, technical, and furthermore... bore-full style to write in… Shish what a trippy paragraph...

Well I better get to it. Times a wastin’!

Look Closer

Just in case you were curious about my blog header, here is a bit of background about it. Background being the key word here…

I shot the overall image of my desk with my Sony Ericsson W810i 2 mega pixel cell phone camera. I used existing light coming in from the room window to light the scene. The key to a successful shot is understanding how your camera captures light. (Afterall, that is what a camera does.) This is only comes from shooting a lot of pictures and analyzing them. Thankfully with digital technology, film is free, and you can almost instantly study your results.

Then there is Photoshop. I am currently using the CS version which is adequate for my imaging needs. I used it to balance the levels in my pictures. This serves to bring out color and highlights of my shots amongst other things. In addition, I only used three other aspects of this software to blend images in this composition. These are: Layer Gradient masks, Overlay Layer Blending, and Screen Layer Blending. (You can conduct a search on Google to see just how powerful these tools are.)

In the final composite you’ll see aspects of everything that I like and aspire to be. I’ll leave it to you to figure them out out. But here are a few freebies: that is the 23rd Psalm that is blended in over the whole image, can you see the second girl's face (?) and the Kanji symbols do have spiritual meanings as well. Take a closer look and let me know what you see.

The image is slowly evolving from week to week much like I feel we all must do as life continues. Some changes may be obvious, others subtle.

One.

p.s. Blogspot tends to overcompress and soften an image to make it fit. For a high quality image file just ask me!

Gout and the Rockies

Well its time for that seasonal rise in temperatures and my body’s immune system is not reacting in a nice way. Minor sore throat, congestion and slight congestion… Good times, good times!

Dad is suffering from a bit of gout which leaves me with nothing to really complain about. I hear and read that it isn’t a pleasant thing. Characterized by severe pain attacking his big toe and it don’t look pretty boys and girls. I just hope he takes this and his recent heart “incident” to erm… heart… He really needs to learn how to take it easy.

At least we managed to finally head to the Rockies today! We didn’t go all the way to Banff, like I had hoped, but we made it far enough to take some pictures of still snow covered peaks. I love the little town of Canmore, Alberta where my Dad had to preach. I got to take some nice pictures of the church before the service started. (Largely because my parents and were insanely early! No more 5 am wakeup calls Mom!)

Met some FLIPS (those who find their origins in the motherland) after church: Tess, her friend Charmaine, and Charmaine’s hublet Joe. Now I’ve heard about it before but never experienced it first hand. “It” being the classic Filipino set up. The whole “are you single? If yes, then here is my friend ___”. It was bit nerve racking but I was flattered and she was pretty with a nice smile. We played it off and even talked a bit. But that’s all folks! They all live in Banff and I envy them for that! (Sorry no pictures folks cause Romil is useless when he is distracted by pretty.)

It is back to the grind this week: schoolwork, job hunting, and working out. I finally broke through with working out this past week. It is that moment when you move from feeling like crap after you are done to kind of hungering for more. I’ve been waiting for this. Let the sculpting continue.

Ride the Wind. Appendix

2005 Specialized Sirrus Sport
Full modification list:

Note: Stock to refers to a swap out of a stock component. Added refers to a component that is added on without replacing any prior existing component.

Saddle: Stock to Specialized Avatar.
Seat Post: Stock to Thompson Elite (Throwback).
Seat Post Clamp: Stock to Extra Thick Aluminum.
Brake Levers: Stock to Shimano Deore V-brake Silver Alumminum.
Handlebars: Stock to Enlarged Center X4 fit.
Bar Ends Added: Ritchy Comps.
Stem: Stock to Thompson Elite X4 Zero Rise.
Pedals: Stock to Shimano 520 SPDs.
Cycle Computer Added: Cateye Velo 5.
Rear Marker: Cateye.
Optional Headlamp: Cateye.
Optional Fender: Zefal Swan Tail.
Bottlecage Added: Louis Garneau Aluminum.

Problems experienced:

Rims were susceptable to impact and had to be trued regularly. Tires were susceptable to punctures which in turn punctured tubes. Both sets had to be replaced 5 times in the space of a year. Paint could have been of higher quality and was susceptable to abrasion. Trip computer would shut off in excessive rain.

Good points:

Disc brakes performed as advertised and were reliable in all weather. Shifting remained precise especially with regular maintenance. Thompson parts performed beautifully and provided stiffness needed for efficient power transfer.

Bike serviced at:
Bike Depot
CyclePath

Estimated value spent: $2300 CAD

Ride the Wind. Conclusion.

The bike had become and integral part of my life. I even had a special spot at work to park it and people came to know as the guy who biked till he absolutely could not. I found this ironic because I had let weather dictate things back in the early days. How far I have come since then. The price of maturity can be steep sometimes and I had a lot of growing up to do yet.

I got laid off during the early months of 2007. My company was going through an upheaval after being taken over by a bigger company. I had put 4 years of my life into this workplace and even though it was probably time to move on, it was hard to let go of something familiar. Through the help of a friend, I found work soon after. However, even though I was making more than I had before, I found it hard to adjust to the new place.

My only consolation was my bike. I enjoyed racing to the closest subway train station after work, getting off in downtown area of Toronto, and racing over to my girlfriend’s place. (she had moved there at the end of 2006.) I enjoyed the predominantly Portuguese neighborhood where she lived and cycling around the bike friendly side streets. She had gotten a Sirrus too and we would spend time exploring the Lakeshore area together. I had learned to live in these flashes of existence and it was then that I was truly happy.

What a contrast to how I felt at work. There I felt lost and without any real direction. A few years ago I would have considered this job to be my dream job. I would have bought into the materialism, greed, and general self-indulgent attitude my co-workers seemed to embrace. But something had changed in me. An awakening. I wanted my life to be simple. As simple as it felt on my bike.

Tragedy struck a few months later when I was on visit downtown. I returned to the bicycle hitch post where I usually chain my bike to find it missing. I felt the ground give way and my spirit broke. Although my girlfriend was there to console me, I knew that we too were having problems, and this event only added to my fear that things were slowly turning against me.

My bike had been a symbol of defiance against the challenges of life. After the car accident, that pretty much guaranteed that I would not be able to drive for at least 5 years, it had been my way of finding the positive in the bad. When I needed to clear my head or get way from it all, I had hopped on my bike and within a few minutes I would feel better. Now all that was gone.

I managed to soldier on for a few more months but my heart began to give way. It was no surprise to me when my boss called me into the boardroom and informed that my position had been terminated. Soon after my girlfriend informed me that our relationship was over, I realized that I was also tired of fighting to hang on to what we had.

I needed to get away so I made the decision to move to Alberta to not only pursue my grad degree but also to clear myself. It has not been an easy process. But I am learning how to live again.

This morning I took a ride with my Dad. The weather was nice enough so that I rolled the window to stick my hand into the wind. As I let unseen hands play with my fingers I could feel my heart begin to race just a bit. I could almost sense the need returning.

The need to ride the wind.

(To be continued…)

Ride the Wind. Chapter 5.

You have to be a special kind of crazy to enjoy being a bicycle commuter. Although we are considered less of a fanatic than our cousin bicycle couriers, we share a lot of the same traits with these urban knights. You have to enjoy the ache in your legs as you attack your pedals, the pounding of your heart as you try to coax more speed out of it, and the fear that fills your heart as a bus cuts you off. You have to laugh at the weather when it is below freezing, keep your chin up in the pouring rain, and bask in the lather you work up during the hot summer months.

A few months into riding my new Sirrus, I had yet to do a trip longer than 20 km. One Sunday morning, I got off the phone with my girlfriend. She didn’t sound too happy and I wanted to cheer her up. I thought of getting her card with an encouraging message. The only problem was that she lived in Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto, which was about 60 km away from my apartment. However, the challenge was too enticing so I grabbed my gear and my bike and took off.

I powered away from York University down Jane Street and onto Steeles Avenue headed west. It was early in the morning so the road was relatively empty and the only thing I had to contend with was the poor condition of the road. Things smoothed out around the Etobicoke area and I enjoyed a long downhill decent into the outskirts of Brampton.

I stopped at a gas station before entering the city and filled up on a Powerbar and a bottle of Gatorade. Revitalized, I pointed my front tire south down Hurontario Street which would take me into Mississauga. Here the streets were perfect and I saw many other road cyclists out for their Sunday morning ride. I felt a sense of community with them and waved as they passed me on their sleek racing machines. They waved or nodded back many flashing a quick smile.

I pulled into my girlfriend’s driveway an hour and 10 minutes later. I quietly left the card hanging on the front door of her house and rode off. As I looked towards the direction of home, my heat sank. Rain clouds. Sure enough, within a few minutes, the skies opened up, and rain came down hard.

I squinted through the rain and was grateful that my helmet had a visor to help shield me from being hit directly by the deluge. Traffic had picked up and I focused on my line preparing myself to be sprayed by the occasional semi that blew past on my left. My heart pounded with genuine fear of being hit or falling due to a slick spot. My feet danced on the pedals as if going faster would help me outrun an accident. When I pulled off the road into a Tim Horton’s parking log lot a break, the inevitable happened and my tires lost grip. I went over. Luckily my full fingered gloves prevented my hands from being scraped and my bike only suffered a minor ding on the down tube. A battle scar well earned.

After the break I headed back onto the road and a few minutes later pulled into the back roads surrounding York University. I glanced down at my computer which read 130 km. I giggled at the squish sound my shoes were making. I was soaked to the bone but totally elated.

I had done it!

Ride the Wind. Chapter 4.

Commuting by bicycle gave me a whole new perspective on my surroundings. As I rode along the streets of Toronto, especially in the downtown area, I marveled at how much I had missed when I took the same routes by car. A car shields you from so much. The smells. The noise. The people. I drank in this new world.

A few months after my initial modifications, I saved enough money to purchase my first clipless pedal system. I waited impatiently as the technician mounted a pair of Shimano SPD pedals onto my bike's crank arms. To pass the time, I walked around in my new Shimano SPD cleated shoes. Their soles were quite stiff but this offered a level of support I had not experienced in my regular walking shoes. The SPD design, with the cleat recessed into the sole of the shoe, also granted me the freedom to walk around as if I was wearing a normal shoe.

Part of the advantage of a clipless pedal system is in the cleat to pedal connection. In a traditional pedal system, even with the aid of toe clips, the power transferred to the pedal by a rider is at peak efficiency during the downward pedal stroke. Inversely, 50% of the power exerted through a spin cycle is lost during the upward pedal stroke. Essentially you are wasting half your exerted energy and this contributes to unnecessary fatigue.

Another part of the advantage of a clipless pedal system is the greater integration of the shoe into equation. A traditional shoe to pedal system only sees power being transferred through the frontal area of the shoe. The whole shoe, in a clipless pedal system, becomes part of the pedaling cycle. So not only is power transferred efficiently but more of it is transferred as well while using this system.

However, there is a slight learning curve involved in using such a system because the cyclist is effectively “glued” to the bike. Entry and exit into the clamping system can prove tricky at first and newbies have been known to fall over when learning how to use it. This was not something you wanted to do on concrete while riding a bike worth more than your college car!

Luckily I picked up on the whole “clipping in” technique soon after my new pedals were installed. The next day I was confident enough to bike to work and I reveled in the advantages of the system. I really felt like I now had an advantage with outright acceleration and climbing.

(On to chapter 5.)