crazed monkey

I must have completely lost my senses when I agreed to run this year’s Sporting Life 10k. Before last week I had never run 5km, let alone 10km. Before last week, I had never owned a reasonable pair of running shoes. Still, I managed to do fairly well despite the pouring rain, the chest cramps at the 4km mark (I ate too close to the start of the race, you see) and despite running on five hours sleep. My time of 56:12.9 was less than my goal of one hour.

For those interested, the final results can be found online. The results are somewhat misleading as they are sorted by the time at which each person crossed the finish line, and not that person’s trip time. I was late to the starting line and so did not start until 5 minutes after the official start time. After resorting the results, my standings are as follows:

• 2706 of 5218 overall
• 1709 of 2374 for men
• 457 of 874 for ages 25 to 29
• 233 of 313 for men aged 25 to 29

Now to get ready for this year’s Becel Ride For Heart.

Posted on May 2nd, 2004 in meta, person - No Comments »

Go forth and wish that curmudgeonly old man a happy 28 years. Do it now before he gets any older.

Posted on November 6th, 2003 in meta, person - No Comments »

This past Tuesday was probably my last day riding into work until spring. I might try to get a ride in this weekend if I have the time, but Tuesday was it as far as commuting by bicycle is concerned.

This summer hasn’t been bad as my first for frequent riding. May was a fairly wet month and not much suitable for riding, but I can’t much complain about the rest of the summer. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to complete my goal of 3000km. However, I managed to fit in some 2500km of riding, which isn’t all that bad. No doubt next year will be better.

It is not the cold that is stopping me from continuing my riding as I have been quite happy to ride wearing a thin jersey, bike shorts and fingerless gloves. As long as I ride fast enough to keep the blood flowing and my legs warm, I’m fine. Nor is it because of the biting 30-50kph winds which magically change direction in order to conspire against me in both the morning and the evening. The fact that I have to carry a larger burden of clothes for the day hasn’t stopped me yet this month, so that isn’t it.

It is the dark, not the cold, which stops me from riding to work well into the winter months. With the daylight savings time change-over this coming weekend, I would have to leave work much earlier in order to avoid riding home in the dark.

Yes, I know they make headlights for bicycles these days. However, I cross two busy roads on the way from work, and not at the lights either. Front and rear lights are not all that visible from the side, especially by the crazed drivers one sees on the roads these days.

In addition, much of my riding is done on trails, both paved and unpaved, where it’s often difficult to spot people and their dogs, although mostly their dogs. I have often come within inches of rendering into trail mix the shihtzu-rat hybrids the Rosedale set seem to enjoy, and during the daylight hours at that. I can only imagine the havoc I would wreak in the twilight hours if I were to continue riding.

Lastly, those in my Forest Hill neighborhood with too much money and too little sense (meaning most of them) have a tendency to rake their fallen leaves into the sides of the street. When dry, these leafy mounds are large enough to hide all manners of treasures suitable for puncturing tires. When wet and mashed, they are a slimy, slippery mess, and invisible in the dark.

Yeah, yeah, I could suck it up and ride on the main roads instead of the trails. That would at least eliminate many of my issues with riding in the dark. Unfortunately, it would also eliminate much of the fun I have riding almost non-stop from home to work. Not much can beat the feeling of riding in excess of 30kph for long stretches, knowing there are few obstacles, no red lights, no stop signs and, most importantly, no cars to slow you down. It’s an exhilarating experience to be sure, especially in the crisp morning air.

I refuse to go half-assed and use my bike purely for mundane transport, weaving around cars and waiting for green lights. I have loved the time spent racing the trails this summer. Relegating my bicycle to the stop-and-go traffic of the road would just kill that love.

In the interest of keeping the love alive and giving me something to which to look forward next spring, I am hanging up my bicycle until some sunny morning in March or April. Until then I ride the subway.

Posted on October 23rd, 2003 in meta, person - No Comments »

I swear that shady persons unknown have been listening in on the conversations I have with Vic, specifically those concerning world domination. How else can you explain the spam I received today advertising the 3rd Annual Military Electronics Show?

For these two days at the Baltimore Convention Center, you will be able to see, test and compare the mil-spec components, systems, products and software you need. Focused purely on military electronics design strategies, this event offers the sessions, speakers and suppliers that separate the unique needs of the military environment from the civilian world or commercial-off-the-shelf design.

Come to think of it, if the black helicopters were listening in on our plans, they would know that Vic and I prefer a non-military solution to global conquest. Things get messy and expensive when you start involving heavy machinery. No, we prefer the silent route of slowly co-opting already existing institutions like news conglomerates and using the proceeds to covertly amass power within developing nations. (Or was it the other way around?) The incentives in my conference invitation are quite tempting, however:

And as our special guest, you will gain free access to the show floor as well as receive 25% off the conference program!

I should mention that my main email address receives maybe two or three pieces of spam per month, tops, and that seventy-five percent of that spam originates from local businesses. This makes this invitation all the more suspicious.

Foolish illuminati! Your plans to entice me with cheap access to military hardware are sure to fail! You are doomed!

Posted on September 8th, 2003 in meta, person - No Comments »

Before I was rudely interrupted by a “rolling blackout”, I was recounting my indecision as to whether I should ride to Jenever’s in the darkness. After much deliberation, I started packing a few necessities. I stopped a few times, knowing I was insane to even attempt the trip. I finally decided to make the journey, mapping out an easy route along Eglinton, southbound on Laird to Donlands, then east on Danforth to Victoria Park and finally south to Kingston Road. I figured Eglinton and Danforth would be well-lit by cars, but knew that Laird, Donlands and Victoria Park would be pitch black. Opting for some visible gear, I made my way out the door.

Riding on Eglinton was quick and fairly easy. At some points, I managed to keep up with the cars. I was pedalling as fast as possible so that my ride was as short as possible. Laird was less travelled but still a relatively easy ride. As with earlier in the day, there were few cars heading southbound, but enough to light my way. I couldn’t quite make out the street signs and so was navigating by landmarks alone. At one point I reached an intersection which looked familiar, and took it to be Danforth. There were quite a few cars on the road, so this confirmed my belief. Travelling further, however, the road became increasingly dark and less like Danforth. When I crossed St. Clair, I knew I wasn’t where I thought I should be.

I stopped a few blocks to ask a group of people which street I was travelling on and how I could get to Victoria Park. I felt like an idiot, but what was I supposed to do? To my dismay, I found out that I had turned off too early onto O’Connor Drive and was now heading north towards Eglinton and Victoria Park. My resolve and confidence sagging, worry and regret finally started to seep in. However, I couldn’t turn back. It was really only a matter of riding down Victoria Park.

Unfortunately, Victoria Park was darker in parts than I had feared. It would have been easier if there was more traffic. I often found myself hoping for a car to pull up behind me so that I could see what was ahead. The worst were the parked cars, which often appeared as only a gleam just in front of me. To make matters worse, cars travelling northbound temporarily stole precious moments from me, blinding me with their headlights. Several pedestrians yelled or muttered, mostly in disagreement, as I passed them on the road.

When I finally reached Kingston Road, I knew I was home free. A street car rested in the dark like a slumbering behemoth, undisturbed by the cars making their way around its body. I was able to get a few cars to stop so that I could cross and make my way to Jenever’s. Moments later I was in her friend’s yard, greeted by the smells of barbeque.

With power resumptions an uncertainty, I spent Friday and most of Saturday as a guest of Heather and Jeff, who own the house in which Jenever lives. Without them, I don’t think that this weekend would have been enjoyable in the least. I rode back to my place on Friday to check on things and pick up some extra clothes to stay another night. Even though the power switched back on at my place early Saturday morning, and then back on again when I returned Saturday evening, I was not taking my chances. I am very grateful for Heather, Jeff and Jenever’s hospitality, for their food, their spare bedroom and their company.

All in all, the weekend went pretty well and, frankly, was better than average, even considering the outage. I missed my niece’s birthday party at her grandparents’ because of the weather on Saturday (the heat and humidity meant I would have arrived on my bike drenched in sweat) and because I was much too tired from all the riding (over 100km in a few rapid trips) to make it out to High Park. However, I was still able to catch The Lion King with my niece and the rest of my family this afternoon.

Posted on August 17th, 2003 in meta, person - No Comments »