My first day out to the Ottawa Parkway (http://tinyurl.com/yp3n2c) and spent a couple of hours ripping around on the recumbent. Then back for a lumberjack breakfast at Kristys (the local family food place), bland food, but hugely filling. Then hung out in the back yard building a wheel and drinking gin and tonic. A nice way to spend the afternoon.

I've been trying to sell my recumbent for some time. However, I'm a little discouraged after the likes of Mr. Willy and Professor Philip have been the only respondents. Both of which, of course, offered to send me a certified cheque to cover the cost of the bicycle and shipping. Bleah.

However, I was unable to resist the allure of this piece of wonder which is now my new cyclocross bike. I've been looking forever for a classic cross bike in 58-60 cm and this it.

I accidentally wandered into the MEC sale, with various community folks selling stuff. I decided to check out the one bike table and - scoop - set of Fiamme tubular rims on Campagnolo Record hubs, a set of BMX wheels with freewheel, three cogs: Dia-compe and Dura ace, and a funky red wool cycling cap for $100 bones. Very nicely done :-)

There are two nice things about Ottawa drivers. The first is they rarely honk. At anything, including each other. This is in sharp contrast to Toronto. The second is that, generally, they give you a very wide berth if they can. Again, in contrast to Toronto drivers, who seem to want to use you to clean their cars by rubbing against you as they drive by.

Today I rode out to an industrial area of town to buy a used computer desk. I have to rent a truck to get it home, unfortunately, but it was an interesting ride for a couple of reasons. First is it emphasized my first two points. It's not an area you'd expect to see a bike and the roads are some of the narrower I've seen in Ottawa. Second was that, in Ottawa, buses have their own roads (or transitways) from which other traffic is barred. With the strike on, I jumped on a transit way. It was so sweet. Sort of like the Ride for the Heart in Toronto where they close the DVP and the bikes take over...

This week has heralded a major snow dump and a transit strike on Wednesday. It hasn't affected traffic volume too much, at least not on my route and commute times. Thus far, apart from goo accumulation on the Raleigh, the winter commute in Ottawa has been sort of fun. You can't beat a pristine shoulder for riding through. If only the cars would stay at home.

I took my winter beater out for a run today to see how long it would take to get to work. Turns out around fifteen minutes or so, which isn't bad. The path system is not an option - it's glare ice from all the walkers etc. and I'd need studded tires to run it. The roads itself aren't too bad although crossing the 417 is a little grisly. A few motorists weren't too sure what to do with a bike and I can see how some fool coming onto the road from the highway without looking may be a problem. Sidewalk may be an option at some point and I'm thinking side blinkies, at least on the left, are likely a good idea. There's another route to cross the 417, which I might check out for the ride home from work tomorrow. It's not too far out of the way, but less direct that the route I went today. but it would require a jog in the wrong direction.

The run today doesn't give me much indication of traffic volume either. Volume today wasn't bad, but I'm thinking it's the ride home that will be the worst.

I took the Pinarello out for a ride along with a Friends for Life Bike rally training ride today. It's about 50 km from Finch station and since I rode up there and back it was about 80 km or thereabouts total. The weather was perfect, cool but sunny. The riders were great as well and I was able to hook up with a relatively fast crew. The Friends for Life Bike rally supports HIV/AIDs research with an annual ride from Toronto to Montreal. You can find out more here www.bikerally.org. I've never done it myself, but contribute to people who do. My friend Mike didn't roll out of bed in time for the ride today (his loss). The Pinarello behaved very well and I think I've almost got it dialed in.

I did forget how bad roads are in the Yonge and Finch area, though, and smacked a couple of large potholes. Also some of the motorists were confused by a bike on the road. Unfortunately I knee-jerked my signal finger a couple of times which detracted from an otherwise pleasurable ride through some beautiful areas.

I did forget my sunscreen though and I felt a little baked when I got back. I wanted to get the Vision out for a quick scoot and may just end up doing that tomorrow morning.

First time off road in, what, nearly 15 years? First time with suspension? First time with clipless? I did a lot better than I thought on my inaugural ride on Devil Strip Rollers, the dirt version. Some of the old reflexes started coming back by the end of the ride: don't look at your wheel, use your rear brake, but being able to coast is still taking some getting used to. A few foot dabs that didn't need to happen, but still it was a lot of fun. And I didn't hold Ted, Wes, and Andre back too much. Although I think the bar ends need to go, on a SS speed as soon as I move to the bar ends, I'm doomed anyway. Think momentum, Cam

Well, the first foray back into mountain biking was less than glorious. Chris Pyzer and I met at the trail-head of the Don for a ride, but I got a flat tire just before arriving.

Of course I didn't have a pump, patch or tube with me. But thanks to the amazing Doug, a random cyclist by who went home and got a tube and returned with it, I got back on the trail. It's people like Doug who restore my faith in human nature.

However, shortly afterwards I got another flat. This is surely a sign from the Great Magnet that I am not to go mountain biking today. After arriving home I discovered the culprit, which is what I had suspected. I used these rims for touring and had put a brass insert into the rim to convert from Schrader to Presta valves. At the lower pressure of the mountain bike tire, the tube sheared along the insert, cutting the valve as it inserts into the tube. So it's back to Schrader valves for me. An inauspicious end to what has been a pretty good day.

I'm starting to get a few project finished of late. The first is the single speed conversion of my old Bianchi Grizzly II.

I've had this thing since '89 and we've been through a lot together. It was my my Saskatchewan offroad machine, my commuter when I first moved to Toronto, my touring bike in Newfoundland and BC, and now it's returned to it's roots, minus a few bits.

The Mag21 fork is new to the bike, a Craigslist purchase, tuned up by Phil at Cycletherapy, but everything else is old (school). The Hite-Rite, the Scott Mathauser pads, even the Panaracer Karthoum on the front wis circa late 80's (which may not be my wisest idea in the case of the tire, but it looks fine). It'll be hitting the trails this Tuesday on the dirt version of devil strip rollers.

The next one is completely new, both to the fleet and to me. It's a Vision R65 short wheel base recumbent.

I got this, again off Craigslist, for touring mostly. The Bianchi (see above) was super heavy, and a bit of a white knuckle affair on descents, on tour. I'm just getting it dialed in right now. I've adjusted the boom and chain length and now need to recable it. The brakes are goo right now, as I found out the hard way.

There is definitely a learning curve. When turning you need to coast or else you'll hit your heel on the wheel. Speed bumps are also interesting as your feet go straight down when you hit a bump with your fleet slipping off. So clipless pedals are next.

But it's fun so far. I need to spend some more time riding it to get used to it, particularly when turning. It'll be great for summer touring though!

Yes, the Raleigh twenty has been sold. I'm selling it to a friend after some cleaning up. She'll be using it when her nephews come to visit.

This lovely old Raleigh Twenty has now been added to the fleet.

I'm not sure if I'll be keeping it as it may be a bike for my friend Sandra's nephew when he comes to town. We'll have to see. Space is becoming a problem.

I heard a robin singing yesterday morning, but today I saw a sure sign of spring
.

Yes, the Pinarello's are back for the season. And what better way to welcome them back than with colour co-ordinated shoes

They repel motorists, make you go faster, make you a better lover and ward of satan. Couldn't do much better than that.