Cycling Shirts = Funny

Ignore the photo on the right... its not really a cycling shirt. ;)

What I want to pass on this time is clothing. Specifically cycling shirts from sharethedamnroad.com

The shirts feature a variety of slogans like the following:

Share the Damn Road or Else

If You Can Read This, You're Too Close

*infinity symbol* MPG

I'M A TAXPAYER

DON'T RUN ME OVER

STOP UR TXTING

29 INCHES AND RIGID

And my favourite, apes evolving into men evolving into a cyclist.

:)

Toronto Police "Cycle Right" Campaign

The Toronto Police are currently conducting a "Cycle Right" campaign. Police officers are ticketing cyclists who are not in compliance with the Ontario Highway Traffic Act. (They're probably doing it to make Rob Ford happy.) The HTA states that bicycles need:

* A steady white light on the front of the bicycle and a red rear light or reflector if you ride between half an hour before sunset and half an hour after sunrise, and at any time when your bicycle is not visible from 150 metres or less.

* Rear brake capable of skidding the rear wheel on dry, level pavement.

* A bell, gong or horn in good working order.

* A strip of white reflective tape on the front forks and red reflective tape on the rear forks - each strip no less than 250 millimetres in length and 25 millimetres long and 25 millimetres wide.

The fines range from $35 for "improper bicycle lighting", $110 for having no horn or bell, $325 for failing to stop at a red light and $490 for careless driving.

See the full list of fines at toronto.ca/cycling/pdf/hta.pdf

No word yet on whether the Toronto Police will ever conduct an operation to catch bicycle thieves using GPS tracking devices by deliberately planting bicycles in high theft areas.

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Motorists who block bicycle lanes with their vehicles endanger cyclists by forcing them to suddenly merge with motor vehicle traffic. The fine for illegally blocking the bike lane is $60. The City of Toronto Bylaws for Bike Lanes are in Chapter 886 of the Toronto Municipal Code.

If you see a vehicle illegally blocking a bike lane you can call 416-808-6600 to alert the Toronto Police's Parking enforcement division, so that they can dispatch an officer to ticket the offender. (Be helpful, tell them the car's license plate # too.)

Cycling in Quebec compared to Ontario

The following is an excerpt from a Toronto Star article entitled: What goes around in Quebec comes around in Ontario

By Christopher Hume.

When it comes to cycling, Quebec leaves Ontario in the dust. While we spin our wheels arguing over whether bikes belong on the streets, la belle province has turned pedal power into a transit and tourism phenomenon.

If you haven’t been to Quebec in a while, prepare to share the roads — and even more amazingly, the highways — with the two-wheeled. Everywhere you turn now, bicycles are part of the traffic mix. In addition to separated lanes in Montreal, highways are marked and divided into bike lanes and vehicular lanes. Even routes that aren’t marked have signs that make it clear the two — bikes and cars — must share the road.

In Toronto, by contrast, bikes have become a cause for panic, a wedge issue exploited by elected leaders for their own benefit. It is a topic on which municipal elections can be won or lost, at least in part. That’s not entirely new, of course, but it is another indication of how the politics of Ontario — and Toronto — are becoming sclerotic. So frightened are we of change that we buy into the promise that the province’s glorious yesterday will never end.

It already has.

Who could forget Mayor Rob Ford’s first utterance upon being elected last November? “The war on the car,” he said, “is over.”

Such silliness. Regardless of what His Worship may think, the war of the car has only just begun. Whether or not Torontonians realize it, we will be seeing many more bikes on the streets here and around the world.

This isn’t a matter of right or left, but of right and wrong. Due to circumstances well beyond the city’s control, this is the direction we are headed. For any number of reasons — climate change, fuel costs, congestion and diminished resources — the heyday of the car is over and alternatives are needed.

Unlike Ontario, Quebec has embraced change, and turned it to its own advantage. Anyone traveling through rural Quebec will find the roads alive with cyclists. Look in the parking lots of the auberges, hotels and inns; they are full of bikes.

The Route Verte, which cuts through Quebec from east to west, now extends more than 4,000 kilometres. This makes it one of the most comprehensive bike systems in the world.

Meanwhile, back here in little old Hogtown, we’re still bickering about a few blocks of bike lanes on Jarvis St.

Toronto and Ontario’s unwillingness to take the bicycle seriously is a sign of culture grown tired, irritable and brittle. Whether it’s wind turbines, road tolls or bike lanes, we’re unable to keep up. Provincial Conservative leader Tim Hudak has made it clear clean energy and the environment have no place in his party’s platform.

Same thing with Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s regime, which announced recently it plans to lay off 700 staff at the federal environment ministry, a shocking display of contempt.

...

The fact remains, however, that cyclists are generally unwelcome on the streets of Toronto, let alone Ontario. We’re not talking here about bike lanes on the 401, but many other provincial thoroughfares where there’s room.

Speaking as someone who was yesterday signaling to turn left and had an irate woman in a car behind me shout "Make up your mind!" I know fully well that Toronto drivers don't consider bicycles to be real road vehicles. They just see us as a nuisance because they're so stuck in their mentality that cars rule the road.

But here's a tip: Bicycles have been on the roads longer than cars and while cars dwindle in popularity bicycles will still be here when society has moved en masse towards mass transit using subways and street cars.

In the future cars will be a luxury in the city. Bicycles and a TTC pass is all you really need.

Never Give Up, Interesting Cyclist Photos

Here is a pair of great photos showing cyclists with some definite skills.

Bicycle Tourism: Pros and Cons

PROBLEM ONE: How to get there...

Lets say you decide to go overseas and whilst there travel via bicycle. Do you:

OPTION A) Ship your bicycle air freight back and forth. A good route if your bicycle is one of a kind / super expensive. ie. A prototype recumbent.

OPTION B) Buy a new bicycle when you get there and sell it on craigslist before you leave.

I'd argue option B is the better solution. Saves on unnecessary costs and you get most of your money back when you sell your bicycle (assuming its still in reasonably brand new condition and you cleaned it / fixed anything broken before selling it).

But there is also...

OPTION C) Rent a bicycle (ie. BIXI in Toronto). Depending on the cost of renting a bicycle this might be the cheapest route, but only if its a short time period. Longer time periods you are better off just buying a bicycle and selling it before you leave.

PROBLEM TWO: Where to stay...

When you get there, where do you stay? Hotel, motel, hostel, park bench, friend's couch, camping? Well if you are a cyclist camping might sound like the best option, but then you have to carry all your camping gear and that can be pretty heavy if you don't know how to pack light. (Seriously, why are you bringing so many books with you???)

I think one of the best options is Bed and Breakfast places. Cheaper than hotels, great service and if you're lucky they might even have some tools you can borrow for any small repairs. Of course not all bed and breakfast places are "normal". Check out this Toronto B&B that is on a ship. Sounds like a fun thing to do, but better call ahead and see if they have room on the ship to store your bicycle. (I imagine some fancy hotels would be upset to have a dirty muddy bicycle on their carpets...)

If you went the camping route depending on the time of year you may also need a heat source. I found this out the hard way in October 2010 when I went camping with my ex-girlfriend and we used candles as our heat source. Its not like we can carry a furnace with us, but I am sure there is small portable heaters out there that would provide more heat than mere candles. (I feel silly writing this during the height of a Toronto heat wave.)

PROBLEM THREE: Cleaning and maintenance...

I recommend taking a list of bicycle mechanics with you so you know where to find them. Google Maps or an app on your smartphone would be helpful. The real problem in bicycle mechanics with a WAITING LIST... they stick your bicycle in the back and call you 2 weeks later when its fixed. Its not like walking into a Yorkville salon and getting your nails done at the last minute. A lot of bicycle mechanics are busy busy busy!

So the SMART thing to do is to carry basic tools with you and only go to the bicycle mechanic when its obviously a repair you can't fix yourself.

PROBLEM FOUR: Food... mmm... food...

OPTION A) Carry food with you from supermarkets. Lots of it...

OPTION B) Only carry necessities (ie. Poweraid) and emergency food  / snacks. Stop for food when opportunity / need arises.

OPTION C) Carry nothing but water (and dine out).

This really comes down to personal choice. When in Rome its presumed you will stop and try the pizza... Option B seems like the obvious smart choice, but some people might prefer options A or C if they are treveling in the deep woods or in a city with lots of great restaurants you want to try.

How To Fix Your Derailleurs

Please help me I'm so stressed over this. I just bought a new Supercycle bike from Canadian Tire. They did not adjust the derailleurs at the store so I decided to try it but I wound up loosen the cable too much and it came out of the derailleur all together. I am planning a cycling trip to Toronto on the weekend and I don't want to rent a BIXI bike for the entire weekend because that would cost a small fortune. Is there anyway I can fix this myself in a hurry? PLEASE HELP ME. - Andrew in Whitby, Ontario

Not to worry Andrew, help is available but it won't be easy. Derailleurs are basically the most complicated things to fix on a modern bicycle.

#1. First check to see if you have a bent derailleur tab. (You probably don't because your bike is brand new, but lets follow procedure here in case other people have problems.) If it is please see this other post on "Fixing a Bent Derailleur Tab".

#2. Get yourself a copy of Barnett's Manual (the books aren't cheap so a PDF will suffice) and read chapters 33 and 34.

I cannot possibly fully explain all the intricacies of fixing derailleurs in one blog post. Barnett takes TWO chapters to do it, one for front derailleurs and another for rear derailleurs. If you view the PDF it is pages 591 to 649.

Failing that check out this website: sheldonbrown.com/derailer-adjustment.html which is reasonably helpful, but has really shoddy graphics and skips over a lot of parts (It should be sufficient to help fix Andrew's problem however). That site does however get the point across that derailleurs are basically the most complicated things to fix on a modern bicycle.

Maybe someday I will do a detailed post on how to fix derailleurs, but if I am anything like Barnett such a post would take me a week to write and be 50+ pages long.

Good luck Andrew!

Toronto City Council votes to scrap Jarvis bike lanes

CANADA - Yesterday in a 28-9 vote Toronto city councilors voted to spend more than $400,000 to erase bike lanes on Jarvis St. downtown as well as Birchmount Rd. and Pharmacy Ave.

This isn't going to change the habits of cyclists however, who use those routes on the way to work. Myself included, I take Jarvis several times a week so the stupidity of spending thousands of dollars to REMOVE a bicycle lane is just silliness and a complete waste of taxpayers money.

It will also mean mapmakers will have to redesign their maps of Toronto's bicycle lanes and paths.

Toronto city councilors also agreed to physically separate 14 kilometres of bike lanes on downtown streets — two of them north-south, two east-west — at an unknown cost - and in an unspecified way. It is unknown exactly how cyclists are supposed to get into these new cycling lanes from intersections... and furthermore, what if situations arise where cyclists refuse to use these protected cycling lanes because its better (perhaps even safer) to be using the normal road?

Cycling advocates got one concession — the two-kilometre Jarvis lanes won’t be removed until AFTER new separated cycling lanes on Sherbourne St. are separated from other traffic, expected by December 2012.

In which case what is the cost of building these new separated cycling lanes on Sherbourne? One city councilor estimated the cost at $200,000 but I think he is full of ****. If it costs $400,000 just to remove bicycle lanes just made of PAINT, how can it cost less to create new separated bicycle lanes made of CEMENT?

Rob Ford's gravy train apparently goes to the Land of Stupid Wastefulness.