Filed under: commute by bike
It’s not so much that it’s a Batavus per se that makes me so happy. There are lots of sturdy, European-made bikes that would do as fine a job. For example, I think the Abici bikes are fantastic, and I’d love to have my own Pashley for fair-weather riding, but I’m thrilled that the Batavus Fryslan has proven to be such a great bike for Dear Spouse. Its price point was a little lower than some of the other bikes that Curbside carries, and because that dropped it below the provincial tax threshold the price difference translated into a final cost of about $500 less than some of the comparable models.
For his part, Dear Spouse has been a very easy convert. He loves the upright riding position, the effortlessness of the ride itself, the swiftness of the bike, and the fact that it’s really true that he can bike in his good clothes and not arrive at his destination in a sweat.
I love the fact that we can now cycle in time with each other. My bike ends up having a very similar wheel-base to his and my effort is about equal to his (unless I have my dynamo on at night) so we are often able to ride nearly side-by-side as we go.
He’s already found that lots of folks around town comment on his bike too, and the local hipster barrista with a Bianchi fixie pronounced the Batavus a very spiffy ride after taking it for a spin around the uptown core.
Dear Spouse is a big ol’ graphic novel fan so he’s named his shiny, black city bike the “Batavus-mobile”. Heh.
Meanwhile, when I’m not doing work-work I’ve been reading 3 books about cycling alongside each other. I’ll have comments to post soon, and I’ll be wondering what others think. I’ll say already that much as I like David Byrne’s premise about travelling with a bike being so much nicer than travelling any other way, I’m finding his Bicycle Diaries to be too much about his untrained sociological views. He’s not off the plot, but his fixation on the sociological questions can distract from the travel-by-bike premise and lead him into territory that he’s poorly equipped to analyse except in the most ‘armchair’ mode, and that’s too bad because it really does give the book a sedentary feel.
Filed under: commute by bike
The Batavus Fryslan Heren. It is currently on sale so that it falls below the provincial cut-off for sales tax exemption.
Now when we ride together, it will be easier because our bikes will be more compatible. For him riding will be more comfortable than on his 17 year-old Hard Rock mountain bike, will strain his damaged knee far less (if at all), and will allow him to ride about town in all his dashing glory.
Filed under: Uncategorized
OK… so my readers out there, you’ve likely gathered that when I’m not biking I spend too much time reading, writing and cooking.
I’m not a craftsy type of person, and I have absolutely no musical talent at all. Well, I can sing, but not if you ask me to do it in the same tempo that you are doing it. I don’t like needle-work (though, yes, I can do it). I am not much for gardening and really like that our new house on a large corner lot manages to have very little in way of garden requirements. By the time I’m done with it, there will be even fewer garden requirements. We’re working this summer on getting rid of the grass and putting in a combination of ground covers instead.
There is one thing I like to do — aside from biking — that feels like it transports me out of myself and into that place that gets described as ‘the zone’. For me ‘the zone’ requires just enough challenge to keep me on my toes, and enough reward to make me feel satisfied with my progress. The combination can provide a deep feeling of pleasure. Today I had some pretty dense theory to slog through for a writing project, so I took a break by taking up my new water colour pencils (love them!) and began my first draft-study of my grandmother’s hands.
Here is the result of sketching today.
Gramma's hands
I really liked working on the sketch. The process felt a little like a conversation between me and Gramma, and I was comforted to find myself submerged in tactile memories of her skin, sensory memories of the sound of her voice, of the smell of her perfume…
It was a good respite from the slogging away at the writing.
I recently had to make a jaunt into Toronto for business. Because I have a fondness for the train, and because we live less than a kilometer from the train station, and because I get a corporate rate on train travel, I decided that the engine whistles were singing out to me to ride the rails for a day.
I rode my bike to the station where, rather like a Nederlander, I locked up my bike and hopped aboard. It is possible to take your bike on the train for some destinations (as, apparently, with the run down to Niagara-on-the-Lake where there do bike tours of the local wineries), but I had no ambition to ride at the other end, so I just locked the Blue Beauty and went on my merry way.
Except… as you will see in the photo below, our mostly desolate train station has no bike racks. There is a skinny parking lot with no appropriate place for a bike, and no visibility to the station’s interior offices. There is a large portico on the east side, and it would be perfect for bike racks, but there are none; instead, there are a few lonely newspaper boxes. So… I locked the Blue Beauty to herself with both the internal wheel lock and my steel bike cable. The Old Dutch is heavy enough to deter someone from trying to walk off with her, and I decided to park her on the wide platform, in front of a window with a sight-line to the interior ticketing office, but I admit that I did worry a little about vandalism if not about theft. I’ve had my bike tires slashed in the past.
When I returned in the late evening, my bike was exactly as I had left it. I am curious about how many people in passing trains wondered about the massive blue bike parked on the train platform with no accompanying rider in sight.
In addition to finding my bike in one piece, I was met by my dear spouse who had ridden down on his bike to meet me. How romantic!
Kitchener VIA station: you need bike racks!
Filed under: commute by bike
By next Sunday I should have pictures… right now my love’s birthday present is in a box at Curbside in Toronto. It’s a new Batavus Fryslan Heren, the bike that Curbside had Batavus build for our terrain: 5 speeds, a little bit lighter, battery powered lamp instead of the dynamo. We’ll pick it up next Saturday. Simple, elegant and black, the bike will be great for my love’s daily commutes and will make our cycling together so much more enjoyable. The 15 year old mountain bike will be re-purposed for riding the rough terrain at our shack in the woods.
And now, birthday over, it is bed-time.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Self-promotion, that is.
I’m heading into the big city tomorrow to do a TVO interview for a show called The Agenda. I’m excited because I’ll finally have a chance to meet (via satellite) some people whose work and ideas I’ve been familiar with for a long time.
I’m also going to pay the folks at Curbside Cycle a visit, because a special someone has a birthday coming up. Shhhh.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Gramma knew good transportation!
This photo arrived in my email this morning from a cousin. That’s my Gramma on the left. I think it’s perfect, and I am reminded of how tickled Gramma was by my bike-riding. One of her favourite days this past year was when she and my mum rode behind me in their car while I cycled down to our favourite local patisserie.
I really get a kick out of how much my Blue Beauty resembles her bike in this photo. Classics never go out of style!
Filed under: Uncategorized
My grandmother died this morning around 6:00. We were phoned at about 5:50, but our drive takes about 45 minutes and so I missed her actual passing. She was not alone, however; her two palliative nurses stayed with her.
I will miss her dreadfully. To keep a grandmother until one is old enough to require bifocals oneself can lead one to the fantasy that Gramma will simply be there forever and ever.
Good-bye my sweet, sweet Gramma.
Filed under: winter riding
OK, so I’ve volunteered to get fitted with the GPS unit to track my winter cycling habits, and even though I haven’t yet had a reply from the planner researching how to accommodate winter cyclists, I thought I ought to start off on the right foot for deep-winter cycling, you know, just so I’d already have the momentum in case they do ask me to take part in the study.
So, I packed my basil winter saddle-bags and slung my purse over my shoulder, and headed out in my big motorcycle books (with thermal socks inside), tights, a thick skirt that came down over the top of the boots, a t-shirt and sweater, my winter jacket that covers my hips, and my faux-fur flap-hat.
And I froze. My hands, face and torso were warm enough, but my skirt kept riding up and my legs got all tight from the cold. It was -11 C when I left the house, and then there’s the wind chill on top of that… so it was about -20 C with that factored in.
It was the first ride I’ve done in which I’ve thought to myself, “You have gone barking mad.”
I stopped on the way to work to get a coffee (and WARM UP a bit). That made things much better. Still, I was really annoyed when I parked at school and had my bike topple over when I removed the stuff from one side of the saddle-bags before I emptied the other. Note to self: always empty the side opposite the kickstand first. Arg.
Teaching was all good. Honours seminar. My field. 25 students. Should be a nice way to spend the next 12 weeks.
The ride home, in the dark, which I expected would be even more chilling was, in fact, more pleasant than the ride in today. The roads were quieter, and the lights especially icy in the inky black of night… the hum of my tires and my dynamo lighting my way home providing a reminder that home was only a few, short minutes away.
And when I got home: dinner already for the table.
Very warming.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Enough of the question of whether 2010 is the last or the penultimate year of the decade. If we begin at zero and count up until we have one, we do not reach one until we have completed all the parts. (The concept is easier to grasp with 100ths of a percent in which 100% = 1.0).
My post really isn’t about the path, it’s about movement… from there to here.
On December 14th 1999 I deposited my dissertation and prepared to defend.
My father died unexpectedly, in Mexico, on Dec. 29th 1999. It will sound like blasphemy to those who didn’t know him, but ’round these parts we like to observe that the man simply knew he wasn’t built for the next century, never mind the next millennium. So he hit his punch-card and clocked out.
I defended the dissertation in the spring, moved in the fall to a full course-load but a part-time faculty gig.
Parlayed my way into a full-time gig, and then into a tenure-track job.
Published my dissertation as a book.
Co-wrote a textbook.
Edited an international collection.
Made some amazing new friends around the world.
Took my son to France, Italy, Ireland and Spain.
Got my Irish citizenship.
Moved to the suburbs… and fled them.
Bought a great mountain bike to replace my crappy mountain bike… stopped riding but had my whole approach to riding altered while on a research trip in Amsterdam.
Converted back to year-round cycling.
Lost myself in my work for too long.
And in this coming decade, my goal is to find my way back to a real life. Cycling as part of my everyday life is central to that mission.
I want to:
Convince my spouse to get a city-bike.
Go on a bicycle tour of the Niagara wine region.
Go on a bicycle tour in Europe… maybe one every two years or so.
Spend more time cooking.
Keep less stuff in the fridge. Except for cheese. The cheese stays!
I want to write more slowly, with less concern about whether the result will be good for my next promotion.
Spend more time with my grad students, to help them develop.
Spend more time with friends. (I love that we now have the kind of deck that begs for al fresco dinner parties).
The last decade has been about movement, more faster, upward…
I want my next decade to be defined by a different kind of movement, and it’s a trajectory toward the more humane, connected, and community oriented.
