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Instead of Camping

// August 4th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // life

Photo: view of the CN Tower from the Toronto Music Garden

This was supposed to be a post about our awesome weekend camping and kiteboarding, but instead we ended up spending August long in the city. We had the car packed and were all the way out to Ajax when Allen asked me to take him back home.

Last weekend when we were kiteboarding in Oliphant, Allen hurt his foot a bit. He wasn’t sure if he stepped on something or twisted it, but it was kinda sore throughout the week. Then on Friday and Saturday it swelled up and his stomach also got ill. We weren’t sure if his foot was infected and he was feeling pretty lousy so we thought we should be home and around a hospital in case he had to go. Al rested and his stomach was better by Sunday, but still can’t walk well on that one foot.

Despite the injury, he did manage to get down to the Toronto Music Garden which is not far from our house. The photo in this post was taken at the garden looking back toward downtown Toronto.

To get some activity outdoors, today I went biking with my friend Natalie out to Leslie Street Spit. It was great! I had no idea that you could even bike out to the land opposite of the Toronto Windsurf Club. I didn’t know it was attached. If you bike in Toronto, check it out.

So, our weekend didn’t go as planned, but I still had a nice one. Poor Allen. I hope his foot gets better soon.

New Bikes

// April 20th, 2008 // 6 Comments » // sports

Yesterday, Allen and I both got a brand new Norco Charger for city & trail riding. Here’s the Charger specs from Norco’s site:

New lightweight triple butted front triangle and butted rear triangle with semi-integrated headtube – RockShox Dart 3 fork with magnesium lowers, Turnkey lockout, rebound adjust – Shimano RM-65 centre lock disc hubs with WTB SpeedDisc rims and DT Swiss stainless spokes – Shimano M443 cranks with Octalink bottom bracket.

It’s a good all-around mountain bike for trails, street and cross country racing and we totally love the smooth ride they give. My only complaint is the rock hard seat. My butt hurts! We’ll probably replace the seats sooner rather than later.

We got them yesterday up at Silent Sports in Thornhill. They have them on sale for $699 off from $1099. All bikes under $1000 are PST exempt in Ontario right now as the government is trying to get more people on bikes, so it’s a good time to buy a bike.

We rode part way home and finally understood Toronto cyclist complaints about people driving in cars. A lot of them gave VERY little room for the bikes. One Mercedes right in front of me was so close to the curb that I couldn’t go by on the right. So, we left the main streets and instead took little side roads where the biking was safe and found some really beautiful neighbourhoods. We were about to go on some trails by Bayview when Allen ran over something sharp and got a puncture in his tire. We watched helplessly as his tire deflated and then had to walk 45 minutes to the subway and take the train the rest of the way home. Poor Al barely had his bike an hour before he got a flat. He bought a patch kit today, so he’ll be back on it shortly.

I went out again today on my bike along the lake shore out to the Toronto Windsurf Club, then did a bit of light trail riding near Cherry Beach. The wind was insane, so I wasn’t surprised to see 1/2 dozen windsurfers out on the water dressed in steamers. There was even 1 kiter out decked out in a dry suit complete with hood & gloves. The water has to be chilly right now. It’ll be another month before I’m out there kiting. Besides, I’m having too much fun on the Charger right now.

International Bicycle Show

// March 8th, 2008 // No Comments » // sports

Allen and I attended the International Bicycle Show today. It was a good event with lots of shops all under one roof and four areas with pros showing off various bike skills including park, trials and cross. Here’s a video I took of some dude showing off his impressive bmx skills on the flats: