A busy summer and a NB-NS tour

It's been a pretty wonderful summer this year! Lots of sun, lots of distance logged in on the bike, and --last but not least-- a lot of big wins for cycling in Halifax. 

The Crosstown Connector, Windsor Street's beautiful bike lane, has a bit of an upcoming expansion in the Dalhousie separated bike lane. From there, it's just a hop, skip and jump to the Hollis Street bike lane in downtown Halifax. It's getting to the point that if you live in the North End or West End, you could hop onto a bike lane which will take you all the way to the universities in the South End, or to work Downtown. Hospital workers that live on the peninsula can also crossover from Windsor Street to the bike lane on Bell Road to get to work at both the Halifax Infirmary, Emergency Department or the Victoria General Hospital sites. Though it's true both the Dal bike lane and the Hollis street bike lane have hit last minute speed-bumps, I'm pretty convinced that they'll be started in the spring, at the very latest. 

As for myself, I'll continue biking during the winter in a commuter capacity and will try to keep up with this blog. I'll start likely begin reducing the distance I do per month leading up to November, when I start switching over the the indoor trainer --something that will be a little more tough to do with a smaller apartment. 

But before all this comes to pass, I've been planning a season-topping ride from Sussex, NB back to the shores of Halifax, NS. A ride of nearly 400km over four days. Starting in Sussex early next week, I'll be staying at a friend's place in Moncton after the first day of riding, then switch over to B&B's in Lorneville, NS and Truro on days two and three before grinding the rest of the way home on day four.

Most of my summer feels like it's been leading up to this. After having some vacation-timing troubles this month, I've been lucky to line this up, leaving myself with time to increase the length of my rides. Right now I'm more than comfortable riding a 100km day going between 27-30kph. Helping me get to this point was my season opener tour of Chester-Windsor-Halifax (about 200km). Then a couple weeks ago I busted out another 180km trek to Middle Musquodoboit and back (out through Lawrencetown and back through Enfeild --See pics below). This Sussex-Halifax trip will be the largest I've done in such a short amount of time, so it's going to be a real challenge for me. 

One of the largest challenges of the trip isn't really the distance at all, but controlling my pace. I'm usually a big fan of putting my head down and really pushing those pedals in order to go as fast as I can. On rural roads, I can reach and hold over 30kph. Hills are usually a pain, especially being a stately 200lbs, but I'm starting to tackle them with more gusto. The route I've mapped has a great amount of flat road, with a couple larger climbs sprinkled in each day --especially on the approach to Truro. Most of the time I'm following the shoreline along the Northumberland Straight, so the scenic aspect of this route should be super-enjoyable. I'll keep you guys posted and try to put up pictures as I go along. 

So do you all have season-ending rides you'd like to share? Leave your notes in the comments below!

Back in the saddle

It's been a remarkably long time since I've last hit this blog. I've probably forgotten and remembered and subsequently forgotten it again several times in the past... two years? Holy shit... it really has been that long since the last post, eh?

I'm not sure anyone really cares though. A whopping three official followers, and I'm sure two of them don't exist anymore. Knowing the third in real life, I recently learned I had slighted her by ignoring her for about a year or so. Overall, I don't think many people are miffed or clamouring to their internets at the end of the day to see if this blog has updated lately. 

You

In any case, not too much has happened on this end for the past couple years. Work has continued to dominate my life, imbued with the typical healthcare lifestyle stresses --poor sleep patterns, not much time for proper exercise, no time to go on dates or meet anyone in any inkling of a romantic fashion, etc. I've been taxed by the absolutely abysmal management behaviours of the 'leaders' of our healthcare system --write-ups, suspensions, absolutely zero official recognition for the multiple patients and family that seek me out upon their discharge to share how much my effort meant to them. This is sadly an experience many nurses worldwide face on a pretty consistent basis, leading me to give you the following instructions if you're ever encouraged, inspired, or generally impressed by the effort of anyone in the healthcare system:

It's not enough to tell them that they are doing a great job. Tell unit managers, service directors, VPs or CEOs!

Seriously. The person you are most impressed with is probably being reamed by management because they fight for improvements in their workplace, identify safety issues on their unit, or try to initiate change in the healthcare system as a whole. There's an unfortunate saying shared in the realm of nursing: the nail that sticks out in gets hammered down.

But I digress...

*   *   *

In this same timeframe, I gained about 40-50 lbs. over two years. It wasn't a good scene. I lost touch with the saddle (cycling) in anything other than a commuting capacity. I didn't realize how much divorcing myself away from the bike reduced my horizons. After turning 30 this year and receiving a great blog about hitting your 30s from my good friend Jabes, I realized I needed a bit of a re-adjustment. I would totally suggest the blog to anyone entering their dirty-30s!

In March I started running again with some help from the always stellar Zombies, Run! app. In April I had enough saved up to buy a brand new Giant Defy 2 in order to get back on the saddle and re-discover what I'd been missing from riding over the past two years. 

Ain't she a Beaut!!

It's been wonderful: feeling the power slowly returning to the legs, the wind whipping against my face when blasting down a curving stretch of road on my way out to Sambro, or feeling the accomplishment of climbing one of the tougher hills during the Cow Bay Loop. The crush of traffic at your heels. Even points of exhaustion have been enjoyable. Feeling the strain in my quads, the sweat sticking to my back, sun pounding and stinging any exposed skin. Thinking I'm totally spent, but reaching down and finding some modicum of energy to climb off the saddle to power out the last section of rolling hills after a 50 km ride. 

Halifax itself has improved slightly in the world of cycling. We have at least one bike lane that makes a degree of sense which runs down Windsor St. (you're welcome). Drivers are getting more experienced in sharing the roads with cyclists and the NS Motor Vehicle Act now requires a metre of space between cars and bikes. Of course the rule is broken constantly, but at least there is more of just a shrug from police and a "get over it" mentality when accidents happen. Personally however, I don't really mind being close-cut by traffic. I think that comfort comes to almost everyone on a bike in time. Also, I've never been in an accident. That may also have something to do with it. 

In any case, I'll leave you with some photos as this entry is getting a little long. Hope to see more of yous out there!

Workshop and Biking to work

So my bike group --the Halifax Cycling Coalition-- threw a major workshop over the weekend. Pretty well attended by people from all over the province who are seriously interested in getting youth to be more active through cycling.

Pretty great to see some new faces interested in cycling! The major result was that more people want to see a social marketing spin used to get people to cycle. That's pretty awesome since I've been working on this sort of project for the past 6-7 months.

So we're on the right track, as far as public participation is concerned.

I've started my clinical rotation at the hospitals again. Last... one... ever! Thank God because I can't afford to take out another loan! Nothing too too crazy or funny to report yet. One thing that brightens my day is the sheer amount of bikes at the racks at work in the morning.

Other than that though, I feel as though I am a little overworked. Three days on and two days off, when you're working 12 hour shifts feels draining. Thank God I'm in love with this career-path I've carved out for myself.

Hoping to post later in the week. Holla!

CBC Information Morning, Steve Brockley, Pacifico, Waverly Loop, the Market and Biking in Bedford

So a lot has been going down recently. My in-hospital clinical sessions have re-started. Just seven more weeks until I get paid for doing this. Needless to say, I'm working the equivalent of full time and am getting paid $0/hour.

This feels like post-modern slavery.

Meeting a lot of people at the hospital though. Couple major cuties that I am working with! But let's keep this professional. One of our patients came back from the Operating Room the other day. It was obvious that this person was still a little loopy from the drugs as they were talking in a very convincing Australian accent (not from/never been to Australia). When they saw me lurking in the room cleaning things up, they proceeded to blurt out (to one of the other nurses): "Who is that? Why... why it's a little digeridoo!" Aussie accent all the way. In this case, I was the digeridoo. I thought it was hilarious!

Will keep you posted on other school-related going's on.

My bike group and I have been circulating a petition for an Active Transportation corridor that would span the Halifax Peninsula. It's been a lot of work to go around and collect signatures. We have over 500 now, and it's climbing slowly everyday. To help promote this, we I did a brief (maybe too brief) interview with the CBC Information Morning folks. It was pretty cool to be on the radio, and they had a good view of where our proposed corridor will end up! However, I would have liked to get to the kernel of the issues surrounding the benefits of cycling. Not enough time to do so however.

Here is a picture of CBC radio's inner lair!

A few days ago, my new roomates took me out to see one of their friends perform. This guys name is Steve Brockley, and I thought he was pretty great! Kind of reminded me of Timber Timbre a little bit (slightly Macabre). The three of us drove our bikes to Just Us! Cafe on Spring Garden Road to watch the show. I bought a steamed milk with a shot of caramel. It was a pretty radical evening.

Last weekend, I went to Pacifico for the first time in maybe four or five years. To be honest, I was having a good time... until some skanks and their fatass boyfriends told the bouncers I was dancing next to them and got me kicked out. What a bunch of assholes! So after spending like $40 there through the night, I was just tossed out, no ifs, ands or buts.

I am never going back to Pacifico again. Neither am I going to suggest it to anyone considering going.

The weather has been pretty great recently! I took this opportunity to take my bike out to do the Waverly loop, which is a 50k run around the Harbour (through Bedford), out to Fall River (nearly) and back through Dartmouth via Waverly Road. It is my favourite route! I've done it in less than 1:30 before, however the head winds on this day made the entire trip VERY rough! I was not the only one on the roads that day though. A good 20 cyclists were out enjoying the great weather! It was nice to see them passing me by (going in the opposite direction).

Here is a shot taken from Lake Banook in the Dart.

Jabes and I spent the day together trying to collect more signatures for our petition today. We had a great time! The market was bumpin, as usual, and we got a lot of support. I hope these folks start writing in to their councillors about this!

Outside the Market, this trio was casting a spell on folks! They were pretty great!

Finally, Jabes and I went out for a nice bike ride today! It was a 30 min ride not very far, but we took our time, as Jabes was still getting used to the bike we made together last summer. It still rides like the wind!

We found that a TON of people in Bedford were out enjoying the weather today! It was really great to me to see so many people being active. Thank God car culture hasn't completely choked us out! More people need to enjoy the outdoors though, or else my job is going to get a hell of a lot more difficult.

This park in Bedford (pics below) was pretty amazing. It has a good 1.5 km trail right next to the water, a nice playground area for the kiddies, lots of green space. Would definitely recommend that everyone in HRM spend some time in Bedford checking this place out!

Sometimes HRM staff can design and plan for very awesome green-space! This is something I think we should thank them for a little more. I think I will write a letter to the Coast about this.

Sorry to make this so long and neglect you, my darlings! I will try to make more posts, and get batteries for my actual camera (right now, I am using my iPhone).

Sunday Rides, Parade of Lights

Went out to check out the Parade of Lights last night with Jables and her family. It was pretty cool. I was thrilled to see there were two sections with a sci-fi theme (Hali-Con and Strange Adventures). Great times. To the person dressed as Princess Leah: I would totally fight through the dangerous swamps of Dagobah just to see a sliver of your cleavage!

I'll leave you with a picture of the money-float.

Went on a whicked bike ride today out to the Hydrostone. The weather was incredible! Stopped into Jullienne's Bakery where the spread was divine!

The ensuing croissant and tea was so good, I felt like all the stress and tension I was holding through the week just melted away.

I then crossed through the commons on the way home. Nice to see people still out playing soccer and football and frisbee. I wish more people would have come out with me!

Then I took a few minutes to watch what was going down at the Skate park.

Overall a fantastic morning!!! It's weird but having the morning to myself really made my day seem longer. I got a bunch of work done for school and for my bike group! I can't wait to go next weekend! Hope you guys will join!

Duathlon, Bikes are Cool, Nice House

I went and did another race this weekend. It was pretty alright --a duathlon in Riverport (about an hour or so away). Lots of crazy expensive and good looking bikes. Even though I find my own bike quite fetching, there were some very cute other bikes there. At the end of the day, I wished I had a good $10 000 to drop on a sexy carbon fiber bicycle. Something fast and firm!

If you would like more double-entendres, please leave a comment.

The above pictured bike is my OCR3. The OCR line was meant to be an entry level competitive road bike, which has since been discontinued, and revamped into the new line: Defy. It's kind of like the Toyota Tercel transforming into the Toyota Corolla. The 3 (inversely) indicates the degree of performance you will get out of the bike. The OCR2 for example has lighter wheels and some more carbon fiber than the OCR3, making it a little stiffer as well (stiffness = more power transfered directly to the drivetrain). My bike makes me sad however. I don't really think of it as a "he" or "she" as some people tend to see their own bikes. I have not named it either. I sometimes think "What if my bike does have a personality that it wants to have expressed." If this is true, it must be depressed.

On another note, I met an old friend for supper in Bridgewater the night before the race. We used to go to classes at Dal together, and he's just gotten back from a big trip up north. Upon telling him that I was planning on roughing it in my car by the start/finish line, he urged me to stay at his brothers place for the night. My biggest props go out to you big guy! What a dynamite house!

Well that's it from me. Stay real everyone! I mean it... if anyone wakes up as a mannequin tomorrow, I will flip the fuck out.

Friday Night Drinks, Family and Supper, Paintballing with Children

So I went downtown to the bars last Friday. It's been about 3 years since I've gone out on a Friday night to drink, but Jables and her cute sister roped me into it, so there was no backing out.

The best part of the night was the walk there.

We started at the Bitter End (below), and moved to Maxwells Plum shortly thereafter. The evening wasn't that exciting. People were drunk. The concentration of police cruisers was higher than I've ever seen in quite a while. Pizza Corner was bumpin'. Girls were lookin' cute. Just stuff I remember as being pretty typical.

Before calling it quits for the night, we headed over to Gatsby's for a Coffee and some desert. Call me old fashion, but that really capped the night for me.

Went to the valley for the weekend to see the family. I think I'm starting to have my family pegged. As much as we enjoy each other's company, I think we're secretly trying to kill one another by food. Whenever a bunch of us get together, there are at least 2 rounds of heavy suppers, and eating usually begins by 4 in the afternoon and can last until 9:30-10:00 that night. Not only this, but a good 70% of the food we consume is meat. Sure we try to make things look good by making a small salad available here and there, but by and large, most meals revolve around steak, pork, chicken or all of the above. We also try to trick the Food Guide's salad recommendations by making pasta and potato salads. It took me a lot of focused concentration to not just blurt out "Alright folks, pasta and potato salad are not the same as regular salad!"

Anyways... I went easy on Supper's #1 and #2, and opted to sit out of the dessert round someone started (various pies).

The next day we went to a paintball tournament. It lasted for about 5 hours. Unfortunately, there were little kids there playing in the tournament too, which really sucks for the following reasons:

- Unless you're very close to a kid, they won't admit that they've been hit.

- You can have your gun barrel to the back of a kids head and ask him to surrender and he will still successfully worm away from you and shoot you in the face, neck or groin, point blank.

- It rarely matters what team the kid is on, he will shoot at any sign of movement unrelentingly.

- You could be walking onto the field with a group of kids that are on your team, get a couple steps ahead of them and then feel about 20 shots to your back because they all of a sudden thought you were a bad guy.

- If you're walking out to a start-point on the course after being hit, kids will always follow you and shoot the shit out of you until you get there. Or until you swear at them and use their real names.

- Kids will cry at the drop of a hat. Do not approach a crying kid while playing paintball. This is usually a trick to get you close enough to shoot in the face, neck or groin, point blank.

After a couple hours, the kids went home (thank god). The rest of the day was fun, but totally exhausting.

Oh. Took the road bike out on Saturday afternoon for a good 20km. Finally made over 30km/h average, which was a goal I had made for myself at the end of my school year. Felt pretty good.

Long, Torturous Days

Apparently, whoever's been doing the rain dance that has contributed to this being my worst summer ever decided to take a break today. I didn't know what else to do, so I just went outside with the cam and started biking around. The weirdest thing happened though. I left with only my camera and wallet in my bag, and I came back with said wallet and cameras, plus an iPhone.

Bizzar.

I decided to visit a friend in Bedford for a while. Unfortunately, I was coming down Bayers rd. doing about 40 km/h, and my pannier bounced over into my spokes while I was entering the intersection. This caused the rear wheel to lock up a little bit, and sent me fishtailing all over the place. I should mention that at the time, I was in between 2 lanes of traffic (lane splitting). I was a little embarrassed by the time I made it to the side of the road, and my pannier was nearly destroyed along with the water-bottle that was in there.

The rest of the half hour ride over was nice though.

I went to the movies later that night. One of the previews was for Whip It, the new Ellen Page movie coming out. Drew Barrymore is also in this movie, and in the preview I think she was making fun on someone's appearance. I don't know if the joke was funny or not, because to me, the real joke in any of Drew Barrymore's movie's is her face.

PS: Do not spend 10$ to watch the Ugly Truth.