Browsed by
Year: 2005

European Vacation

European Vacation

By the time I got to the airport after work on Friday, October 7th (cutting the time close, of course), I was utterly exhausted. I accepted the middle seat I was given as my penalty for being late. I was just glad to start my three-week vacation in Europe with my boyfriend. I was flying into Amsterdam, spending some time with him in Utrecht, and then we were taking his mother’s car and driving to Spain. After the summer I’d…

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Toy Run

Toy Run

The last ride for me of the season was my very first Toy Run. I was excited to see what this major day of bikes was all about. The day dawned and it was cloudy but not raining, so we decided it was a go. I was taking one of my sisters on the back – she can’t ride (or drive) because of a vision thing, but is an experienced passenger and loves bikes. The day turned out well despite…

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Gabriola

Gabriola

A few years back I had the idea that my ex and I, my sister and her husband and my mother and stepfather should all buy a piece of property on Gabriola. I set it up, got the ‘rents in touch with a realtor, and we went as a group to look at properties. I had in mind a cheap piece of vacant land. At the end of the day, my mum and step-dad decided that they would buy a…

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Taking a Passenger

Taking a Passenger

Anyone who was reading my European travelogue closely might have noticed that I spent close to three weeks in the Netherlands with a Dutch guy I’d met in St. Petersburg. The more curious might have wondered if it was entirely platonic. Well, it wasn’t, but at the time we thought it was a vacation romance. However, as time went on, and after some drama, we came to believe that the connection we had was deeper than that. So, on July…

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Julia’s Funeral

Julia’s Funeral

With the death of Julia Sit, the riding community lost one of its most involved members. It seemed an especially unnecessary tragedy since she herself had lost her partner in a riding accident almost exactly a year previously, and now her loss was being felt by her new fiance and almost everyone in the riding community. It seemed like even people who’d never met her felt like they knew her. She’d run a coffee shop for her parents, the Flying…

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Raaainn-iieeer

Raaainn-iieeer

Things broken on this trip: One contact lens (ripped)One tank bag zipper (map compartment)One camera door (CF card)One record for no “roadside chats” on a bikeTwo friendships (at least I thought they were)Friday morning, Canada Day, awake at 7 am, despite having gotten to bed at 1:40 the previous night fully exhausted after a full week at work, barely dragging the clean laundry into the apartment before collapsing on an unmade bed. Excited about trip to Mt. Rainier that I’ve…

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Anti-Stereotypical Encounter

Anti-Stereotypical Encounter

Now, my bike is a great bike, but it doesn’t look especially tough. It’s not feminine exactly, but not especially macho either. It’s billed as a city bike, and you expect that city people will be riding it.So, I’m not sure what I was expecting this morning when I looked up while stopped at a stop light and saw a trucker checking her out. He looked like a trucker, more exactly, a trucker who rides a Harley with a skull…

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A well-Merritted trip

A well-Merritted trip

This ride, the Merritt loop via Princeton, started wet, continued grey, turned brilliant, but involved some loss and searching, and ended with good proof that my luck hasn’t run out yet.In preparation for this ride, 6EChick came over and spent the night with me – including gamely going out to a bar with strangers. In the morning, she got to accompany me on my cookie deliveries to my team in Kits (in the rain) and then out to Burnaby Kawasaki…

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Duffy Lake

Duffy Lake

Duffy Lake road is one of the long loops available from Vancouver. It’s got some great scenery – going from coast to mountains to the desert on the other side – and is very twisty. But it’s also well known for the quality, or rather lack thereof, of the pavement. I’d been wanting to do it for a long time, but unfortunately, at the beginning of the day at least, my head wasn’t quite in it (hangover and hormones –…

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Love the smell of adrenaline in the morning.

Love the smell of adrenaline in the morning.

Nothing like starting the day out facing death at the hands of incompetents in cars who haven’t learned to look over their shoulders when they change lanes. Luckily it only happens once every two weeks or so. But I do need to drill myself on laying on the horn while emergency braking. Oh, and I love having ABS and a low centre of gravity.

Mental Hygiene, or the bike as therapist

Mental Hygiene, or the bike as therapist

After work I was feeling frustrated and cranky and a wee bit stressed out. There was a big motorcycle event that I had thought about going to, but the idea of happily chatting with masses of people was about as appealing as being hit on the head repeatedly with a brick, so I’d decided to go home.However, I had a few crucial errands to do, and as I headed towards the last one, Penny started talking to me. She told…

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SpeedyBikeGirls do Squamish

SpeedyBikeGirls do Squamish

Last night, I arranged a group ride to get to know some of the women on the website we hadn’t ridden with yet. And, after telling everyone to be there at 5:30, gassed up and ready to go, I got stuck in traffic getting out of Richmond and was late myself. And it was hot. And I was in full gear, and sweat was running down my legs and pooling in my boots by the time I got there. And…

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