So you wanna be a Bike Bum?

This past Summer I took a week's vacation in late May while the rest of the family was still out working. The goal, to be a Bike Bum for a week.

Stuck in the modern trappings of a wife, 2.5 kids, a mortgage and a demanding job, I have always envied those free spirits on wheels that I see cruising along the streets of Montreal. Fortunately for me, I happen to know a few of those young free riding spirits.

So the idea was to get myself on the bike every morning and just go somewhere. I also decided to take on any group ride that happen to come my way. In a great stroke of luck, I had fantastic weather all week and I was able to ride out every day, not that rain was going to be a problem.

I must say that I had amazing experiences with all those that I had the privilege to ride with. In spite of having ridden most of this City, I still managed to find new places I hadn't seen yet. I rode next to crazy and daring riders who gave me a show in riding prowess that should belong in one of those rock videos. I rode myself to bicycle overdose! I never taught that could be possible...it was.

At the end of the week, I had lived an amazing chapter in my life but came to a sad conclusion. Being a Bike Bum is not just riding your bike everyday, it is a life style. At this stage in my life I can only hope to be a wannabe in the face of all those fantastic free spirits who live it everyday. I shall envy them to the grave and love them forever.

Ride free and safe. Godspeed

Gerry :)

I hate SPAM in all it's forms. I don't care who you are.

So you want to promote your cycling/community cause and wish to do it with this blog? Fine, send me an email with some info and I will post about it. (xddorox at gmail.com)

Spamming my comment section in a post will get you deleted and make me angry. That is just rude. I don't know  if Cadbury's Bicycle Factory is legit, a scam or another way for a big box corporation to look all nice by trying to be do-gooders, but linking there site, with no email contact for me to report such rudeness, in one of the comment sections is all wrong.

Note to all wannabe spammers, I do check my comments on a regular basis and you will be deleted. To those of you fighting out there for the cause, send me an email and I will gladly help you out if I can.

Well one good thing came out of this, it got me so pissed that I actually posted again. Stay tuned since I have a few pieces on stand by, including a how-to article in the works. It's been a lousy Summer bike wise, but I'll try and make it up.

Rant over.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 10TH 2010, CADBURY APOLOGIZED CHECK THIS POST

Godspeed to you all and ride safe.

Gerry   :)

Vacation in Montreal on a Bike Part 3

Sunday was a lovely day and the good people at MEC (Mountain Equipement Coop) had organized Montreal's first Bike Fest. Of course I had to go down there to meet up with a lot of people I know and I sure did.

I met some familiar faces that day and even a pair of readers. It's always fun to meet people who read my stuff. You know who you are both of you. :)  We had the presence of many community groups who promote biking, from the all season commuters association, the bike moving company and the gardeners on bikes. Even the gals in blue showed up to give safety tips to kids and they held a raffle for a cool looking helmet. Eric Hannan and his crew showed up with their mad Choppers and grabbed all kinds of attention as usual.

I spent the rest of the day with a ride downtown. The last one was over a year ago and the nice warm day was all indicated to go at it. I was surprised to see Ste-Catherine so crowded on a Sunday afternoon. I'm not phobic about crowds but it seems that their was a lot more people than I am use to. I cruised away from the "Cat" and took some shots of Windsor station. If you recognize it but can't put your finger on it, it has been used to portray many cities in movies.

It was a great day and I hope that Bike Fest will be done again next year. The Féria du Vélo in the beginning of June is nice but too corporate. The Bike Fest was more down to earth and really reached out to the grass roots people.

Until next time, ride safe and Godspeed.

Gerry :)

Vacation in Montreal on a Bike Part 2

Today I decided to look over the bike before heading out to a short ride in my immediate neighborhood North of the City. Turns out the front brake pads came out of alignment and were rubbing on the front tire. The rear pads were not fairing as good either since they had a lot of toe-out that made them yell like crazy!

All came back together with a bit of tweaking. I even managed to get my saddle height correct and now that 50 year old Brook's saddle feels great. I went for a short 10 kilometer ride today but it was well worth it. I happen by chance to get hungry near a little place on Gouin at the corner of Delorimier called Pitabec. I had the best Shish Taouk pita sandwich in my entire life. That pita sandwich alone was worth getting the cruiser out today.

Big bike fest tomorrow(Sunday May 23rd) at Lafontaine Park starting at 10am. If you are in Montreal, come look for me there tomorrow.

Until next time, ride safe and Godspeed.

Gerry :)

Vacation in Montreal on a Bike Part 1

So the first day of the vacation started off with a late evening ride that is posted on the Fixed Gear Montréal group on Facebook. It's every Thursday evening at 10H30 pm starting in the park at the corner of St-Laurent and St-Joseph.

I met up with three other riders, Max, Vladimir and a reader of this blog who chose to remain nameless. The plan was to go South, so we did. South from that point in Montreal is downhill so it was a lot of fun despite the fact that in the back of my mind I would have to climb those hills on the way back at some point in the evening. But I live in the now and truly enjoyed the ride all the way down to the Old Port. We ended up on top of the belvedere at the Old Port with a superb view of the skyline.

We moved out West passed the old Five Rose flour plant. It was great to see that the neon sign, which is a City landmark, is still working and to be this close to it was pretty cool. We rode the Lachine canal all the way up to St-Henri were we parked it in a local pub. Riding the canal at midnite is quite different than riding it during the day with tourists, commuters and Lance Armstrong wannabes. The darkness and absence of said populace made it surreal.

We shared a large pitcher of a refreshing beverage, the beer kind. It was quite refreshing to hang out with a few twenty somethings discussing bikes, life and existence in general. 2 am came along and we parted ways. I had 15 kilometers ahead of me to get back home, of which at least half was uphill and I was completely smashed!

I learned a lot of things during that gruesome ride.

1- I do live in one of the safest cities in North America. The Canadien hockey club just won 5 to 1 against the Philly Flyers that evening in the Stanley Cup series and although people were in a very high party mood, all was done in a civilized manner.

2- My bike weighs a ton! Pushing that thing up St-Laurent boulevard made me realized that I have to be more weight conscious when I slap a bike together.

3- You're less likely to get doored at 2 am. The more you get away from the City core, the quieter it is.

4- Some people love my bike. Determined by the fact that a drunk girl yelled out "I love your bike!" while I was concentrated on the pain of pedaling it uphill hard.

5-  Beer doesn't numb the pain enough. I still felt my butt, legs and back hurting all the way.

I made it home in one piece and I was quite happy with the day's riding. I will cherish this late evening ride forever. Would I do it again? I most probably will next week. Many thanks to my riding buddies who made this experience truly awesome.

Until next time ride safe and Godspeed.

Gerry :)