August 2015

What a summer in Vancouver! Hot and sunny! Plenty of biking and breweries! Following up on my last post, you would never believe it. I was browsing Craigslist one day in July and come across a bike that looked just like my co-worker's other bike. I called him up and sadly, he had his OTHER BIKE STOLEN! WTF! I know, I was feeling quite frustrated, didn't he learn his lesson from his last bike?! So, here we go again... but this time, no luck in getting a response from the seller. So that was not meant to be, this time around, thought his luck had ran out. A couple of weeks go by, and unbelievably, the Vancouver Police Dept called my co-worker to tell him they have recovered his bike from a homeless shelter downtown and to come pick it up. WHAT?!? I don't know how many horseshoes this guy has, but that is truly amazing. 2 bikes stolen, 2 bikes recovered! And as a token of thanks from him, he gave me his 1st bike! Partly, as a thankful gesture, and 2ndly, because he is sick of seeing it in his garage not being used, and probably for fear of getting it stolen again! I'll be giving it some love (quick tune-up, new tubes and tires) and will be riding it hopefully, or at least put it into the rotation of bikes that I do ride. Still some good weather left, so hope to get more rides in!

October 3rd, 2014

Hello! Life rolls on...

The bikes keep coming, and few are going! Had to expand me storage over the weekend to accommodate all of them. Hopefully I can get rid of a few more soon, because buying bike locks has become a regular routine it seems.
 Anyways, here's my latest bike build. It's a 1997 Trek 520 touring bike. I previously had a 520 and loved it, but alas, it was slightly too big for me. I sold that one probably about 2 years ago, and have been looking for another Trek 520 ever since. As luck would have it, this one came in among a lot of 3 bikes in an auction and more my size! I didn't pay too much for the lot, and sold the other 2 bikes to break even, so this frame was basically free. Score! Yes, it was just a frame and fork, but I can't complain too much. Bought new wheels, shifters, cassette, chain, and some new bar tape. Already had a Brooks saddle sitting around so I got to finally put it on something. And all the other parts, I had sitting around.

Finally got to ride it today, and feels pretty smooth. Still have to get use to the downtube shifters a bit though.
 The weather has been pretty nice still here in Vancouver, so if you're looking to go for a ride, let me know!

August 2014

And another few months have gone by. Time flies! Is summer coming to an end already?? Say it ain't so...
Who wants to go for a few more bike rides??? Let me know!
 Well, between that last post and this one, I managed to tear my ACL in my right knee, right in the beginning of summer. That cleared out my calendar of events. No softball, no running, no biking, etc...just physiotherapy. Did a couple months of that, and now I'm back riding my bike, and running a little bit. I should start training a bit harder as the Vancouver Rock N Roll Half Marathon is coming up, and I'm registered for that.
 On the softball side of things, I managed to play 2 games in the beginning of the season before my injury, and was good enough to play in the year-end tournaments, which was really fun. Both my teams came in 2nd place in the tournaments this year. Not bad!
 Onto the bikes...a few more came and went, nothing really worth mentioning though. I've been trying to commute to work more often by bike, and when I do, I usually pick out my Rocky Mountain Fusion. I've plenty of other bikes to choose from, but this one just feels right, and is easy to ride, even with the Ritchey ZED mountain bike tires on it.

2002 Rocky Mountain Fusion

Alright, that's all for now, but if you're in the Vancouver BC area and want to go for a ride, let me know!

November, already?

Oh boy, days are going by so fast! Looks like I can only update once a month, if even that! I better do more updating, I mean, I had 6 page views today!
I guess some unlucky (or lucky?) people wandered in by accident. Come back! Welcome! Hello! Comment!  Perhaps they were really looking for a remedy to all this rain in Vancouver! Yes, we are getting plenty of liquid sunshine, so much in fact, lots of roads have huge puddles.
 Not that the weather should stop me from biking, but I've been driving to and from work as of late. I do miss riding though...
 Okay next subject! You're probably wondering if I've got any more bikes since October. Yes, of course I did! I did, however, sell one too. Hmm, a net gain of 1 still. At least my math skills are good, even if I'm a bit of a hoarder.
 I ended up getting a 2009 Kona Jake the Snake, but this was intended for my lady friend. I use to own a 2006 Kona JTS, and loved it. Regretted selling it ever since. So I was happy to acquire this newer JTS for her, since she wanted a 'road bike' to ride, and the Bianchi didn't work out. But you know me, I couldn't just stop there, now that she had a JTS, I wanted one too....so I found a 2010 Kona Jake the Snake frameset on eBay, and I had the winning bid...and now it's in my bedroom! I've been slowly acquiring parts to build it up, hopefully it'll be complete by Christmas. I haven't taken any photos yet due to the weather, but I will when the puddles subside. Stay tuned?
 Now that makes 3 road bike projects that I have on the go...and my small apartment is getting cramped.