It's starting up again this month! Now on to planning routes and contacting bakeries...

Hopefully the weather will cooperate!

Five good things for this week:

• last minutes plans and my parents are arriving for a visit next week!
• book club
• being able to walk past dogs with duke and not one howl
• being inspired by pugly pixel (and getting a lot of good resources)
• discovering gigi (thanks cbc radio 2)

I also have a special, 6th good thing.

On Monday, I biked up to my book club (a 10km ride one way). Things were great and I climbed the crazy hill on Poplar Plains Cres. After the dedicated bike lanes end, however, there is a part of the bike route that takes you through a park. The route is a bit rough here and the melting snow was starting to refreeze on the path.

I was being careful biking on the forming ice, but after being distracted by a cute beagle, I slipped and fell off my bike at the exit of the park. My basket fell off my bike and my bag that was in the basket fell into a puddle of ice water.

Cursing myself, I quickly put my basket back and angrily, tried to brush the water off of my bag. Then, I went over my bike for damage and after straightening my handle bars, I rushed back on my bike and sped off.

It wasn't until after my book club meeting that I realized my cell phone was missing. I checked the time on it while biking up so it should have been in my bag and with a sinking feeling, I realized it must have fallen out when I fell off my bike.

I cycled back to the scene of my accident with thoughts of hoping my phone would still be there interspersed with imagining a person finding my phone and promptly placing an ad on craiglist to sell it.

When I got back to the park, the phone, of course, was not there. A kind man even lent me his phone to call to see if we could hear the ringer. No luck. And I slowly and sadly rode home, thinking how 2011 was starting to become a really bad year.

I got home, sullenly told Andre about my fall and my missing phone and trudged upstairs to get ready for bed.

When I went to quickly checked my email, however, I discovered an email from a girl saying she had found my phone! She lived right by the park and was safe keeping it for me!!

Suddenly 2011 turned back around to being not as bad I was thought and my faith in Torontonians was restored.

a bike date

biking through the bike lane in the new dufferin underpass

for a few days last week, the temperatures warmed up to around the 0 degree mark, so andre and i took the opportunity to ride our bikes to our lunch date.

with our groupon coupon in hand, we sat down for lunch at mildred's temple kitchen. and lucky for us, one of andre's past clients who is a chef at the restaurant was there and we were able to quickly catch up with him. he also sent over a delectable oxtail, gnocchi dish that just melted in our mouths. the meat was so tender!

a very cute bike mural - which i admired in the past but didn't remember the bike!

thanks for carrying those apples ms. pig

then we went off to mec and urbane cyclist to do some errands before returning home.

hopefully these almost spring-like temperatures will return soon!

me and my bike (that is getting a beating with all the salt this winter)

more bike riding

i'm so glad andre and i took an afternoon off to bike through the don valley ravine trail two weeks ago. that afternoon was one of the last nice, afternoons where we could take in all the fall colours.

today i drove down the don valley parkway and all the beautiful fall leaves were gone. the weather has turned colder these days too and now biking with gloves is a requirement.

i'm also glad that i lugged my camera around that day to record our epic ride (33kms!) so that during the grey days of winter, i can bring up these photos and remember how nice it used to be.

glorious weekend

a weekend filled with lots of bike rides, dog walks, fall colours and poutine!

with the super crisp autumn air, it was a perfect fall weekend.

ambrosio evolution

my new italian rims




blue rim tape!

i had a sad accident on my bike about a month ago. on my way to my freelance gig, i ran over a huge gap in sewer grate and POP! the rear wheel on my grocery-getter (so christened by andre) went flat. it was partially due to rider error - i should have taken caution to avoid that gap but the rush hour traffic was going fast and close and i didn't want to veer too much to the left - and partially because i didn't have my tires nicely inflated.

and because my tires were under-inflated my alex rim was bent and severely scratched when i hit that sewer grate. so much so that the mechanic at hoopdriver said that there was no way true the wheel. the damage was that bad.


removing the tires off of the old rims


removing the tube

i was initially sad that i had to shell out money on new rims, but after installing them (with help from andre ... no matter, with more practice i won't have to rely on him for help with my bike) i'm actually happy i made the investment.

when i first started riding with the new rims, it felt like i was pedaling a entirely new bicycle. it was so smooth it felt (and still feels) like butter. the aerodynamics on the rims must be so well designed that it just cuts through the air with little effort.

i love them <3

a most satisfying weekend

finally, despite questionable weather, we were able to have a cupcake ride on the day that it was originally planned for. i don't know why, but i get wracked with guilt when i have to call a rain date to postpone a ride ... it must be the japanese in me. so to have a ride on the set date felt like a big (weird) accomplishment.

i had such a relaxing, fun time with lovely ladies on the toronto islands. we fought the ferry crowds and landed at hanlan's point and then biked the width the of the island and also explored the residential area and some interesting nooks and crannies.

for more of the report, check out my blog post on the cupcake ride blog.

today, i hung out at andre's dog school in the morning and took photos of extremely cute puppies and smart dogs. and then in the evening hung out with some friends that are moving away from condo land on queen west into a house of their own by degrassi street!

i was also able to squeeze in some cleaning and reading.

i think i'm ready to face the work week!

3rd toronto girls' cupcake ride!

since my last cupcake ride report, my little facebook group has grown to 150+ now!

tonight on a bike month bike ride (andre and i participated in a west-end community gardens bike tour) i met a girl who saw the cupcake ride group back when there were only 6 members and decided not to join because she thought the group was created just for friends!

i gave her a promo card and asked her to join the group so that she can get details on our upcoming rides.

AND! in other exciting news, my friend has started a bay area cupcake ride as well! if you know of anyone in the san francisco, orinda or berkeley area, please send them the link!

an actual website is in the works and ms. sonya will be joining me in updating the site with cupcake ride news.

---
so the 3rd cupcake ride is this sunday!!

sadly we had to push the date back to be on father's day, because of thundershower forecasts, but hopefully we'll still have girls come out for a long, but fun ride!

cupcake ride press!

wow! in less than 24 hours my little cupcake ride facebook group went from 16 to 54 members!

why?

we got some press in the toronto star!!

2nd cupcake ride report

all photos courtesy of malena andrade of activitybubble.ca. of course i forget my camera on this special day

yesterday was my 2nd cupcake ride!

i pushed back the initial date by a week due to rain and it's a good thing i did! because we sandwiched the cupcake around bells on a bloor a massive ride-parade that is held annually to try to get the city to build bike lanes on bloor st.

we started at hot oven bakery where we all gulped down some scrumptious cupcakes and chatted with toronto star reporter chantal.

sadly we missed the star photographer by just a few minutes and our photo op with the hot oven bakery cupcakes, so the bakery gave us a pack of 4 complimentary cupcakes to take with us to high park (the meeting spot for 'bells on bloor').

at high park we got some flags for the ride/parade and then the group of maybe 1000 cyclists hit bloor street and we rode slowly eastbound to queens park (ontario's legislative assembly).

the 'bells on bloor' part of the ride took probably around 1 hour - 1.5 hours. there were so many people out: hardcore race cyclists in their spandex; lots of mountain bikes; families in crazy tandem bikes (one was a 6 seater bike with a chariot trailer and a child's seat so the whole family of 8 could bike together!!); lots of cyclists that played instruments while riding!

after the rally at queen's park, the cupcake girls left 'bells on bloor' and headed up to dessertlady to finish off our ride, where we indulged in a red velvet cupcake with creamcheese icing, but also some super yummy sorbets and ice creams. mmmm, earl grey chocolate ice cream with pear sorbet .... mmmmmmm

bike lanes are growing all over the city

.... my bike specializes in the nitty-gritty
new york city never had an equality, it's reality
economic duality
sci-fi wasabi - cibo matto

i'm so jealous of bike riders in vancouver. the city is literally glowing with bike lanes and bicycle awareness. if a street isn't a designated bike lane, more often than not there are bike icons with chevrons painted on the street to remind drivers to 'share the road'.

when i was just planning my trip to vancouver, i asked one of my bicycle road race friends if he'd be up to do critical mass with me. his response was that vancouver doesn't really need critical mass to create awareness because people actually took the long route and went through city hall to create all the bike lanes that exist in the city. that being said, he was still up for 'the mass' because a lot of cute girls seem to always show up.

anyway, we didn't end up doing critical mass due to rain, but i now know what it feels like to cycle in a truly bike friendly city.

so now, how can we get this kind of bicycle infrastructure in toronto?

2nd toronto girls' cupcake ride and other bike news

i've just sent out an invite to the 2nd toronto girls' cupcake ride. ... i hope more girls come out this time!

my other bike news is that while in vancouver, andre and i both scored awesome 80's roadbikes. for me this is especially exciting because it's a boy's bike with a straight top tube that i can straddle ... and it's super light. i love it! also, andre's bike is triple butted (meaning the frame is skinnier in parts to make it even lighter).

although, i was super sad to have andre take my new bike back to toronto (i wanted to explore more of vancouver on this bike), i am really excited to see how the fixie conversion and transformation will turn out. did i already mention that this bike is the lightest bike i've ever ridden!

next up, a bike report about biking in vancouver. *sigh* bike lane network in vancouver, how i absolutely ADORE you. why does the bike lane network in toronto suck so much?

Inaugural Cupcake Ride 2010

do you want to join me on a cross-toronto cupcake ride this weekend?

if so, join my event on facebook!

or if you have eastery things to do this weekend, join the toronto girls' cupcake ride group on facebook to get notice on the next ride!

just putting it out there, it's going to be 25 degrees this saturday.

toronto girls' cupcake ride

i want to start a cupcake ride in toronto, much like the ones in nashville and paris.

these rides (at least the nashville one) are comprised of cupcake eating and bike riding.

it's probably due to the weather, but finding members is harder than i thought. or perhaps there aren't a lot of fixie or single speed girl riders in toronto ... yet. either way, my dreams of having a ride before the first snowfall were dashed this past week.

so now i'm looking towards the spring for the inaugural ride. i wonder if the weather will cooperate and allow me to organize one cupcake ride before i head off to vancouver? keeping cranks crossed!

edit: it might help if i actually provided the link!

wipeout

the dreaded streetcar tracks were my downfall (haha). last week i wiped out over the streetcard tracks on dundas st. riding to meet friends for dinner.

unfortunately due to watermain upgrade construction, cyclists need to merge over streetcar tracks into the left lane between shaw st. and dovercourt rd.

even after my close call on spadina and even after being told by the bicycle thief to always cross the tracks as close to 90 degrees as possible, in my rush to get to dinner, hopping back over to the right lane, i got a bit too cocky/lazy and crossed probably almost parallel to the tracks. big mistake.

i totally wiped out and slid onto construction gravel, hit both knees (skinned one) and banged up my left wrist. luckily for me, there weren't any cars right behind me. two concerned ladies rushed over to help me up.

today was the first day since my wipe out to ride my bike and now i get a bit panicky when crossing street car tracks. boooooo. i need to gain my confidence again by riding more, but with snow in the forecast it looks like i'll be putting my bike away for the winter.

oh well. i'll keep myself occupied with bike blogs.

i want to start a cupcake ride in toronto, perhaps in the spring!

august critical mass

these were ribbons that were passed out by two very cute siblings at the july critical mass in toronto.

the august critical mass is tonight! will you join andre and i?

critical mass toronto

after years of wanting to, andre and i finally joined critical mass - a massive, group bicycle ride that stops all traffic due to the sheer number of cyclists on the road. the event happens in many cities around the world on the same day. originally the movement was started to try to garner attention to the lack bike lanes in urban areas. in some cities like budapest, upwards of 50,000 cyclists come out!

it was so liberating to be able to bike in the middle of major thoroughfares during rush hour with no worries of getting cut off, having cars turn into you or 'door prizes'. also the sense of community was huge. there were cyclists of all sorts, from the spandex road bike riders, to the fixies, to people on vintage bikes and even kids - everybody happily bicycling together.

it was also interesting to watch as the veteran critical massers would ride ahead and block traffic for the safe passage of the rest of the group through intersections that had turned red. veteran critical massers were also quick to diffuse situations with angry drivers by performing trumpet solos or 'come on leave it alone, let's keep on riding.'

during the ride, we encountered a lot of smiles, some puzzled looks and even angry drivers. there was even an incident where a man rammed his nice honda fit into a cyclist! and sadly, despite police help through some intersections, a girl was later ticketed.

until riding with the group, i never realized what a politically charged event this was. some even calling it a 'protest' against cars. others call it a celebration of clean air and city living. either way it was great fun and hearing all our bike bells ringing through the streets was really nice.

when i'm back in vancouver, i definitely want to take part in critical mass! tonight, the expected turn out in vancouver is 3000 and police have basically told drivers to stay away from the downtown core.

some better photos of the event:
• while waiting at a light on yonge
• the talented trumpeter
• a panorama

more links to other critical masses:
• how a critical mass in new york became a violent encounter with police
• critical mass vancouver info
• history of critical mass and how to start one

my new bike - part II

so after that first celebratory post about a new bike, i have another new one!

andre spent his whole saturday cleaning and converting this old 'freespirit' ladies' road bike to a single gear bicycle for me. riding my clunky ccm bike, i realized that riding upright is so nice! so my new bike has:

- a new flip flop rear wheel (it can be flipped to be either a fixie or a single gear
- newish front wheel
-new upright handle bars and grips

and now, instead of huffing and puffing trying to keep with andre on a super heavy bike (sorry ccm), or pedaling with little result (sorry mountain bike), i can smoothly keep up with him. yay!

i just have to make sure to be careful over the streetcar tracks. biking along queen st. the other day with myae, i almost wiped out crossing spadina. the cars behind me must have gasped as i slid sideways with my right leg up at 45 degrees trying not to hit the pavement.

some cool websites of girls who are into bikes (most seem to ride fixies - which i'm too scared to do):

- sayacafe - is staring a bike shop in japan
- charakichi (bike crazy in japanese): girls on bikes!
- paris cupcake girls ride
- fixed gear girl taiwan

a new bicycle

my current $99 mountain bike has served me very well for the past 4 years. andre, however, recently purchased a new mountain bike and also made himself a very cool fixed gear road bike. and now he is obsessed with bikes and wants to make a fixed gear bike for me!

we were all set on trying to find a lightweight mountain bike frame (sadly i'm too short for a real road bike and kids' road bikes just aren't the same), but stumbled upon a garage sale today and on a whim purchased this 1967 CCM bike.

i'm still contemplating on whether i should spruce it up with new parts, or just clean it, get andre to tune it for me and ride it as is. in terms of weight and speed, so far it doesn't feel much different from my mountain bike. in terms of ride height and body position, however, there is a big difference.

either way, we've now added yet another hobby to our long list of recreational pastimes.