Rides and Races - Toronto Fixed

Plus, they double as earmuffs in the winter (learned that one in Ottawa).

YUP YUP....lol

nice Sennheiser's are the jam.
I have a pair of HD 650's (technically they belong to my work, but I'm the only person who uses them), not noise canceling but amazing sound quality.

at home I have a pair of hd500's... they were going cheap at Future Shop right after christmas.

looking for recomendations for bud or wrap around headphones that would work well on the bike.. and not get shoved around but my helmet too I guess.....

I dunno, I'm hesitant to ride w/ headphones / earbuds on.

I've never tried it, but it seems like anything that would cut down my awareness of what's going on around me would be a "Bad Thing." That being said, if I could find a pair of earbuds that worked well, I might compromise and just stick one in my right ear. It would definitely be nice to have some biking music playing when I'm riding around town.

I dunno, I'm hesitant to ride w/ headphones / earbuds on.

I've never tried it, but it seems like anything that would cut down my awareness of what's going on around me would be a "Bad Thing." That being said, if I could find a pair of earbuds that worked well, I might compromise and just stick one in my right ear. It would definitely be nice to have some biking music playing when I'm riding around town.

My thoughts exactly.. I'd probably do it while just riding on a trail, or outside of the city, but definitely not while on an urban street. And I'd probably want to use something fairly "open" as well... the standard ipod headphones would probably work well enough for those purposes for me.

I think I need to bring some music to Bay Bloor Radio and do some comparisons on their headphone wall. I found Sennheisers kind of uncomfortable when I did that once before.. same with the Grados.

Indeed...I've stopped riding with music..... I HAVE to hear what's going on around me.

Leslie and Queen here...... not a fixie guy though.
Rush hour in Toronto....like a video game on King and Queen St.s

Blasting down to the bottom of Yonge is always a thrill though.

Better than a video game ;) People always ask me how I can bicycle in Toronto with all the traffic and pedestrians and general craziness of the city; I tell them that it is because of those things that I love it so much. I've been living/bicycling in and around Queen west for 20 years now and I still get a rush when I fly through the traffic to get to work. Gets the blood rushing and you instantly wake up when you get into the traffic. Can't beat it.

Oftentimes though, it can beat you... to a pulp!

Better than a video game ;) People always ask me how I can bicycle in Toronto with all the traffic and pedestrians and general craziness of the city; I tell them that it is because of those things that I love it so much. I've been living/bicycling in and around Queen west for 20 years now and I still get a rush when I fly through the traffic to get to work. Gets the blood rushing and you instantly wake up when you get into the traffic. Can't beat it.

Traffic Jammer said heading down Yonge I believe. My personal favourite is heading south on University. I absolutely love how it just opens up like a drag strip. Occasionally I'll head down there at night when the street's deserted, which is also a fun experience. It's just one of those places around town that makes the bull**** near-misses worth it.

Personal most hated area: Queen, between Church and University. People have got my name on a list or something in that neighbourhood. I've been clipped three times there.

I dunno, I'm hesitant to ride w/ headphones / earbuds on.



I find the the normal bud style let in so much outside noise that you can hear everthing you need to anyway, except maybe the music. When I got the ones that actually go inside your ear canal-(think foam ear plugs with a headphone speaker integrated into them), I was thinking it would be really dangerous to ride in traffic with them. You can't really hear anything but the music-(which flat out rocks BTW). After a bit of getting used to them, I think you can learn to ride safely with them. You just have to keep focused on what is around you.

In fact I actually make a point of wearing my headphones when the streets are really snowy, or icey. In these cases, I need to ride more in the middle of the lane for safety, regardless of what joe motorist behind me thinks about it. I find that with the headphones I am better able to focus on what I need to be doing, rather than letting cars intimidate to the sketchy curbside by tailgating or whatever. It's psychological warfare.

I actually get faster the closer I get to downtown. I dance with the traffic ... not the other cyclists, and no coffee required once at work.

For me the worst is always Queen west between University and Spadina (and onwards towards Bathurst). The combination of narrow road, parking on both sides of the street, streetcar tracks, tons of traffic, constant construction and every guy with a facial piercing and girl with ***** boots running across the street without looking as well as a bevvy of swinging doors makes it really quite treacherous. Its even worse in the rain! Whats better: Getting doored or getting caught in the streetcar tracks and then consumed by the car behind you?

I usually end up going south a couple of blocks to adelaide or richmond depending on the direction I am going, but the cars on those streets can be pretty wild at times too!

I actually get faster the closer I get to downtown. I dance with the traffic ... not the other cyclists.

Yeah, a little competition gets the blood pumping. I love blasting downtown in rush hour traffic-makes me wish I still worked in the city core.

It always makes me smile to crank it south on Spadina, just before college. That keyhole is really fun.

I hate those tracks and their holes ..... evil on road wheels, simply evil.

I dunno, I'm hesitant to ride w/ headphones / earbuds on.


I used to wear them when my commute route was primarily on the trail system. Nothing like a little Cro-Mags or Tom Jones to start your day. Now that I ride pretty much Eglinton to Steeles on Leslie, I kind of like to know when a city waste truck or semi is coming up behind me. I can't localize nearly as well with headphones on. That and it looks bad when a cop's yelling at you to stop blowing lights and you have to pull your headphones off to hear him.

I hate those tracks and their holes ..... evil on road wheels, simply evil.

Hehehe, growing up downtown I learned the hard way to avoid streetcar tracks when I was 13; I went down hard when I got my front tire stuck when I was passing my friend. Hasn't happened since ;)

The lack of hills here is still a novelty to me... I've become such a wuss since I moved here from Newfoundland. There's no way I could ride a fixie in St. John's.. :P I either wouldn't be able to make it up the hills, or I'd have to take my feet off the pedals going back down. :)

That said I haven't tried to tackle The Hill in Toronto yet.. ie. the one South of St. Clair on Yonge, etc. I have friends that live around Davisville, but they don't ride, so I rarely ride there. Haven't tried yet since I bought my fixie last year.

Stupid drivers exist everywhere however.. I used to get just as much ignorant run-ins in NL as I do here. Especially since cyclists aren't nearly as common on the streets there.

I had an old Italian racing frame from the 70's with a BMX freewheel, as close to a fixie as I wanna get in traffic. All those years riding and they still blow my mind.

That said I haven't tried to tackle The Hill in Toronto yet.. ie. the one South of St. Clair on Yonge, etc. I have friends that live around Davisville, but they don't ride, so I rarely ride there.

Ok, we need to do a tour of Toronto "hills", combined with gratuitous park beer drinking after each one. Northbound bayview south of St. Clair, Southbound Yonge south of York Mills, maybe something north of the beaches. Really, there is nothing in this city very challenging, even fixed, but it would be fun all the same.

I had an old Italian racing frame from the 70's with a BMX freewheel, as close to a fixie as I wanna get in traffic. All those years riding and they still blow my mind.


All of my beater bikes used to be like that. I still miss some of them. SS road bikes are fun for messing with cars downtown. I had one single speed Italian SLX road frame with a flat bar, and double pivot brakes that was like a sports car. I miss that one.

After the drunken hill climbing ... is there a competition for the longest pedaling hurl?

campy drop outs ..punched BB, drilled campy brake levers Columbus Original tubing with my Mavic Aluminum Aero crank ....*sniff I loved that bike weighed about as much as a box of klennex.... fast

Ok, we need to do a tour of Toronto "hills", combined with gratuitous park beer drinking after each one. Northbound bayview south of St. Clair, Southbound Yonge south of York Mills, maybe something north of the beaches. Really, there is nothing in this city very challenging, even fixed, but it would be fun all the same.

and then after we'd gotta go for a double century.

so after discussing it over with a couple of people at work regarding headphones/music while riding it turns out they are nay-sayers too, but it's interesting to point out that these people ride w/o helmets and probably take more risks while slowly dorking around in traffic than I do.
anyways; one earbud in one ear seems safe enough, but which ear would you using it in? the right ear so you could hear potential danger coming from the left, I'm more concerned with sounds of car tires failing to grip pavement, which I'm sure I could hear above the music as it wouldn't be deafening loud.
Or wear it in the left ear and expect the norm from cars to my left and keep a careful watch on my right. (like a parked car door opening, someone running out into the street, etc...).
it's all in your own control over how much you limit your awareness, turn it down if it's so loud you can't a car right behind you.
I don't have an mp3 player yet and music and riding is something I've been toying with for over a year... not likely to ever happen. But it can be really boring and sometimes I wouldn't mind hearing my fav. song just once to help with the ride into work... kind of like audible adrenalin.. if that makes sense.

Ok, we need to do a tour of Toronto "hills", combined with gratuitous park beer drinking after each one. Northbound bayview south of St. Clair, Southbound Yonge south of York Mills, maybe something north of the beaches. Really, there is nothing in this city very challenging, even fixed, but it would be fun all the same.

lee street dude... in the beaches, just east of Woodbine.. starting at queen ends at gerrard. probably only 5 blocks long.....it'd be like riding straight up out of the Don valley where that pedestrian bridge crosses over between the Bloor/danforth bridge and dundas

damnit.. I just had a post ready to go and closed the window by accident.

anyhoo.. the hill + beer idea sounds like a super idea while I'm sitting on my lazy ass at home. :D Looking forward to it!

I just installed new cleats in my new shooes. woo. Oh, and a couple of you will be happy to know that I took the time to tighten my chain. I was too lazy to bother with it much the last time I had my wheel off (had my bike in my car trunk.. wouldn't fit with both wheels mounted) because I had to get to work.

Oh, and on another note. What kind of chain lube do y'all use? I've been using some ancient Pedro's ATB lube that I had lying around since it got cold, but it's pretty nasty. I have to buy something new soon!

Oh dear God ... they won.

*hangs head in shame*

What kind of chain lube do y'all use? I've been using some ancient Pedro's ATB lube that I had lying around since it got cold, but it's pretty nasty. I have to buy something new soon!

Finish Line Cross Country (wet)

I don't think it was a matter of whether they'd win, but by how much. In that sense it isn't as bad as I'd feared. Granted, it still sucks the bag.

Since it looks like I missed the party. I have a pair of Grado Sr-60's at home.

A4audio in Richmond Hill is selling a pair of sr-80s for 99USD (seems like a pretty good deal).

I used to listen to music while riding. The not hearing stuff wasn't so much a problem as the drunken delayed reaction time. That's what made me stop using them. Plus I like to hear the noise my bike makes (i.e none).

Finish Line Cross Country (wet)
^^

climbs:
-mt.pleasant northbound, roxborough drive to inglewood drive
-pottery road

headphones:
-in the city. never, i believe ears are essential for safety. e.g., you can often hear a vehicle door open before you see it...from my experiences, it is typically cracked ajar momentarily before it is fully opened and does not often produce a loud enough sound to be heard over music.
-trails, rural, suburban, some urban residential, rollers, dromes: sure.

triflow for stinge.
&
white lighting cause it sounded cool.

[QUOTE=darkmother]Ok, we need to do a tour of Toronto "hills", combined with gratuitous park beer drinking after each one. Northbound bayview south of St. Clair, Southbound Yonge south of York Mills, maybe something north of the beaches.
Glen Manor from Queen up to Kingston road is a bee-otch. the first one is a roller but that last stretch to K.R. is really steep. Guys on my team used to do hill intervals going up one street, then down the next. The beaches is good for this. Nothing super long but some of them are pretty steep.

On another note the used bike dude is coming by at 5:30 today. I will stick around a little late tonite (6:30ISH) for anyone who wants to come by a little later.

Oh, and on another note. What kind of chain lube do y'all use? I've been using some ancient Pedro's ATB lube that I had lying around since it got cold, but it's pretty nasty. I have to buy something new soon!

I use a 50/50 blend of chainsaw oil and 10W30 motor oil. Stays in the rollers where you need it.

Oh dear God ... they won.

*hangs head in shame*

God bless America....

Hey at least olivia chow won!!!! I just found out that she's the co-chair of a bike advocacy group in toronto... Just another reason to be happy to get that ****** bag Ianno out of trinity-spadina!!! I'm actually pretty impressed with the NDP this election... silverlining to the cloud I'd say.

I just wished they had pushed themselves as a viable alternative this time around instead of playin' "We'll make a good oposition" Should a gone for the brass ring this time. Thrilled for Chow as Layton is "The Man" in my riding, happy for them as a couple as well as politically because she's a great fighter for the folks.

Salut Mr. Martin... hopefully you can be golfing with a retired Harper soon.

I hear you on the viable party TRaffic Jammer. When I say happy, I was happy for them to get more seats... I wasn't happy with the way they watered down their positions on say gun control and gun violence to appeal to more voters, but hey if Harper can start saying he doesn't have a position on abortion to get votes than I'd say the NDPs increasingly hidden social agenda fits in just fine... Don't hate the player, hate the game?

Oh and I laughed pretty hard cause during her victory speech it sounded like olivia chow said that she was going to put an end to "chow poverty" instead of child poverty :D Do I smell an MP pay raise? :eek:

Anything that takes away Harper's carte blanche is OK by me. I was truly terrified of a Conservative majority. I just hope we aren't doing this again by the end of the summer. Plus a leadership campaign for the Liberals? Belinda had better stay home from that dance.

I saw some footage last night with Harper saying he wasn't going to bring up abortion rights and that he didn't want to talk about his stance. much eye-rolling ensued.

Anything that takes away Harper's carte blanche is OK by me. I was truly terrified of a Conservative majority. I just hope we aren't doing this again by the end of the summer. Plus a leadership campaign for the Liberals? Belinda had better stay home from that dance. Can we spend a bit more tax payer money on nothing in particular.

I think if Mr Martin had sacrificed some MPs to the RCMP during ADGate he might have made it IMHO. ONE adman re-mortgages his house and pays back a million and it's all over? Damn if I had done that I'd never see the light of day again. So now they've lost but they pretty much got away with it.

I saw some footage last night with Harper saying he wasn't going to bring up abortion rights and that he didn't want to talk about his stance. much eye-rolling ensued.

Whatever. Being from Saskatchewan, I know what the Reform Party stood for. The advantage of a minority government is that it gives them a chance to let people see what utter freaks they really are without doing too much damage. The Conservatives were really good at keeping their candidates mouths shut during the election; not a peep on Intelligent Design or throwing single parent welfare recipients in jail. We'll see how long they can keep it up before the bile backs up in their brains and they snap.

And I ride a fixed gear...

I saw the way they've been hustling them under the cone of silence after Harper would speak...now we get see just how insane a bunch they really are.

We'll see how long they can keep it up before the bile backs up in their brains and they snap.

mmm...bile. i use tri-flow superior. did anyone notice any strange candidates on their ballots? i had a few commies and marxist-leninists.. a buddy of mine said an elvis impersonator was up in newmarket.

Had a Marxist in mine...I almost voted for him just to freak him out.

Ok, we need to do a tour of Toronto "hills", combined with gratuitous park beer drinking after each one. Northbound bayview south of St. Clair, Southbound Yonge south of York Mills, maybe something north of the beaches. Really, there is nothing in this city very challenging, even fixed, but it would be fun all the same.

Um, i beg to differ. if you can make it to the top of bluffers park on your fixie without getting off and walking, the beer is on me.

if it's hills you're after, try: pottery rd, bayview extension, anything going north from queen to kingston rd in the beach and the holy mother of hills, bluffer's park (brimley, south of kingston road). there's also lots of mean switchbacks in the swansea neighbourhood (bloor west village) that i could show you.

Theres only one name you need to think about for the Liberal leadership... Ruby Dhalla (http://www.rubydhalla.ca/)
http://littleindia.com/july2003/rubydhalla.jpg

Officially the hottest MP in parliament!

Don't get me started on Ruby Dhalla...

I don't worry much about ascents as I have no pride. But descents ... an ugly hill for descending is York Mills just East of Yonge or Cummer just West of Leslie.

eeeee

you said 'cummer'.

there was a communist AND a marxist-leninist in my area. Couldn't they get together on these things? :)

Would have liked to have seen debate with those two on TV .....lol