I've never even owned a bike with v-brakes. I missed that whole generation of mountain bikes. I went straight from cantis to discs. I actually love how easy it is to adjust disc brakes. I mean, I guess if I was well practiced at the art of adjusting canti's I might like that too, but I'm terrible at it. Road calipers are easy too I guess, but they also don't really brake very well so they're not that interesting. :)

hydraulic avids: loosen CPS bolts. pull brake lever tight. re-tighten CPS bolts while lever is depressed. done.

cable avids: loosen CPS bolts. adjust pad trim knobs in until caliper is 'clamped' and aligned properly in the caliper (not exactly centered). tighten CPS bolts. back the pad trim knobs out a few clicks. done.

O'Connor->St. Clair->Kingston is also a decent route.. you can get to O'Connor from Broadview/Paper off Danforth, or from Pottery Rd. if you're on the Don. Any of these eastbound trips can get a bit hairy during the evening rush. Note if you take Danforth->Kingston that the merge puts you in the centre lane of 60-70 kph traffic.

For bonus fun / a scenic route if you're riding geared (& not in a hurry), bomb down Guildwood from Kingston E. of Markham, and climb back up Morningside.

i suppose if i had a bike with disks and had a chance to mess around with them i would get good at it. you're right about the cantis - i love using them but find that adjusting them maddening.

Yeah when I ride out to Whitby in the mornings this route is fine - I go straight and carry on down Kingston Rd. at Kingston/Lawrence but the Danforth/Kingston Rd. section is fine - fairly quick too with not so many big rollers. I've done it a bunch of times in the last little while, no drama at all so far.

Oh, btw. I'm off this Monday and I'll likely be looking to go on a nice easy post-PA spin. I know you often post about riding on Mondays so I thought I'd mention it. :)

I've rediscovered listening to podcasts at work.. makes me fall in love with the CBC all over again. Great episode of DNTO from 3/30 on laziness: http://www.cbc.ca/dnto/podcast.html

Dude wrote a book called "How To Be Idle: A Loafer's Manifesto". I have a new hero. :D

yeah, i'm into that. just finishing up building my roadbike now (after sitting in my basement for two years) so i'll be itching to get it out.

did anyone else pick up some sweet curb jumping technique from that guy on the s-works last night?

i tested it out on the way to work by racing commuters and then jumping right in front of them


one day i'll get the balls to try an x-up over a speedbump.

curb jumping fixed? i still havent figured that one out, though i was ripping good on a freewheel

there was a guy racing a group of us from manic to dundas square on a specialized s-works (epic?) mountain bike (wearing matching ferarri shoes, hat, jacket)

he would ride really really hard on the sidewalk and then do a big curb hop in front of one of us.
it was pretty badass.

i like the way my girlfriend put it this morning when i was talking about it
"i think people on mountain bikes in the city think they are really tuffand like, you track bikes, are the art students
and mountain bikes are the jocks"

mm i miss pulling crap like that, i used to nail drops down sets of stairs, much to the horror and annoyance of North York mall goers. brings me back.

I've seen that mountain bike guy around before, but no idea who he is... I guess he didn't bother coming for the ride? Sounded at first like the hop in front of other riders was dangerous/irritating...

kyle, that was you and your gf I was stopped at with at the Lakeshore/Leslie lights last night?

on the ride?

that would have been blayne and jesse

my girlfriend rides an old dutch commuter and is afraid of fixed gears.

Ahhhh, sorry - had it mixed up. I did chat with the girl but didn't think to ask her name, heh.

Lovely day outside, might have to go cruise for a bit around Whitby again.

st. louis wings and beer on the patio in the sun with t-shirts

i love good weather

Yep.. just met the missus for lunch. Ate outside wearing shants and a short-sleeve shirt. Good times! However I'm now back in the office with absolutely zero air-circulation. *sigh*

3.5, 3.5 hours to gooo.. I wanna be sedated (aka riding in the Don)!

podcasts of the Best Show and Seven Second Delay on WFMU have saved my life during many late night work and study sessions.

That's the route I take to UTSc. I like it much better than taking Eglinton or Lawrence across.

Whoops!

Uh... yes.

Hm, I'll have to try that next time I'm going out there.

This is true. I'm usually commuting Eastward in the mid-morning, so traffic isn't as much of an issue. Coming back Westward the merge puts you in the right lane on Danforth, so there's no problems with traffic there.

Post hat trick!

Haha yeah the first was my fault, when we turned onto Queen from River everyone bunched and to avoid going into the track I rubbed someone. Luckily nobody went down, but I was going a little too quick. The second crash was a little more epic. On the way out from the spit Kaiser mentioned he wanted to bust some x-ups on the speedbumps and eventually got the courage to try it. He forgot to mention to me he was going all x games and proceeds to slam infront of me and I didn't have an out, I nose wheelie(d) up the speed bump and went over the bars when I hit him. One crash, two Rossin's! Crazy crazy.

Rubbin' Rossins. Dirty Boys. ;)
Everyone's ok though I hope. Pleas explain x-up.. I'm sure I know the trick, but not the name.

Aye aye aye, Rossin pileup! :eek:

X-up explained (not a barspin it seems, just a throw of bars to one side, then return to centre)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJBGz...eature=related

looks good, sounds pretty simple too

rode behind a bike cop for about 1/4 of my ride home, he was so damn slow but didn't want to pass him and have him think i am trying to show him up since i have no bell and what not

did not put 2 feet down at a stop sign, which they are 'safety blitz'ing, in fact, he just rolled through 3 of them

did not signal a left hand turn

i felt kind of bad for him, it's over 20 degrees and he was wearing more gear than i'd wear in the dead of winter, and he didn't seem to know how to get into his clips and straps