I did end up cleaning the tub ;)

That is some crappy weather tonight.

i just wish it would decide whether it's gonna snow or rain... sure doesn't motivate me to finish getting together my new rear wheel...

well, if today had to be the day that i got my first door prize (and ending my three-year no-falling streak) i'm glad it was this morning when it was dry, and not tonight into the slush. of course, then the little old lady wouldn't have been on her way into church, but shame on me for assuming that the roads were for cars to unload their passengers into anyway. lord have mercy.

Hope your ok zippered with no serious injuries.....

Damn dude, you and the bike alright?

Ouch, hope you're OK zip. I took a spill and ended up under a parked car last night when the back wheel slipped around on the streetcar track and there was no way I could catch it - was on my hip half under the car before I could do anything. Bad discipline around the tracks, I should've been more careful.

It's shocking that people don't stop. At least 5 people in cars saw me go down and under, but nobody bothered to stop. I saw a girl collecting herself by the side of a streetcar the other night, she'd taken a spill and I offered help - she was fine, though. When I hit the van last week, as well as the driver/passenger not stopping or asking, nobody else other than a security guard crossing the street asked - and this was a loud enough impact to have had people notice... Bah.

Is it that hard for people to care enough to even ask? People suck.

thanks guys, nothing serious. my left arm took most of the impact; some skin gone from my thumb (so glad that i wear gloves!) and some bruises. i don't really remember how i fell or got back up. i took a few minutes to snap a photo of the plate and to make sure i didn't need an ambulance, but i (stupidly? stubbornly? sacrificially?) didn't call the cops. later i realised that my handlebars and wheel were out of alignment, but hopefully all can be put back into order. except my seething contempt.

Feel better, Tam. Good call on wearing gloves. That's why I almost always wear full finger gloves now.

I picked up full-finger gloves for the same reason. I also put a pair of old-school bar-ends on the handlebars to give my knuckles a little more coverage. This summer for the first time ever, my perception of relative risk is higher on the street than it is on the trails of the Don Valley. I must have hit the ground 20 times riding those trails, but not once was it as scary or dangerous as getting doored.

i'm working on it! of course i was on to my first dance workshop in ages, so it's hard to figure out which ouch is which...

gloves = absolutely: it was cold enough to wear 'em anyway, but i say that as a reminder to those that may not have learned the hard way.

as for passing on the right, well we all scan for doors when passing parked cars, it's hard to anticipate someone exiting a vehicle in traffic (with no signal). but for those of you familiar with the church on sorauren, i probably "should" have known better.

So glad to hear you're ok. Old ladies... man, are they ever tricky *****es sometimes, next they'll be thrownin' themselves outta sunroofs just to score a biker. You know she was braggin' about it over Canasta and ginger snaps later. :) I jest b/c you are ok. The tailwind in the crap last night made it worth it, messy but fun. Tailwind right now is heading East if the flag I see is correct.

Hey mail-orderers. Tire from excelsports.com = $99.98. Same tire from probikekit.com = $87.26. See any reason why the PBK order would wind up being more expensive? PBK shipping to Canada is free, so I can't see any obvious reason why I wouldn't go with them, but I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything.

Also, before you ask: Yes, Veloflex tubulars are really that expensive. :P They'll be for racing only, so they'll last me approximately forever barring any horrible punctures (*knock on wood*).

go with PBK

i've done a number of orders lately on the super cheap dura ace stuff and they all came within 5-6 days

you might get hit with tax either way

plus wouldn't the excelsports price be in american? that's another 25%

also, coupon code CANRBR for another 5% off

Duty is the only thing if Excel is Canadian.

I was looking at cassettes on PBK and it seems as though the price has gone up a lot.

pretty much everything bike related is going up in price unfortunately

Whoops, yeah, forgot that PBK = CDN but Excel = USD. I guess that makes the decision even more obvious!

$85 for a top flight tubular is pretty cheap. If you are gonna keep em "forever" buy some wheel bags...tires last much longer when stored this way.

where is a good place to get wheel bags? I'm thinking of throwing my Hed's in a bag rather than just leaving them in my basement.

I also seem to recall that US shipping garners you warehousing charges while PBK doesn't for some bizarre reason.

Keith,

I *think* Schwalbe renamed the Little Albert to the "Albert" ... but didn't discontinue it (yay!):

http://schwalbe.com/gbl/en/bicycle/m...n_subPoint=MTB

Hopefully a set of those + my Racing Ralphs will have me set for tires this season.

Anyone know if the Beginners XC category is age based or is it open, like the Singlespeed category? If Wes got pwned in Sport last season (no offence) I don't want to suffer a worse fate this year, so I'm going to be kickin' it in the next rung down the ladder.

Edit: Oh, here we go - beginner race seems to be open for 19+ ... but it's at 8:30am for 45 minutes. Umm ... damn.

http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_do...e_category.pdf

yeah...the "Little" Albert is now just the Albert..same tire. I am gonna take the plunge and go tubeless next season. Wow...this season's been done for 1 day and already looking forward to next...NICE!

The Beginner class run's on a slightly shorter (usually one big really tech section) than sport. I would suggest starting in Beginner, then if you are doing well you can do the try an O-cup Class which is the full course and distance. If it proves too much you can jump back to beginner. It is open but you wont find too many sandbaggers there...certainly less than S.S. Class.

1) Zippered! Feel better! Doors suck.

2) Eggbeaters look hilarious on cottered cranks.