Great, another SUV driver out there who now hates cyclists, perhaps with good reason? Would you have spit on the window if there had been 5 guys in that SUV? Would you have spit on that window if there had been even one guy in that SUV?

Actually, yes, I'm an equal opportunity snot spitter.

hey guys,

can anyone recommend a good pair of gloves for winter riding that i can pick up in toronto? preferably something wind resistant and somewhat warm but not bulky. i checked out a nice pair at mec but they were $70!! or is that the price range i should expect to look at.. i'm still wearing my holey summer gloves and losing digits to wind chill. -thanks a bunch.

You there - Get some lobster claws! Here are the ones I have:

http://www.louisgarneau.com/media/im..._020_large.jpg

I believe Urbane still has some in stock.

- eyefloater

yeah, I need to check some out too. I've been using a pair of fleece ones so far, but they're not that warm... plus they're starting to disintegrate. :P

lobster claws are a good idea.. i was just at urbane on the weekend too.

I got some great gloves that are fleece-lined with nylon exteriors at Dollarama. I also got a pair of regular old fleece gloves for dry days. Two pairs of great gloves for 2$; pretty hard to beat.

Hey Guys,
Dunno if this is allowed but I have a friend and she's got a huge shipment of North Face and Columbia Jackets and Gore-Tex Gloves.
I just picked up a Jacket and Gloves for 90 bucks today and dang they're nice!

http://creativeexhibit.com/retail/

You can go pick up from her house at Bayview and Sheppard (bayview village)
She's real nice and lets you try them all on for size and color pref.

*edit* - Grab them from her house before Wed- as thats when all these prod, go up for sale at the DC sample sales convention downtown! (prices will be slightly raised and taxed at the convention)

I am so picking up a Type-R sticker for my bike.

Haha :)
I've put one on my old bike before and I actually felt myself going SOO much faster!
*btw* only the jackets and gloves and winter wear is stashed at her house at the moment. <-- thats the more interesting stuff anyways.

sounds like she hated cyclists before darkmother even did anything wrong, be it a single female or five males... I highly doubt the driver of the vehicle would be willing to listen had he tapped on the window and tried to confront [in a diplomatic way] what her problem was with him turning left in front of her.

oh yeah...I'm checking that stuff out tomorrow.... ever price Gore-text at MEC?

Yep, I just bought my first Gore-tex anything awhile back ... cost me about 2 days pay. In a few years I'll let you know if it was worth it or not.

Hrm, I've been riding in downtown Toronto traffic since I was 13 (33 now) and I haven't ever felt the need to spit on anyone or anything. I am pretty careful and have never been hit by anyone or anything either. Pretty much every single time I go out I nearly get hit or nearly get cut off, but that is how the streets are.

Ok that's just hilarious

No personal attack intended, but this is why drivers still think it's OK to cut us off.

And to clip us.

And a myriad of other things they shouldn't be doing.

If I get infringed upon, I stick up for myself -- whether it's diplomatically (90% of the time), or a little on the side of not (the other 10%). You can't let drivers harass you and assume that the next cager down the line didn't see that and will treat you with respect. Maybe I just have a hate-on for drivers. We all know there are nice folk who are courteous to cyclists, but those that aren't deserve a ticket or at least a verbal reinforcement of the knowledge of your right to the road.

You are right, I don't think it is okay for drivers to throw their weight around, I just think that in Toronto, a cyclist is better off riding defensively. Don't put yourself in a position to get cut off. Keep your head up at all times. Do your best not to get mad at drivers; not easy, I know, but having a nice ride ruined by your own anger really sucks and I have learned to let it go. Now and then I give someone the bird, but it is rare. I have seen so many crazy things as a cyclist (and a student paramedic), it just isn't worth the hassle of getting into a fight with cars. The cyclist always loses.

Just my 2 cents.

I'm also guilty of hocking loogies at cars, primarily when they're parked in bike lanes.

For cars in traffic, I'm tending now to simply wave as I pass them later on or slowly crawl by while they're stopped and grin at them.

Those look good. What did they cost you? I was shopping for gloves last weekend, but co-op was charging too much for ski gloves. I ended up getting some fleece lined mitts for around 30 bucks. They are warm, but the split fingers would be better.

Anybody looking to trade framesets? I have a NOS miyata track from the mid 80s, 56 cm top tube, 56 cm ctt, which is too big for me. Looking for something in the 53-54 cm range.

This isn't my bike, but the frame is the same:
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d28/drong/miyata.jpg

I live in Winnipeg right now, but I'll be going to toronto for the holidays. I could bring the frame with me and trade there.

PM me if you like.

You're entirely correct. Now we need to think of a way to make it so that we *don't* always lose.

<point of view>
And this is why stuff like Critical Mass and social rides are important.
</point of view>

do any of you guys rock any sort of cycling 'booties'? My toes are the only thing that gets uncomfortably cold these days. The toes of my shoes are basically open mesh, so the wind just whips right through there. I'm sure thicker socks would probably help also, but my shoes fit pretty snug, so I don't know if there's much room for that.

You could go the cheap way and just duct tape over the mesh...kind of ghetto but it does work fairly well. Yet another use for duct tape>

I'm ashamed of myself for not thinking of that myself. :)

Re: lobster claw prices.

I'm a bad person to ask about that since I got mine for free from the shop. I just did a quick web search and it looks like Velotique is selling them for $39.95. Hope that helps.

- eyefloater

I bought some recently, but I haven't tried them yet. I find wool socks in my cycling shoes with no covers are good down to around -5 to -10, then it starts to get really uncomfortable. The shoes fit so tight that adding another pair of socks won't do much good. What I used to do was put milk bags over my socks and under my shoes-that helps, and it's cheap.

I have a pair of LG cycling shoe covers that I think I got at Velotique. I tend to wear my sandals, though, with a polypro sock inside a neoprene bootie. I haven't tested this for a long ride as yet. I found my cycling shoes were tight enough that it was difficult to keep me toes warm, although the over booties helped a lot.

i don't think this is the case anymore but milk bags used to be a canadian thing exclusively (someone slap me if i'm talking out of my butt again). i heard one american ex-pat say they had no idea what to do with them after they were opened.. so they were propping up individual bags in the fridge! i guess all canucks just know to buy the plastic pitchers. ok back to bikes........

hahahahaha

It is a blast out there today. I took out my FG mountain bike with some big knobbies. Fun! Much more stable than my road bike. Unstoppable.

damn... all that salt makes me cringe. makes me want to buy some frame-saver. we got spared from all that snow that got dumped in the US northeast though.... or will we...