I looked out the window this morning and it was POURING. So I eat my breakfast, put on the most heavy duty raingear I have, head out the door and the rain stops as soon as I clip in to my pedals. I ended up getting pretty wet just from overheating!

it's not too far from the truth; there is a group that rides out first every year in a double paceline, riding all the way there and back with maybe one stop and finishes in 10 hours. not my style.

You must have left just after me then because it stopped raining just as I was rolling into the office. :)

I'm meeting Jeremy at Ideal at noonish and then going to the university for most of the afternoon. I can check email from there. Thursday I can meet at noon or after, say, 4:30 somewhere - again I'm at the university.

How do 'dings' affect a bike structurally? I just saw this ad on CL, and while I'm not interested in it, it made me think about what type of frame damage is ok and when you need to run away.http://b.im.craigslist.org/0K/B0/jNn...1rtVd05m8v.jpg

The main factors in structural integrity are what material the bike is made of....where the ding is and how deep/big it is. On steel bikes its less likely to be a factor than on alu. If the bike has butted tubes and the dent/ding is in the middle of the tube...where the wall thickness is thinner.. it could be a problem. Dents/dings on the sides of tubes are better than dents/dings on the top or underside of tubes. Bad dings can misalign the frame and it might not ride straight no-hands. I am riding a badly dented IRO frame with no worries. That one doesn't look too bad.

What if , as in my case, it's the 'ding' doing the riding?

Thats the Ontario Randonneurs Que sheets, I was thinking of joing that group when I get my legs back up to par

yeah, a good group of guys (and the occational woman). That ride is one of my favourites.

My little guy grabbed a lawn weed remover & was playing with it, helping us in the yard (not) I hear a clank sound & i keep hearing it. He’s hitting the top tube of my MTB with it. It now has about 5 to 6 slight indentations on the top tube. You can see it if you look hard but you can feel it sliding your fingers over it. Thank crap it wasn’t to bad. No folding tube yet.

Take precautions when you have kids around your bike with garden tools.

Nice bike brad.

So those directions are for Maple to Jackson's Point and back? That's not too bad, I was thinking that it was one way and started thinking "hmmm, how do I get home"

Jer is it possible to do that Jacksons point ride on fixed? or you have to have a geared bike for that?

Any bike you can manage on!

this is the route I take up to Simcoe , you have to click on the there and back tab to get the total K's http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=300779

Tour de Warden.

You can do anything fixed.. just depends on your gear ratio, how fast you want to go and how much you want to mash up hills and/or spin back down. :)

You best bet is to do some medium-length rides fixed and see how you feel. The bike rally has rides every weekend starting on the 14th. The first rides are around 35km and build up to ~130km. Or obviously you can just do the rides solo as they post all the maps/cue-sheets (including Google Earth .kmz files: http://www.bikerally.org/maps.html).

There's some rolling hills North of the city that get tiring on my road bike, so it's nice to be able to coast down the other side (or gear down and crank it to get lots of momentum for the next ascent).

beautiful farm fields up there

indeed!

Pssh, it just looks like my commute home, except with less tailwhips.

... nice video. ;)

:lol: funny

dumpling house is at 328 spadina, just north of dundas on the west side. keep walking past king's noodle and the fruit shops. it's nestled in the grove of vietnamese sandwich shops. that place really needs a liquor license (beer+pan fried dumpings=ftw).

also check out chinese traditional buns (better seating and much more on the menu). it's at 536 dundasW, west of spadina, north side..about a minute walk from the intersection. down a flight of steps. my favourite.

last, but not least is mother's dumplings at 79 huron, just north of dundas on the east side, also down a flight of steps. minimal seating and the place is a sauna. good takeout but their frozen selection is frequently sold-out.
best is to get together with a bunch of guys on a saturday night and make your own.:p

yeah, I love Mother's Dumplings. We fed 7 people for $36 at lunch there. :)

what's ftw stand for?

for the women
free the whales

Forschungszentrum Telekommunikation Wien

whats good to order from mothers dumplings?

The ftw apparently. :)

you can do any ride you like on a fixie, technically. practically, the two times that i rode it were on fixed gear. the first time was with other fixed gear riders and it was a lot of fun. the second time it was with guys on road bikes and they got away from me on the first long downhill so most of it i rode solo. there are a lot of rollers on jane st once you get north of king rd.

im in for some long hauls on fixed...but thats my only ride so no geared biking for me...

mmmmmmmm deep fried "for the win"!