Seniors raise their glasses to the #NewYear

Boxing Day in the Medway

We got a beautiful, really Fall-like day today on Boxing Day (or Wrestling Day as it is known to Doug and Bob). The kids went skating down in the Park and we brought our coffee cups over to a lookout on the Medway. If you saw the "teaser" video I posted from there you could hear how quiet and so how pretty it was. So I had some fun with the camera.

Oh right, Americans Boxing Day is the day Canadians bring small gifts to there servants for the hard work for them preparing our feasts on the previous day. In our case we gave them the morning off as well, but that's just us!

See 8 photos from our walk on Flickr.

A Very Sica Christmas 2011

We had an outstanding boring and uneventful Chirstmas which was about as laid-back as could be had. And I think we were all glad for it, as 2011 has been moving very quick for all of us.
So below you will see.

1. Are uncontainable excitement about the celebration of Christmas Mass.
2. Chey is SO excited about the mittens I got her for Christmas while we were in line at Zellers, but what the hell I wrapped them anyway. Pat hates this picture. Salah.
3. Pat says she does not hate her new Venitian Bag!
4. Chey got me a cool calculator watch, shown here with 55378008 on the display. Who knew Cass new a mathamatical formula to calculate this?
5. Chey also got me a Pi Bag.
6. Pat made a delicious family dinner.

Then we watched Nightmere on Christmas and had a beverage. Hope you all had a good a time as we did!

Check out this Flickr Set of pics.

Listen to the Medway in #LDNont

Chillin on the cliffs

Madison, NYC, Nederland, Fairbanks, Paradise, to foggyLondon @tweedybirdnorth Happy Anniversary! #BetweenPearlandCoral

Between pearl and coral is a long time, huh? 

#mst3k Pat & the Bots and the #Packers coconut

Told you. Playing #birds on repeat. #itsover

Adieu Rm 310. You did good. #DontLookBack

 

Moving to ugly temp office for 6 months then on to new ugly office. New offices look like spreadsheets. No character.

Yep @ChromeBagsSF all this plus a u-lock fit comfortably in a mediumRanchero for my ride home. #BagLove #NowYouKnow

#sign #children #humor #kitten #espresso

xkcd: Money Chart. 99% of you REALLY ought to have a look at this.

Money Chart via xkcd.com

What a phenomenal effort you could spend (not literally, figuratively, see chart) hours looking at this. Do you already know who has more $, the 5 richest rappers or JK Rowling?

#GoodGrief! Something Christmas related I’m not ranting about.

via mashable.com

from Mashable: "A Charlie Brown Christmas" Makes the iPad Feel Like Magic
I love Vince Guaraldi's soundtrack and would actually like to try this interactive book version of the story from back in the days you could talk about the Bible and Christmas ON TV!

@SunriseSica awaits his 300lb Samoan attorney for tonight's festivities

I’m even muddier.

Sweet ride: some student is riding Dad’s old tri bike #Ciocc #westernu

There is another Skyw... ah Ciocc on campus. Saw it by WSC heading to class Looks like it is right out of the 1986 Worlds. DA gruppo with downtube friction shifters and old skool profile bars. Got the chromed chain stays but a dozen or so gears (mitigated by the big cog on back being like a 17). A fine machine, definitely 2nd best Ciocc on campus ;-)

While you’re out riding @multisportcan is making sure it's all good!

Well done today John, looked like everyone had a fun day in a well run race.

Back from a Ramble Through the Bramble #HoneyComeQuickWithTheIodine

Busy day, now at #westernu game with @tweedybirdnorth & J

No way this is real? A NDP socialist candidate named JoeHill @robinwing really?

Betcha Jack's lookin down from heaven & smilin about this one! AO Baez shows that even after IMC11 she is "alive as you and me.

That’s what I thought you meant as well #Frazz

Read this comic at here:  gocomics.com

Frazz Comic Strip, September 05, 2011 on GoComics.com

@xkcd: Family Decals #whatif #touche

via xkcd.com

Almost go time at #imc11. Follow #2071 on http://www.ironmanlive.com Sunday. What to say when I’m on the run. Human? Robot? #DaftPunk

I leaked out my bike plan in my last post so before I go hide under a rock until start Sunday morning I’ll leave you with my run plan.

Human? Robot? The internal struggle, like Spock’s Vulcan versus Human dilemma. Human useless on run, robot good, just input energy and keep parts lubed for optimum performance. As human as possible (hopefully very little) for 30 km, but after that point if you see me it’s: ROCK, ROBOT, ROCK! Otherwise you are likely to only get a blank stare, particularly if all is going well.

Other than that disconnecting from the grid now until Monday, hope I got nothing but good news for you.

Happy trails (till we meet again),

boB

OK Falls Report (Wed), my #IMC11 ride song. Dance if your legs are feeling good or you’re happy to be off the plane. One luv to #TeamSheri.

Dready got a job to do
And he's got to fulfill that mission
To see his hurt is their greatest ambition, yeah!
But-a we will survive in this world of competition,
'Cause no matter what they do
Natty keep on comin' through,
And no matter what they say-ay-ay-ay,
Natty de deh every day. yeah!

Natty Dread rides again,
Through the mystics of tomorrow,
Natty Dread rides again:
Have no fear, have no sorrow, yeah!

I and I welcome you to the sunny OK Valley, where tomorrow Dready goin’ to ride again just one more time before Sunday. Hope the journey out here was smooth.

Irie,

boB

OK Valley of the Dolls IV: Bon Voyage Team Sheri... Mega Shark vs GiantOctopus... AO, IM, & rubber?... bad html trip...

Most of Team Sheri is packing their bags excited about heading out to the cloudy OK Valley where the “skies are very cloudy all day”... at least for the last day. The Sica Family was treated to the best $1.19 CDN we ever spend on a dvd rental, Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus, an epic tale and truth be known gentle readers, I was definitely pulling for Mega Shark. Swimming at 500 knots, that’s my game plan for Sunday. And also getting some SERIOUS air:

(wouldn’t watch this if I was flying in the next day or two, I warned you...)

Sorry to spoil one of the obviously important character development scenes, but it relates to my feeling for Mega Shark as a metaphor for our substantial carbon footprints. In the movie Mega Shark challenges our refusal to acknowledge our environmental stewardship by challenging our thirst for unlimited travel over, on and under the sea by consuming airplanes, ships, submarines and the Golden Gate Bridge. Yes, you can argue when Giant Octopus destroys the Japanese oil drilling station he is making a similar statement, but consider he attacked an easy target, in a country that imports 99.9% of its oil. Taking down a couple Kuwait-flagged tankers, now that would have moved me. But hasn’t Japan been picked on enough by creatures from Monster Island?

Oil, petroleum, rubber... ahhh, what would IMC be without AO worrying about rubber? I remember 2008 and coming back to my answering machine in August and hearing a hysterical voice screaming:

TIRES TIRES IN THE GARAGE TUBES TIRES GARAGE BREAK DOWN THE DAMN DOOR AND GET TIRES. FLATS, MANY FLATS, MUST RIDE MORE TOMORROW SEND THEM IMMEDIATELY IN A PLAIN UNMARKED BOX FOR PICKUP AT THE LOADING DOCK AT THE SUPER DUPER FOOD STORE IN OROVILLE AT MIDNIGHT BY “TONY”

Strange times indeed. So I was not surprised when I got a call last night that I knew was coming...

I CAN’T GET MY WET SUIT OFF. IT’S STUCK. TF CAN’T PULL IF OFF, I HAD TO DO THE APPLE TRI IN IT. I’M SWEATING LIKE CRAZY AND HAVE SWAM 15000 M THE LAST 2 DAYS. I NEED A WETSUIT GIVE ME EMILIO DESOTO’S F$&KING CELL NUMBER NOW FOR AN IMMEDIATE SUNDAY NIGHT ORDER/HAND DELIVERY FROM SAN DIEGO TO OROVILLE. BEHIND THE SUPER DUPER AT DAWN, ATTN: “BLACK VELVET”

Diverting her eye to the sale page on the website I was able to hang up and immediately change my cell phone number and block my skype account.

These are weird times and as the density of Team Sheri increases in Pleasant Valley it will only get weirder. IronMeg is sending obscure emails in raw html, her brain moving so rapidly she can’t wait for her computer to parse:

< h t m l > < h e a d > < m e t a h t t p - e q u i v = " C o n t e n t - T y p e " c o n t e n t = " t e x t / h t m l ; c h a r s e t = u t f - 1 6 " > < / h e a d > < b o d y > & # 1 8 4 9 2 ; TML dir=ltr>& # 1 8 4 9 2 ; EAD>& # 1 5 3 7 0 ; META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=unicode">& # 1 5 3 7 0 ; STYLE type=text/css>p { margin: 0; }& # 1 2 0 9 2 ; STYLE> & # 1 9 7 7 2 ; ETA content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.3698" name=GENERATOR& # 1 5 4 2 2 ; /HEAD>& # 1 5 3 7 0 ; BODY> & # 1 7 4 6 8 ; IV id=idOWAReplyText48774 dir=ltr>& # 1 5 3 7 0 ; DIV dir=ltr>& # 1 7 9 8 0 ; ONT face=Arial color=#000000 size=2>Thanks...

This is not the kind of email one’s head deals with easily even after 45 min swimming in the crystal clear lake, head darting back and forth in case Mega Shark wants to double-down on a couple of high stakes 10x100 sets.

People: don’t panic! Ahhh what the hell its too late, go for it, panic, and I’ll be cheering for ya’.

PO,

boB

ps: holy tap-dancing Jesus, IronMeg just sent another 12,100 characters of html gibberish. “Mostly harmless”... Postcard to MJ: Weather is here, wish I could read it!

Black Velvet and that top relay prize... Down in Kelowna TF is stillthe King... the little Tugboat nails the swim... Nice appetizer but..

Back from the Apple Tri in Kelowna. Great race, course, organization, etc. They care and it shows. I did the sprint as a tuneup for next week’s fun, AO was excited to be chosen as head biker and driver for Team Black Velvet, who won the woman’s title. Add TF’s gold medal in the M50-54 and that gold van is full with 4 gold medals, and of course, Mr. OF, THE coolest looking dude in the transition area (they should have given him a medal for that).

Up in Memphis the music's like a heatwave 

White lightening, bound to drive you wild 

Mama's baby's in the heart of every school girl 

"Love me tender" leaves 'em cryin' in the aisle 

Yours truly had a fund day satisfying his 2 race goals.

1. Stay upright on the bike


2. Don’t pull nothing on the run.

Mission accomplished. I haven’t done a tri this short except for the TTT prologues in a LONG time, strange to finish the run and not feel like you cashed in all your chips. Felt pretty good on the climbs and had a good swim. That was fun, and now it's time to start thinking about going 226.2 km next weekend.

Kudos to CSS for all his race support help!

OK Valley Report II: Fast times on the run; show me the way to YellowLake?; damn right it’s the F*&king little L liberals fault

Why in the world are we here
Surely not to live in pain and fear
Why on earth are you there
When you're ev'rywhere
Come and get your share 

Time flys like an arrow, fruit flys like a banana, et? So it is Friday already and didn’t get to report on yesterdays run. Well it was shine on, good news and karma for you who have done your hills.

OK Falls is out at the end of the run course, and it is the 10 km on either side of the turn-around point where the biggest hills live. Did a 14 km recon run and wasn’t no thing after all the times up North down Griffith on those endless long runs. We’ll see when it counts. Wish I could have John yelling in my head during the race to kill the pain. God bless ‘em.

So today Mrs Sica kindly agreed to drop me off for a ride that was supposed to start at the end of the bike out/back (at 120 km, where you get your special needs bag), but we got just past Twin Lakes not quite half way to Keremos and big time construction, 20 min waits to get on the road and well the mission got scrubbed. Taking out amazing amount of rock on BIG trucks. Will they open the road for next Sunday? Who cares, I got my own troubles. But the important part I got to do the descent down to Hwy 97, which always gives my trouble but with the headwinds today wasn’t too bad and my shorts stayed nice and dry. Got to swing round through Penticton and draft for a while behind a huge road vehicle, must have been going like 40 or 45 behind its huge slipstream with the aforementioned headwind on the descent now at my back flying along the Lake. Recon’ed the MacLean monster, the steepest and meanest climb on the course (take note of that). Pavement is in rotten shape but you will be going < 10 km/h so don’t sweat it.

Down the Highway past OK Falls and on the way back pulled out into the rest area and got some wisdom dropped on me:

“LIBERALS are strictly for the RICH. The rest of us are EXPOITS (sic)”

Which is the way it is today people. The liberal school system is not even teaching tense any more, and we have decayed into a society of grim acronym and texting-speak. I close with the wisdom of Pierre Trudeau:

It's nt d Nd of d wrld, bt u cn C it frm der*

PO, and shine on like the moon and the stars and the sun,

boB

ps: Savvios Family Restaurant in Oliver (right on Hwy), highly recommended, Greek/Italian.

* ”It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from there.”

Okanagan Report - 8/17/11 - Frost-filled water/Richter/Lenticularclouds/Birds of Fire

Got in yesterday, all gear + Ms Patricia all made it fine, css came in under cover of darkness. Great deal on a car out of Kelowna, it has small holes about the side of a quarter on a cluster on the side but cheap. Barely shut/open my peepers and heading down to Osoyoos this AM to see how steep Ritcher has gotten. Big cup of joe and the country station was wailing cause it fits. But first a dip in the water with AO and Tone. Well second, the first matter concerned AO's directions, let's just say while I would seek her advice in many matters blackjack is not one of them, she would hit on an ace/king, know what I'm saying. Unit 21 NOT 22, sorry to wake you folks, this is the way I always dress in black neoprene and goggles and it has a real slimming affect got to run now and visit your neighbors. So swim/swim the water is so clear and cool here you feel like you are floating on top of it. Then on the bikes and up Richter and if you been doing your hills you have no worries. Got reminded about the mountains though; up Richter, no wind, big headwind on the backside, don't think I exceeded 60 klicks per hour on the descent then we did 8 of the 12 rollers and back up, so like 1100 m of climbing. Then the worse/best part, descending Richter. My shorts are in the wash now, but it is the best way known to do a bike check cause if it holds together it is fine. Celebrations/high fives followed hitting the stop light at the Husky station.

Coming home it was awesome, with Birds of Fire cranking, to wit:

And all over the black as John McLaughlin got it in high gear these lenticular clouds popped out everywhere (see photo). We don't typically see these in Ontario, as the best way to form them is to have rapidly moving air push over a mountain and cause a "rotor" on the lee side of the hill, like a big trough that lifts and drops air rapidly, so the (relatively) moist air that is lifted forms pancake/have you seen the saucers shaped clouds. So surf was definitely big, at least at 5000 m altitude. Another change in the weather in the last hour, cloud and very windy. This can happen on the bike anytime here, bang a headwind, so try to save some energy on the bike just in case.

PO,

boB

"Not goodbye, solo hasta luego | Operation Groundswell"; A New Hope forCSS?

via operationgroundswell.com

CSS is back from Peru; this wrap-up blog post talks about have they've changed since they left Canada.

Cass ends the 2011 planting season with 24 Jack pines @ 21Rollingwood

9¢ a tree, 12hr day. Home for a couple days then off to Peru!

Well Sky, if you’re going to be so pretty and warm and refract andreflect go ahead rain on me. #rainbow #MorningRide

Some background. Last Thursday AM looked outside leaving for a ride and saw some blue sky. Nice. Stepped outside, clipped in, pushed off and it started to rain. Oh well oh well I do dig sun showers so what the hell had a grateful day. So here it is Thursday again and rolled out and saw this beauty. Even with the phone camera you can even see the hint of the 2nd order rainbow. Would turn out a little further down the road I got the full montie and you could see both feet of the rainbow on the ground. Beauty. But of course right after I snapped this pix the sun stayed out and I spent the first 30 min riding in the rain with my cape on! Oh well oh well it was warm and just a little of God’s spit on me the rest of the morn. A very “useable” day, right AO!

PO,

boB

Hey Mista Sica when’s recess? "after #Bombardment"

It's official he has Cassuated! Coming soon to a high school near you!

Sitting way too close to the timpanis! Ouch!

FYI getting here from Manitouwadge: here's how

80 km from camp to town for bus
Whoops bus just goes to the Junction 50 km away
Nice ladyi in town library got him ride from trucker to Thunder Bay
Slept in Tim Horton's, upgrade from sleeping in town laundromat the previous night
2 flights to London
That's all!.

Yes CSS is rocking tongs, board shorts and a dirty [ethnic] tee

Mother reads the program.

Grad time coming up

Sunrise back for Grad!

Some Quality Time in the Ditch, cause if #TheThunderDontGetYaThanTheLightningWill. Wild weather in YXU.

Saturday long ride. Did a long check before leaving consulting several forecasts, radar, etc. With at worse a 60% chance of showers and no thunderstorms until afternoon it didn’t look too bad, particularly if I headed out east towards Tavistock for a long ride as part of the day’s brick. OK everybody sing together, “A 3 hour tour, A 3 hour tour”. Got through Harrington on the backside of the Lakeside Loop and planned on another 15 min or so before heading back and finishing the loop. Had gotten some rain, a light amount in the first hour, by the time I got to Prospect Hill I put on my rain cape as the showers came and went. Had a Pop Tart and suddenly behind me and to the SW some lightning was happening. Hhmm. Looked north and another cell was activating, with some lightning. Damn. Turned around and started to weigh my prospects and thought I better just head straight back west and split the middle.

Within 5 minutes the cells merged. Not good, as the temperature quickly dropped, the wind picked up and the hail started. And the lightning got real bad. I started to hammer towards Harrington, a small town but somewhere that would give me some shelter to wait it out. But it got worse very fast, I stopped counting at 3 s between flash and bang (sound speed nominally is 330 m/s so do the math). I was quickly running out of time and bucking a bad headwind. I wan’t going to make it so I hung on and made it down a hill to a bit of a valley with some trees (mostly cleared farm land here) and brush, lower than the ridge across the road. And I did what I’ve taught for years in this situation, get the hell in a ditch. So I went near not under some trees and curled up in little ball for about 15 min while it downpoured and boomed and flashed.

I spent the time alternating thoughts of Maxwell’s equations (particularly Poisson’s equation) trying to reassure myself I was in a deep minimum even if my butt was getting wet because my dry ditch was now filling with water, and staring intently at the weird grass that was growing there (not that kind of grass). This stuff had tall (50 cm) stalks that looked identical to the palm stalks they give you on Palm Sunday. So I tried to alernate my science mind with the warm feeling of Palm Sunday Mass in April down in FLA where it was so warm, because I was getting very cold. The activity died down and I summoned the courage to stand up, accessed the situation and said, well at least I can make it to Harrington and took off. The weather was crazy. The winds switched from southward to north eastward very quickly en route. Weird clouds formed, check out this odd bank, which extended for much farther than the picture.

I don’t quite understand how this odd bank of clouds popped out of the scud that was all around, but I think they are marking the boundary of the cold and warm air which caused the convective activity. So drama over for now I was able to get another couple hours in then warmed up on a pleasant and dry transition run after.

Morals of the story are (a) as good as our current forecasting/monitoring equipment is small-scale phenomena can form and grow rapidly, (b) please don’t f*#k around with lightning, stay away from tall objects, get low like in a ditch.

And remember while you get weaker, Bob squats in the bush and gets stronger:

PO,

bob

Ha 100 points! Documented sighting of a Prof AO on campus during biz hours. Now looking for elusive #SedgeWren

Or a White-rumped sandpiper or Mourning Wabler?

Even Ann is wrong sometimes

So yesterday was a pretty crappy Sunday, and really not the kind of day you would like to train in. Cold, windy, rainy. Bad enough that dear Ann chirped the cognoscenti among us who sucked it up and got wet.

Context: on Sunday @bobsica tweeted: 2.5hr run in the 9deg rain & wind Felt like a #WharfRat Anyone else feel like one: http://bit.ly/kNAw1c Note bloke strumming with Bobby

To which AO replied (following replies from several comrades who braved the day and told their tales):  "Let's call you all insane! Treadmill? Day off? Shift the schedule to swim or trainer ride instead? Helloo??" 

(fyi: bloke is Peter Townshend)

Ann weighted in on Facebook no less, the town square! Are we just Rule 9 hardmen or did we realize race day for many of us at Ironman Canada this August might bring worse weather than yesterday?

How bad was it in the YXU yesterday? Best data I could find was a mean temperature of 9.7 C, with 14.8 mm of rain and gusts up to 50 km/h.

You should be prepared to train in what you might have to race in, just like if you race has lots of hills you can’t do all you training in the flats. Ann, perhaps you have forgotten August 14, 2009? Fortunately my blog didn’t, you can remind yourself of that lovely Okanagan day here. Coming back to you now? Remember riding the backside of Richter the next day all bundled up and seeing all the new snow on the hills? Way down the hills.

Matter of fact that day was only a couple degrees warmer than yesterday (12.3 C) with 30 km/h gusts and 39.1 mm of rain. Yup, over 2.5x as much rain as yesterday. With wind. And cold. And we only ran 2.5 hours yesterday, what would you do if IMC was on that day? It could be that Okanagan day this August.

IM newbies: the moral of the story is you don’t have to risk you health consistently training in ridiculously bad weather. But if you AAA race is IMC or Muskoka 70.3 you better not hesitate to get out the door when it is crappy out so you’re not one of those people freakin’ out race day when the weather sucks and you don’t know what to wear and how your bike will handle.

Ann, I truly hope the weather down in Ohio is warm, dry and the only wind is at your back for TTT. And if it’s not I know you’ll deal with it. But I believe it was Orwell who suggested a lunatic might be a “minority of one”?

Steppin’ off the soapbox,

boB

Love on a ride when the fans are out cheering.

Saw this guy whilst out riding on the Queen J today.

My fingers make waves in you. We’re afraid to call it love let's call it swimming #MarthaAndTheMuffins

Another fight on the street below,
They've got things to prove.
Shouting threats and sending out a counterglow.
All they do is walk, talk, knit socks, wind clocks
and crawl on their bellies like a reptile.
I have no idea at all...
I hear a sound...
We talk of parks and simple places,
Sense the thickness of the air.
Highly strung like nervous guitars
My fingers make waves in you.
We're afraid to call it love,
Let's call it swimming…

Way too cold up here today one can only dream of Echo Beach…

PO,

boB

What’s happening with Sunset? She’s been shanghai’ed (informal definition) by Shanghai Airlines.

shanghai |ˈ sh a ng ˌhī|verb ( -hais , -haied |-ˌhīd|, -haiing |-ˌhī-ing |) [ trans. ] historicalforce (someone) to join a ship lacking a full crew by drugging them or using other underhanded means.• informal coerce or trick (someone) into a place or position or into doing something :Brady shanghaied her into his Jaguar and roared off.ORIGIN late 19th cent.: from Shanghai .Shanghai |ˈ sh a ng ˈhī|a city on the eastern coast of China, a port on the estuary of the Yangtze River; pop. 7,780,000. Until World War II, Shanghai contained areas of British, French, and American settlement. It was the site in 1921 of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.

New season. New Ride. Kudos to Cycles London.

Adieu Woody

Canadian Friends Please take a moment and sign this! Bill to require 3-5' for car to pass a bike.

©Ryan Remiorz/ Canadian Press

About Bill 74

Ontario Bill 74 passed its first reading in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on May 18th, 2010. The private member's bill, introduced by Parkdale-High Park MPP Cheri DiNovo, is intended to make Ontario's roadways safer for cyclists by requiring motorists to give cyclists a wide berth when passing (between 3 and 5 feet depending on the motorist's speed). Fines for motorists breaking this law would range from $310 to $750.

On December 10, 2010 Bill 93 received Royal Assent making Nova Scotia the first Canadian Province to enact a one-metre safe passing law. Sixteen US States have 3-foot laws in effect, including Arkansas, Florida, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Illinois, Tennessee, Minnesota, Utah, Wisconsin, Arizona, Oklahoma, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, Maryland and Maine. When passed, Bill 74 will make Ontario the second Canadian province with this type of law.

Information on the bill itself can be found HERE.

Information on cyclists run down by motorists can be found HERE and HERE and HERE.

If you support Bill 74, please fill out the form below. An email will be sent directly to:

   1. Kathleen Wynne, the Ontario Minister of Transportation
   2. Cheri DiNovo, the originator of the Bill
   3. You

If you are extra passionate about this cause, please write or email your local Ontario MPP to show your support. You can find your Ontario MPP, organized by electoral district, in the column on your right. Simply copy and paste the sample email below and change the appropriate names when mailing or emailing your MPP.

Email Your Support for Bill 74

fields with * are required.

Other Things You Can Do

check out these great ways you can get involved

Visit the Share The Road website for valuable information on how you can support safe cycling.

 

Bill 74 Petition

Print off this petition and get it signed!

Download the petition HERE.

 

via xlr8bootcamp.com

I greatly appreciate you support of this Bill.

Bob

@CNezzy makes a difference! Congrats on your selection as a winner of the Western Ontario Women of Excellence Award

via lfpress.com

I think Judith looks fit enough in this picture to bust a quality 1000 m. And it is official Nezzy, you are now a role model!

Hickory! WKC drools, you rule (or vice versa?)

via theday.com

Hickory! Woof woof arf, bow arf, grrrrrrrrrr, ahahahahah, woof woof bow wow wow wow! mmmmmnnn? grrr rough rrr.

Bob

Epic! Christine Nesbitt adds a silver medal in World All Around to her World Sprint Title.

via theglobeandmail.com

People, consider this is like Usain Bolt winning the 100 and 200 for the sprint title and then having a competition for the fastest combined time in 2 days running a 400, 1000, 2000 and 3000 m against all the worlds track stars. Only 1 other woman has won both titles in the same year (and was caught doping).

Wow Christine, we salute you!

Sweet P. AO, Tone, AN & JS. My sweet Jesse. All in attendance for swimthis AM. A New Hope. What Focus!

So many good times, most on 15 s rest.

PO,

boB

Look who showed up at my exam! My picture with a TV star

@cnezzy Way to rock the world girl!!!!! Check out da Champ on the Front Page of today’s LFPress.

OMG Billy Joel was waiting for me outside my office this morning!

30 on the DreadMill, 30 on the elliptical, 30 more on the Dread…but in the last 5 min

Yeah in the last 5 min the magic of Franklin’s Tower saved this hound’s mind and made it all good

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTkVkDMZVGw?wmode=transparent]

(oh and I got 30 min to spy on Sweet P and Tone in the pool, they worked hard!)

PO,

boB

 

 

I’m still thinking about the weather, −16C and hard to get on the bike in the dark to pool-it.

…especially since the roads here are like this:

http://comics.com/zoom/350888/

I can tell Mr. Mallett is a Michigan triathlete.

PO,

boB

“It’s been hard doing anything…” My year starts tomorrow. I can see theWelcome to MonksVille Sign.

Magnolia Electric Company’s Jason Molina did the heavy stuff lifting, some thoughts from me in italics. 

Almost Was Good Enough (Once)
It’s been hard doing anythingwinter stuck around so longI kept trying anyhow and I’m still trying nowjust to keep working just to keep workingI remember when it didn’t use to be so hard (newsflash: 55 just ain’t the new 33, don’t believe the hype)this used to be impossible (no longer for sure)A new season has to beginI can feel it leaning in whispering “Nothing’s lonely now”Nothing anymore in pain (No Pain, maybe I’ll write that down for the bag at the turn around in OK Falls on the run. With my can of Red Bull) 

A tall shadow dressed how secrets always dresswhen they want everyone to know that they ‘re aroundleaning in whispering “my friend over theredon’t know what [s]he’s talking about” (and I will trust her wisdom on this one, in case you’re wondering) 

Did you really believethat everyone makes it out? (we are all not winners. never forget that)Almost no one makes it out (I say this over and over on those long ugly rides and every 30 s after 3 hr on the run)I’m going to use that street to hidefrom that human doubtto hide from what was shiningand has finally burned us out 

But if no one makes it outHow come you’re talking to one right nowfor once almost was good enough (for once in 2008, but that was long ago and its 2011 and there is still a very bad taste on my lips, that I’m hoping will keep me thirsty until I can drink at the well Aug 28).

So tomorrow my journey begins. I am completely detached from it at this point. Just one of my parallel universes that we all drift through. Nothing to see here people until at least June. Have to avoid my propensity for peaking too early with my AAA in August. But in the immortal words of DareDevil, “time to get off this pity kick and start using some muscle."

PO,
boB