Thoughtful Nutmeg

My Babies

Ironhorse Sonic 02 fs/ht Mountain bike (2002) – June 23rd, 2003: has clocked roughly 5500 km
Trek Equinox 5 Tri/Road bike (2007) – June 9th, 2009: has clocked roughly 350 kilometres so far

About a week ago, I went on a night ride with Jason. That was 12:30am roughly. We met up at 7-11 near Pat’s place. Jason swore he saw Pat drove by him as he rode up to meet me. Talk about destiny eh? ^_^

After some things and a lot of boyish giggling on Jason’s part, my ride home was quite nice. I took Westminster Highway east and as I took to my aerobars, I looked north and a flood of nostalgia passed through me. Though the feelings quickly faded, some memories of past times and the associated sensations still lingered until the view became blocked by a forest of trees.

The view of north Richmond, Vancouver, the lights on top of Cypress and Grouse, the cool-ish air around me, 35km/hr, the reminder of all those nights driving up and down that road thinking about Virginia, walking up and down that road in the rain with Tom, the times Carlo, Jacek, Tom, Roger, Jon and I walked around the Lansdowne area, some of us high, some of us drunk, me completely sober, to see how the city changed before my eyes from my childhood to my adult years – all these things… This is my city.

One consistent interest that I’ve had since the fall of Loud Productions is my road and mountain biking. Prior to Sonic 02, I had a beat up Sears bike that belonged to my brother. It was made of heavy aluminum with steel parts and a bit too big for me. I never realized sizes until I researched for a new bike in early 2003. I rode that bike from 2001 to 2003 and glad I replaced it with the Ironhorse.

For years, since 2003, I would still to this day, look at my Ironhorse Sonic 02 lovingly and it would remind me of my days riding around with Patrick and sometimes with Carlo. I did roughly 5500 kilometres with Sonic 02. If you’re wondering how I calculated that mileage, I did it by measuring the distance of routes through Google Earth. It was in early 2008 that I got the Cat’s Eye cycling computer and that clocked roughly 800 kilometres in one year.

In 2007, I was looking into road bikes, cyclocross and tri/tt bikes. I wanted to aim for a Cervelo Soloist but could not afford the $2400 bike. So I tried saving and then earlier this year, Jonathan invited me to his destination wedding which I cannot miss but it will cost me roughly $1500 to $2000. I’ll lean towards the higher cost. So there goes my dream bike. Alas, all was not lost. I managed to work more and finally got a bike that fit my budget and still go to Jon’s wedding to Martine early next year sometime.

At first, riding the E5 took some courage. I did all the fitting and adjustments myself and I have to confess: in the beginning I thought I bought the wrong bike and size but after adjusting it and riding it some more, I pretty much fell in love with E5. Sure, it’s an older model and it needs some tuning still, but it’s a nice ride.

On Sonic 02, I rode on average of 25km/hr on a flat road. On E5, I rode on average of 33km/hr on a flat road. With head-wind, the average for Sonic 02 was 18km/hr. For E5, it’s 27km/hr. Tail wind for Sonic 02 was 36km/hr and the E5 was 43km/hr.

Cross-Canada, here I come!

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Disclaimer

Leemanism is about my views, my thoughts, and my feelings with as little filtering as possible. These concepts are not reflected in the people I value and are associated with. People who accept me, adhere to the parts where we are compatible and tolerate the parts where we are not. So however people perceive me to be, ultimately it obviously doesn't mean the friends I mention in this blog are the same as me. It means it's possible they are similar or the same, as well as different than me. It is highly unusual for people to be completely compatible with each other.

With that out of the way, and to make things clear, I never said I am a good person, nor am I trying to be one, though I would rather live with the empathetic than with the cruel. I would not deliberately do harm. I rather stand up against injustice than to pretend it doesn't exist. However, I understand consequences. The police is there to enforce the law, but not deter crimes from happening. Which means people must do what they must do to protect themselves, before the law of the land takes over and even then, the law of the land isn't there to protect you. It's there to protect the general consensus. Even if you may be right, society may deem you wrong - even most of your friends may side with society, than protect you. The law will almost always side with society.

We are few. Stay safe. (•̀ᵥᵥ•́)