I haven't been blogging much lately. Mostly just poking around the internets and echoing the Youtubes available to me.
Well, its time for an update.
I just got back from a screening of BIKE (okay, this is old news already) and I'm all fired up. I want to ride, but the crowd was dissipative, and went their own ways.
Thats the way it is on bikes. we roll alone, we meet briefly. we roll apart. Sometimes we're held together and it can be a really great thing, other times its not needed.
BIKE was all about this theme. this inclusivity, this cohesiveness. this exclusivity. This love.
Tony, the film maker, spent a year and a half trying to get into NYC's Black Label bike club, and they wouldn't have him. They wouldn't have him because they didn't trust that he wanted in for the right reasons.
I've got a lot of things on my mind.
Amy brings up the bikesphere and triggers deep feelings.
"What is your main concern in the bikesphere"
Self Preservation? I talked about myself. Are we all so selfish? I want to see the community grow and thrive, but I just focus on keeping myself in running order.
I don't know where I'm going with this. This love.
Just tonight I met a guy who works in the bicycle industry. (also old news) On the mountain bike side of things. I'm curious to talk to him more. One thing he said, was that it has to be done for the love.
Also recently, I was up North, doing Projekt-B field work, and met a guy named Phillipe, who has single handedly brought bike culture to Whitehorse. He's a bike mech, he's an artist. He's changing the landscape for the better. He lives above his shop, he's doing it for the love.
It makes me wonder just where this Project will take me. Probably to the world of High fashion
Choppers, modifications.
On a human scale, its not dangerous.
Because 50km/h is not dangerous.
Where was I? Its a week later, and I just cant get this blogging thing right. Originally, this blog entry was supposed to be posted early morning on Sunday. However, that didn't pan out. Then I got busy with commuting and Solidwerking, and well, here we are at the weekend again. Except is Thursday. (or Monday, fuck)
I guess I've been watching a bunch of bike movies lately. I just got back from the Bike Shorts screening. There were 14 videos. ] Including Wendell Challenger's long line of cars. There was a great time lapse flatland one on an airstrip, and we even got to see Morgan take his pants off! One of my favorites was a 'post apocalyptic' story about THE BREATH, and how hard a good bike pump was to come by. Sadly, in this future, people are still getting killed for oil. I'm reall glad I went to this event.
So this week in bikes, I put new 600 cranks on the Bianchi, except they're not new. They're older than the ones I had, and they're shorter. I can only hope they're not just on long term loan. I also got into the dirty dirty with a middle aged guy in a minivan. I shouldn't pick on them. Its been relatively dry, so I've been rolling the Cunny to work most days. Thats right, you're Health and Safety representative is riding the brakeless unicorn. A cop spashed me with a mud puddle Tuesday. It wasn't even raining. I think he aimed for it. its just a 30cm diameter hole in Union street, that he MUST know contains muddy water. Right in the face, all over my jersey. I'm trying to catch up in kilometerage to my normal months this year, but I think I've already taken about 7 days off the bike. That really affects the numbers. I'm a nerd. pie chart. [650km total for the month]
This weekend promises to be crazy. I'm starting off with Midnight mass tonight. I better decide which bike to roll, and soon.
Tomorrow I'm going to hit the big June Critical Thrash
Edit: rain, drown rat.
I've slept, but it still feels like I've been up forever. The rainy MM, the out of control Critical mass, The scarface, the BBW, The race. its all a bit much. This guy is a writeoff. He drifts in and out of conciousness. Not sure how he rode a bike. 8.0 hoon.
Non Biased CTV mass footage:
Paris Hilton's Big Day Out, Cooper Park Checkpoint:
Edit: I think I'm ready to go back to work. edit.
Showing posts with label Midnight Mass. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Midnight Mass. Show all posts
Monday, July 02, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
PROJECT MAKEOUT
DIPSET DIPSET DIPSET
Oh yeah, we're kicking in a beer prime to the first one in to the first Operation M.E.O.W checkpoint because we love Midnight Simon, K8T-J, and unsanctioned bicycle racing in all of its wheel diameters. Something on the order of a dozen or so, maybe a Pil cube if we're feeling flush. Pin it out of the gate, kids, because Morgan likes to take beer primes, and if he wins it, I'll just end up stealing them back out of his Chrome. Pretty much a win-win situation all round.
Fakie to 13-stair drop courtesy of The Come Up:
Shoutouts to Gordon "Prayer Warrior" on Velolove, and Adam/Jackie/Tara/Rob for further scandalizing the local cycling community last weekend. On that note, please do take a moment to vote for Donald's Lawn Chopper on the Feeg.
Oh yeah, we're kicking in a beer prime to the first one in to the first Operation M.E.O.W checkpoint because we love Midnight Simon, K8T-J, and unsanctioned bicycle racing in all of its wheel diameters. Something on the order of a dozen or so, maybe a Pil cube if we're feeling flush. Pin it out of the gate, kids, because Morgan likes to take beer primes, and if he wins it, I'll just end up stealing them back out of his Chrome. Pretty much a win-win situation all round.
Fakie to 13-stair drop courtesy of The Come Up:
Shoutouts to Gordon "Prayer Warrior" on Velolove, and Adam/Jackie/Tara/Rob for further scandalizing the local cycling community last weekend. On that note, please do take a moment to vote for Donald's Lawn Chopper on the Feeg.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Another Blissful Midnight Ride.
Midnight Mass last night was awesome. With a wind warning of 70-100km/h, I didn't know if there would be many people out. It was still raining when I got to Grandview Park, and the group was huddled under an awning across the street. I didn't actually count, but I would estimate 20 people showed up. Only 1/3 of Project B reppin', but lots of friends. Awesome turnout for what would appear to most people as a dismal night.
I don't know whether there was an actual plan, but we headed down the Adanac path into downtown. Underneath BC Place and up Smithe. A convoluted way through downtown the underground of Pacific Centre. Down the first level and it's warm, really warm. We do a number of laps of the underground, up a level, down a level, backwards, etc. Re-congregated on Dunsmuir and south on Howe. Looking for another underground. It had stopped raining, but was still nice and slippery, so I practiced my 180 skids at every opportunity.
A sharp reverse u-turn just past Smithe and back to the sub-terranean. This is a service underground, and leads north, eventually back to the Pacific Centre underground. Confused looks from the delivery drivers down there. A stop for a possible flat tire at the back of the pack, but it turned out to be alright. We did a few more laps of the underground and got somewhat lost. So fun. At some point here we took our jackets off, as it had stopped raining.
North to Cordova, and under again just after Burrard. I locked into a nice drifting skid coming down the ramp and around the corner, but got it too far out. Unclipped one shoe, and that jarring motion caused the other to pop out too. A near sacking, but I ran it out unscathed.
We stopped at the waterpark on Coal Harbour and had entertaining conversations about the blogonets among other things. Haley was raving about her plastic bag shoe liners, leaving Simon F envious. Camilo was downing Bombay Sapphire. Tasty Baileys and hot chocolate from Alec, who was a MM regular last winter, before my time. Talked tallbikes with Maitland - now I'm torn as to whether to commuterize the Miele or chopperize it.
There was talk of a seawall loop but that was quickly quashed when we realized it was closed at the bridge. I suggested taking the trail past Lost Lagoon. Simon was down, and asked me to take the lead. I briefly caught up with Leanne, then we stopped to put our jackets back on - it was raining. Kirstin and I led the group, still 15 strong, through the darkness around the Lagoon. English Bay was windy and rainy, but blissfully secluded.
Another stop under the Burrard Bridge to regroup and discuss food options. It was getting later, and a few people decided to split off. We chose to ride the seawall to the Cambie Bridge and up to Broadway for pho. The bridge was intense with rain and wind. There was a big lineup of people camped out in front of the Best Buy, at which point a drunk Camilo (or should we just call him Flash) crashed into Simon F. They were alright though, and we continued up to CamBro.
There were eight of us left. We had enough locks to make a decent bike pile, and Maitland capped it off by laying his bike right on top. Pho was awesome, just what we needed. Lots of tea. Oker shot photos of the fishtank amidst a conversation about Alberta with Kirstin, Maitland told stories of teaching in Taiwan, Haley dozed off in the corner, and Camilo appeared to have sobered up slightly.
Heading east on Broadway was easily the highlight of the ride. Heavy westerly winds meant we'd have a tailwind to help us up to Main and Fraser, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. Traffic lights blowing around. With banks of concrete, we flowed with ease up the Broadway River. Tributaries created entertaining turbulence. Nice sideways skids sustained by the wind. Haley shoots left at Fraser. Down the hill to Clark, Simon and I have a spinning match. 40/15 gives me an advantage over his 44/17. Maitland heads to north to Strathcona.
Just after Clark, a tree branch is blown across the street and I barely miss running the whole thing over, clipping the end of it. Whew. Kirstin and Simon call attention to my rear wheel, and an unexpected stowaway. A piece of newspaper got stuck in my the wheel, spinning around and around. Eventually it came out and wrapped around my left seat stay. I pulled it out, and let go. It blew ahead of us, then veered left and got stuck in Simon's wheel! Veritable bike herpes!
At CommBro, Simon pointed out a large tree that had been uprooted in front of Uncle Fatih's. I said we should stop and get some photos of it. I threw my bike up on top, Simon shot a few photos, and we all agreed this was an awesome ride. Going up Commercial was pretty crazy. Sporadic power outages, crazy crosswinds. We bid farewell to Kirstin at 4th, and continued north. Debris all over the road: patio furniture, tree limbs, newspaper. Down the turbulent north slope of the Drive, Simon and I exchange stoked goodbyes. Yes, it was an awesome night.
Photos should be up soon on Simon's Midnight Mass blog and Oker's flickr.
I don't know whether there was an actual plan, but we headed down the Adanac path into downtown. Underneath BC Place and up Smithe. A convoluted way through downtown the underground of Pacific Centre. Down the first level and it's warm, really warm. We do a number of laps of the underground, up a level, down a level, backwards, etc. Re-congregated on Dunsmuir and south on Howe. Looking for another underground. It had stopped raining, but was still nice and slippery, so I practiced my 180 skids at every opportunity.
A sharp reverse u-turn just past Smithe and back to the sub-terranean. This is a service underground, and leads north, eventually back to the Pacific Centre underground. Confused looks from the delivery drivers down there. A stop for a possible flat tire at the back of the pack, but it turned out to be alright. We did a few more laps of the underground and got somewhat lost. So fun. At some point here we took our jackets off, as it had stopped raining.
North to Cordova, and under again just after Burrard. I locked into a nice drifting skid coming down the ramp and around the corner, but got it too far out. Unclipped one shoe, and that jarring motion caused the other to pop out too. A near sacking, but I ran it out unscathed.
We stopped at the waterpark on Coal Harbour and had entertaining conversations about the blogonets among other things. Haley was raving about her plastic bag shoe liners, leaving Simon F envious. Camilo was downing Bombay Sapphire. Tasty Baileys and hot chocolate from Alec, who was a MM regular last winter, before my time. Talked tallbikes with Maitland - now I'm torn as to whether to commuterize the Miele or chopperize it.
There was talk of a seawall loop but that was quickly quashed when we realized it was closed at the bridge. I suggested taking the trail past Lost Lagoon. Simon was down, and asked me to take the lead. I briefly caught up with Leanne, then we stopped to put our jackets back on - it was raining. Kirstin and I led the group, still 15 strong, through the darkness around the Lagoon. English Bay was windy and rainy, but blissfully secluded.
Another stop under the Burrard Bridge to regroup and discuss food options. It was getting later, and a few people decided to split off. We chose to ride the seawall to the Cambie Bridge and up to Broadway for pho. The bridge was intense with rain and wind. There was a big lineup of people camped out in front of the Best Buy, at which point a drunk Camilo (or should we just call him Flash) crashed into Simon F. They were alright though, and we continued up to CamBro.
There were eight of us left. We had enough locks to make a decent bike pile, and Maitland capped it off by laying his bike right on top. Pho was awesome, just what we needed. Lots of tea. Oker shot photos of the fishtank amidst a conversation about Alberta with Kirstin, Maitland told stories of teaching in Taiwan, Haley dozed off in the corner, and Camilo appeared to have sobered up slightly.
Heading east on Broadway was easily the highlight of the ride. Heavy westerly winds meant we'd have a tailwind to help us up to Main and Fraser, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. Traffic lights blowing around. With banks of concrete, we flowed with ease up the Broadway River. Tributaries created entertaining turbulence. Nice sideways skids sustained by the wind. Haley shoots left at Fraser. Down the hill to Clark, Simon and I have a spinning match. 40/15 gives me an advantage over his 44/17. Maitland heads to north to Strathcona.
Just after Clark, a tree branch is blown across the street and I barely miss running the whole thing over, clipping the end of it. Whew. Kirstin and Simon call attention to my rear wheel, and an unexpected stowaway. A piece of newspaper got stuck in my the wheel, spinning around and around. Eventually it came out and wrapped around my left seat stay. I pulled it out, and let go. It blew ahead of us, then veered left and got stuck in Simon's wheel! Veritable bike herpes!
At CommBro, Simon pointed out a large tree that had been uprooted in front of Uncle Fatih's. I said we should stop and get some photos of it. I threw my bike up on top, Simon shot a few photos, and we all agreed this was an awesome ride. Going up Commercial was pretty crazy. Sporadic power outages, crazy crosswinds. We bid farewell to Kirstin at 4th, and continued north. Debris all over the road: patio furniture, tree limbs, newspaper. Down the turbulent north slope of the Drive, Simon and I exchange stoked goodbyes. Yes, it was an awesome night.
Photos should be up soon on Simon's Midnight Mass blog and Oker's flickr.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Midnight Mass 1-yeariversary/November Critical Mass/Brandon learns fixed
Point form recap in somewhat chronological order (to be edited later?):
MIDNIGHT MASS:
-I got Laura and Tobi out to their first Midnight Mass. They were very excited to be there=]
-Asha made some sweet cuppin cakes.
-NikC debuted his new Pake, a solid machine if I've ever ridden one.
-Morgan shot photos while riding
-It was insanely cold. Wool socks don't cut it. time for booties.
-The Cemetary is a perfect spot to stop
-Rhiannon's bike lost its front derailleur cable sometime before the Crescent, and she was pretty bummed. I set the bottom of travel limiter so that she could use the middle ring. Hopefully she had an alright ride home.
-N1ck switched it up from Rye to Brandy. A welcome change.
-For some reason, after saying they were going to Cambie/Broadway, the pack went west. Morgan and I broke off and headed North on Granville, then back to Eastvan on Broadway. No Pizza could be found.
-I was a zombie at work on Friday.
-THRILLER! THRILLLLER!
CRITICAL MASS:
-After work I headed back to Morgan's work, and met up with him again.
We picked up some supplies for Critical Mess on Main street.
-Somehow I overshot Howe downtown, and that made getting to the art gallery much more difficult than usual
-There was only a couple hundred people at the mass. Just the hardcores.
-I helped clot the Granville bridge. The first guy to stop REALLY didn't want to stop, and made me a littled worried for my safety. He was practically foaming at the mouth.
-I didn't really like the vibe of this mass. I guess the percentage of vocals was up, due to the cold weather.
-Nick3 bombed the yellow line of Burrard on his Penny Farthing. Nearly took out my arm with a spinning pedal
-I met up with him on the bridge, and after boosting his ego, watched him go over the bars and taco the Penny's wheel
-We threw our bikes over the side of the bridge to stop and help.
-After unsuccessfully trying to do a quick bend and tension of the wheel, we determined we'd have to stop, and do a complete tensioning.
-I got to work, Morgan shot photos, Ifny and Nick3 cracked the beer
(see flickr)
-I was glad to stop and help Nick3. The mass passed, and we had no intention of catching up. This was fine by me. I'd rather just get this Penny mobile again.
-We got it running! The wheel held, and Nick said it felt better than before! GO CHEAP TAIWANESE SPOKE KEY! (who knew I would ever use any size besides the ill fitting 14 gauge)
-While on a Freshly taco'ed then trued Penny Farthing, Nick bombed the lane down from the bridge to Beach avenue. His footjamming technique is oustanding. Tokyo drift style with the consequence of hitting a concrete wall. I am officially blown away. I have never witnessed such riding. (and I've seen unicycle trials!)
-We made it to the Anza and waited for the mass...and drank, and rode the penny. I felt heroic.
-Half the mass finally arrived. Just half? Where was the rest?
-At Budgies of course. Don't you know theres a burrito eating competition and bands playing?
-That burrito was SOOOO good.
-The fact that bands played at a TINY burrito counter still amuses me.
-Camillo spent the entire time trying to convince us to have a skid competition. I wasn't too sure about it.
-Eventually, he voiced his plan well enough to convince us.
-5 of us rode up to Kings-tenth, with plans to bomb down the hill, and lock up at the North crosswalk, hopefully skidding all the way back down to Budgies.
-We timed the light, and locked em up.
-The bus pulled out behind me while I skidded. James' tire grabbed traction and tried to buck him. Morgan had perfect technique... and it happened. Camillo went down!
-Instantly, a guy in an Echo got out and steadied Camillo's neck, telling him not to move.
-The ambulance arrived in under a minute and a half. Impressive.
-Despite not wearing a helmet, Camillo was okay.. apart from being a drunken bloody mess.
-Convieniently I ran into Kim at this point. Not sure if she saw the ambulance. I felt sheepish for some reason.
-The crowd was starting to thin, and the band kind of sucked, so we headed back to the Anza to check the scene. Nick3 gave me a hug. Aww.
-It was then determined that more biking was in order. a Crew of 5 (Skylar, James, Matt, Morgan and I) decided to hit the club scene downtown.
-We scared pedestrians at crosswalks with our impeccable style. You cant touch this.
-That giant Pizza place is perfect for bringing in bikes.
-more crosswalks were carved. ..as were some road blocks.
-I found it funny when the cop yelled for us to 'GET BACK IN THE BIKE LANE' when not 100m ahead, was a long line of cars idling in that bike lane.
-Back at the gazebo we finished off Matts last beer.
-Strangely a curious boy in a wheelchair rolled up. He was nice enough, asking about our bikes.. and what were we doing out so late.. WHAT WAS HE DOING OUT SO LATE? He was like 14!?!?! Roll on, kiddo.
-Arriving home, I was still amped from such a fun night of riding.
Brandon learns fixed:
-The next day we Met up with Brandon at Morgan's work. He needed a 'crash' course in fixed gear riding, so he borrowed Morgan's bike. I took him around the cemetary a few times, then over to QE park, then the crescent, then to MEC.
-I exchanged the booties for some XLs and they work like a charm. My feet have never been toastier.
-Brandon took to the fixie like I knew he would. Only one attempted bucking from the Sekine.
-and then.. it started to snow. By the time I made it home that evening, it was REALLY coming down. I was covered, as was my bike.
-Sadly, I haven't ridden my bike since that night. Its glare ice, and I've been dreaming about studded tires.
MIDNIGHT MASS:
-I got Laura and Tobi out to their first Midnight Mass. They were very excited to be there=]
-Asha made some sweet cuppin cakes.
-NikC debuted his new Pake, a solid machine if I've ever ridden one.
-Morgan shot photos while riding
-It was insanely cold. Wool socks don't cut it. time for booties.
-The Cemetary is a perfect spot to stop
-Rhiannon's bike lost its front derailleur cable sometime before the Crescent, and she was pretty bummed. I set the bottom of travel limiter so that she could use the middle ring. Hopefully she had an alright ride home.
-N1ck switched it up from Rye to Brandy. A welcome change.
-For some reason, after saying they were going to Cambie/Broadway, the pack went west. Morgan and I broke off and headed North on Granville, then back to Eastvan on Broadway. No Pizza could be found.
-I was a zombie at work on Friday.
-THRILLER! THRILLLLER!
CRITICAL MASS:
-After work I headed back to Morgan's work, and met up with him again.
We picked up some supplies for Critical Mess on Main street.
-Somehow I overshot Howe downtown, and that made getting to the art gallery much more difficult than usual
-There was only a couple hundred people at the mass. Just the hardcores.
-I helped clot the Granville bridge. The first guy to stop REALLY didn't want to stop, and made me a littled worried for my safety. He was practically foaming at the mouth.
-I didn't really like the vibe of this mass. I guess the percentage of vocals was up, due to the cold weather.
-Nick3 bombed the yellow line of Burrard on his Penny Farthing. Nearly took out my arm with a spinning pedal
-I met up with him on the bridge, and after boosting his ego, watched him go over the bars and taco the Penny's wheel
-We threw our bikes over the side of the bridge to stop and help.
-After unsuccessfully trying to do a quick bend and tension of the wheel, we determined we'd have to stop, and do a complete tensioning.
-I got to work, Morgan shot photos, Ifny and Nick3 cracked the beer
(see flickr)
-I was glad to stop and help Nick3. The mass passed, and we had no intention of catching up. This was fine by me. I'd rather just get this Penny mobile again.
-We got it running! The wheel held, and Nick said it felt better than before! GO CHEAP TAIWANESE SPOKE KEY! (who knew I would ever use any size besides the ill fitting 14 gauge)
-While on a Freshly taco'ed then trued Penny Farthing, Nick bombed the lane down from the bridge to Beach avenue. His footjamming technique is oustanding. Tokyo drift style with the consequence of hitting a concrete wall. I am officially blown away. I have never witnessed such riding. (and I've seen unicycle trials!)
-We made it to the Anza and waited for the mass...and drank, and rode the penny. I felt heroic.
-Half the mass finally arrived. Just half? Where was the rest?
-At Budgies of course. Don't you know theres a burrito eating competition and bands playing?
-That burrito was SOOOO good.
-The fact that bands played at a TINY burrito counter still amuses me.
-Camillo spent the entire time trying to convince us to have a skid competition. I wasn't too sure about it.
-Eventually, he voiced his plan well enough to convince us.
-5 of us rode up to Kings-tenth, with plans to bomb down the hill, and lock up at the North crosswalk, hopefully skidding all the way back down to Budgies.
-We timed the light, and locked em up.
-The bus pulled out behind me while I skidded. James' tire grabbed traction and tried to buck him. Morgan had perfect technique... and it happened. Camillo went down!
-Instantly, a guy in an Echo got out and steadied Camillo's neck, telling him not to move.
-The ambulance arrived in under a minute and a half. Impressive.
-Despite not wearing a helmet, Camillo was okay.. apart from being a drunken bloody mess.
-Convieniently I ran into Kim at this point. Not sure if she saw the ambulance. I felt sheepish for some reason.
-The crowd was starting to thin, and the band kind of sucked, so we headed back to the Anza to check the scene. Nick3 gave me a hug. Aww.
-It was then determined that more biking was in order. a Crew of 5 (Skylar, James, Matt, Morgan and I) decided to hit the club scene downtown.
-We scared pedestrians at crosswalks with our impeccable style. You cant touch this.
-That giant Pizza place is perfect for bringing in bikes.
-more crosswalks were carved. ..as were some road blocks.
-I found it funny when the cop yelled for us to 'GET BACK IN THE BIKE LANE' when not 100m ahead, was a long line of cars idling in that bike lane.
-Back at the gazebo we finished off Matts last beer.
-Strangely a curious boy in a wheelchair rolled up. He was nice enough, asking about our bikes.. and what were we doing out so late.. WHAT WAS HE DOING OUT SO LATE? He was like 14!?!?! Roll on, kiddo.
-Arriving home, I was still amped from such a fun night of riding.
Brandon learns fixed:
-The next day we Met up with Brandon at Morgan's work. He needed a 'crash' course in fixed gear riding, so he borrowed Morgan's bike. I took him around the cemetary a few times, then over to QE park, then the crescent, then to MEC.
-I exchanged the booties for some XLs and they work like a charm. My feet have never been toastier.
-Brandon took to the fixie like I knew he would. Only one attempted bucking from the Sekine.
-and then.. it started to snow. By the time I made it home that evening, it was REALLY coming down. I was covered, as was my bike.
-Sadly, I haven't ridden my bike since that night. Its glare ice, and I've been dreaming about studded tires.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
More like the Crap Courier.
Four days a week, I ride my bike to Cap College in North Van. Among other things, I'm involved with the Environmental Issues Committee, which allows me to give bikers on campus a voice that can be heard. I'm known there to be a bike nut, which would be an understatement. This semester, the school newspaper - the Cap Courier - contracted a dude to write a weekly article on Vancouver bike culture. Not such a bad idea; in fact, a great idea, I thought.
This story starts at the last Midnight Mass of September. Skylar, Nick, and myself had arrived pretty early, and ended up being the first ones there. We congregated at the north side of Grandview Park, waiting for people to show up. A few did... and then, by himself, an extremely drunk guy named Mike - bragging about how much he'd drank already. Don't get me wrong - I have no problem with drinking and riding. However, I'm not one to show up to an event where I don't know anyone in a state such as I've just described.
That night we headed west, along the south side of False Creek, ending up at the east end of Jericho Beach. We stopped near a concession building to hang out for a bit. Some people climbed on the roof of the building: DRP, and, I was told, that drunk guy. Shortly thereafter, Vancouver's finest showed up. The officer was very civil in informing Simon and myself that people lived in the concession building. We apologized and gathered the group to head eastward.
At this point you're probably wondering why I went on such a tangent, so I'll cut to the chase.
The next issue of the Cap Courier had a great looking cover that was a bike wheel shaped like a heart, and a headline about bike culture. At quick glance, I noticed there was an article on both Midnight Mass and Critical Mass. The introduction states that he was given the task of writing articles about Vancouver bike culture; being a regular at both the aforementioned events, I was stoked to read it. However, it turns out that the guy writing the articles is the inebriated moron named Mike who I'd met at Grandview Park.
The Midnight Mass article is a bunch of bullshit. He talks about how, since he'd seen a picture of someone with a flask on the Midnight Mass blog, he'd come to the conclusion that it was a drunkfest. He notes the highlight as his camaraderie with DRP. The guy went incognito to the ride, and didn't even talk to the organizer or prominent attendees about what it was all about. Way to go, champ. Great coverage of the ride. Way to miss the point that Midnight Mass is a group of friends who are very open to meeting new people, and like to explore the city on bikes.
Next up was the article on Critical Mass. For anybody that happened to be there, Mike was the guy handing out the "Attention: Critical Mass Cancelled" fliers. I thought the gesture was funny at the time, but it turns out that I'd misinterpreted his message. The article goes off with his opinion that Critical Mass isn't good for bike culture, blah blah blah. I do agree that it's a debatable topic, but this clearly pre-conceived anti-Critical Mass position was not what I was expecting in an article covering the event.
Now, I don't work for the Cap Courier, but was I wrong to anticipate objective articles about these events rather than the ignorant and sensationalized pieces of garbage that were published? Furthermore, his subsequent articles have deteriorated to the point that the most recent one wasn't even about bikes (though he mentions that it should have been). As a cycling advocate who is actively involved in bike culture, I'm disappointed in the inaccurate portrayal of the bike scene by the Cap Courier. Not only does it reflect poorly on bike culture, but on the paper as well. This entry to the blago-blogo-webo-sphere is a longer version of a letter that I'll be sending to the paper. If anything else comes of it, I'll be sure to report back.
Morgman out.
This story starts at the last Midnight Mass of September. Skylar, Nick, and myself had arrived pretty early, and ended up being the first ones there. We congregated at the north side of Grandview Park, waiting for people to show up. A few did... and then, by himself, an extremely drunk guy named Mike - bragging about how much he'd drank already. Don't get me wrong - I have no problem with drinking and riding. However, I'm not one to show up to an event where I don't know anyone in a state such as I've just described.
That night we headed west, along the south side of False Creek, ending up at the east end of Jericho Beach. We stopped near a concession building to hang out for a bit. Some people climbed on the roof of the building: DRP, and, I was told, that drunk guy. Shortly thereafter, Vancouver's finest showed up. The officer was very civil in informing Simon and myself that people lived in the concession building. We apologized and gathered the group to head eastward.
At this point you're probably wondering why I went on such a tangent, so I'll cut to the chase.
The next issue of the Cap Courier had a great looking cover that was a bike wheel shaped like a heart, and a headline about bike culture. At quick glance, I noticed there was an article on both Midnight Mass and Critical Mass. The introduction states that he was given the task of writing articles about Vancouver bike culture; being a regular at both the aforementioned events, I was stoked to read it. However, it turns out that the guy writing the articles is the inebriated moron named Mike who I'd met at Grandview Park.
The Midnight Mass article is a bunch of bullshit. He talks about how, since he'd seen a picture of someone with a flask on the Midnight Mass blog, he'd come to the conclusion that it was a drunkfest. He notes the highlight as his camaraderie with DRP. The guy went incognito to the ride, and didn't even talk to the organizer or prominent attendees about what it was all about. Way to go, champ. Great coverage of the ride. Way to miss the point that Midnight Mass is a group of friends who are very open to meeting new people, and like to explore the city on bikes.
Next up was the article on Critical Mass. For anybody that happened to be there, Mike was the guy handing out the "Attention: Critical Mass Cancelled" fliers. I thought the gesture was funny at the time, but it turns out that I'd misinterpreted his message. The article goes off with his opinion that Critical Mass isn't good for bike culture, blah blah blah. I do agree that it's a debatable topic, but this clearly pre-conceived anti-Critical Mass position was not what I was expecting in an article covering the event.
Now, I don't work for the Cap Courier, but was I wrong to anticipate objective articles about these events rather than the ignorant and sensationalized pieces of garbage that were published? Furthermore, his subsequent articles have deteriorated to the point that the most recent one wasn't even about bikes (though he mentions that it should have been). As a cycling advocate who is actively involved in bike culture, I'm disappointed in the inaccurate portrayal of the bike scene by the Cap Courier. Not only does it reflect poorly on bike culture, but on the paper as well. This entry to the blago-blogo-webo-sphere is a longer version of a letter that I'll be sending to the paper. If anything else comes of it, I'll be sure to report back.
Morgman out.
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