Tank-like Fun

life behind bars
Yesterday was the first day of the rest of my life. No, wait, that isn’t what I mean. Yesterday was the first day on my new bike. Well, that is a little closer to the truth. Yesterday was the first day I went for a training ride on my new bike.


I am pretty pumped on my new bike. I primarily bought it to help whip myself into shape for the summer MTB season. I have been on a couple rides so far, but yesterdays was the first of any length and intensity. I planned a pretty good route, and set off a little nervous.



It was actually a lot of fun. Compared to my tank-like mountain bikes, this one is smooth, fast, graceful, twitchy, yet surprisingly still fun. The shifting is something new. The brake levers twist inwards for one direction of shifting, and there is a paddle shifter under the thumbs for the other direction. The other thing is that the shifting is backwards from my mountain bike. I am used to the thumb action going to an easier gear, but on the road bike the thumb goes to a harder gear.


I am still uneasy on the bars. Mainly I am not sure where my hands should be resting and at what times. Going downhill is freaky. I feel like I am way over the front wheel, and that I am going to fall. Smiling


Skinny bars!!
Skinny bars!!


no rear suspension????
no rear suspension????


clean straight tubes
clean straight tubes


my sleek and fast beauty
my sleek and fast beauty

Modified Fan Tan Alley

Last night saw the return of Fan Tan Alley to Victoria. No, not that Fan Tan Alley, the band Fan Tan Alley. Matt, Craig, and new drummer (whose name eludes me) played an excellent set, in a venue that was on fire. Well, it felt like it was on fire since it was so hot.

They ripped the stage like only FTA can. They played a lot of new material I hadn’t heard before, and they even played a few acoustic songs. One song to highlight is their rendition of “Hit Me Baby One More Time”. Very funny, especialy some of their modified lyrics.

Nearing the end of the show, Mike came up to me and noted (since he saw their show the night before), that they had removed/slowed down a lot of their up tempo songs, and were now playing more rock ballads. Their songs were great, and definitely a treat to listen to, but the crowd definitely wanted to dance. Just as the crowd was starting to get into a fast song, it ended, and a slower one began. That is my one and only complaint.

It was great to see the guys, happy, healthy, and playing once again. I hope they make it. They deserve it.

Birthday Disservice

Last night was yummy! Dinner at Blighty’s was excellent. We were celebrating Sue’s birthday, so we went to our favorite restaurant.

If you live in Victoria, or visit often, but have never been to Blighty’s Bistro, you have done yourself a huge disservice. Call and book an appointment soon.

Their food is wonderful, the atmosphere unbeatable, and the service impeccable. You won’t regret going.

Swollen Finger

I sit here this morning, typing, but feeling like I have been beat up. Last night I got smacked in the lip by someone’s head (resulting in a slightly swollen lip), cracked across the bridge of my nose (again by somone’s head), kicked in the leg repeatedly, then got nutted.

What happened you ask? I went and saw Finger Eleven at Legends last night. The crowd was a lot more aggressive than I had anticipated. I had positioned myself about three rows from the barrier, but I had to leave after just a couple songs. There was a fairly large groups of guys that were going nuts slamming into each other, and into the crowd, and it was starting to hurt my wrist. Going just outside the pit wasn’t much better, but at least I could enjoy myself with out too much worry.

How was the music? In a word: wicked. Finger Eleven always has so much energy. They played a bunch of stuff from their new album. Wow! I can’t wait until the 17th to pick that one up. It should be stellar. They also played a bunch of older stuff too. My two favorite songs of the night were Slow Chemical (from the WWF Forceable Entry soundtrack), and Good Times (from their upcoming release). Good Times was the last song from their main set, and I jumped and danced and sang my ass off for the whole song.

Their encore was good too. I loved their mix of old and new songs. Some of the new ones are pretty slow (at least by Finger Eleven standards), but very powerful sounding songs. I can’t wait to get this new disc.

One of my favorite points of the show was when Scott did something completely unintentional. He sings with his eyes closed (who wouldn’t with all those bright spotlights), and only looked into the crowd a couple times. Once though, he was leaning back with the mic stand, then set it upright (all with his eyes closed). He was very intense jamming to the music, with eyes closed. When he opened his eyes, he noticed the mic stand hadn’t settled upright, but in fact had fell forward was resting on the crowd. He grabbed it quickly, smiled and apologized to the people in front. Smiling Pretty funny at the time since he was so intense one moment, then apologetic the next.

Outside of the aggro crowd, and the excellent music, I must say that Legends is still a horrible place to see a band play. The ceiling is so low, that the stage is right on the ground. This means that you can’t see what the band is doing unless you are in the front row. If all you want to see is their heads, then Legends might be alright for you.

The last thing I wanted to mention was that I thought their set seemed pretty short. When they announced their last song was Good Times, I was surprised. I just thought that I was having such a good time, that time past more quickly. Nope. I got back to my truck at 12:45. I know they didn’t start until sometime around 11:15, and was completely finished by 12:30 (I waited while Steve retrieved his sweater from the coat check). Short but sweet I guess.

Almost forgot. I got nutted when security yanked a crowd surfer down. The surfers foot got me. Thankfully it was the last song of the encore. Yeesh.

Plastic Firefighter

What a weekend. Pretty busy, but fun.

Friday Sue and I went to Silver City to see Finding Nemo. After seeing how busy it was, we decided to pass, and instead rent a movie. We headed off to Cinema Star Video. We decided on The Recruit ( Colin Farrell and Al Pacino ). They had VHS in, and these empty plastic DVD containers with The Recruit labels on them. I assumed this meant you take the plastic thing to the front counter, and they will put the movie in it. Nope. You need the fancy case to get the DVD. What???? Then what are these things for ??? We ended up getting the movie from BlockBuster. It was an excellent movie by the way. Definitely rent it if you like spy movies.

Saturday I picked up my new bike (announcement coming soon), went for a short spin, got come groceries, then headed off to a BBQ to celebrate a couple birthdays (Jason’s, and Sue’s). Lots of fun was had out at Centennial Park.

Sunday Sue and Karen ran the Firefighters 10 km Trail Run. She did a great time (according to me), and I was exhausted just watching these people. We stayed for the draw prizes. Sue drew a blank, but Karen won a gift certificate to 5th St Bar and Grill. Mmmm, I love that restaurant.

Sunday afternoon was a relaxing one. Sue napped, I played video games, and worked on this site. Then to cap off a fun weekend, Sue, Krista and I went out to Maude Hunters for dinner. Yumm, good burgers.

This week coming up is a busy one. Loads of things to do every night. Who needs sleep anyway?

Foreign Whipping

Driving is a dangerous activity. As such people should watch what they are doing when driving. I know I do.

I am even more vigilant when I am in a foreign city. I just don’t know what traffic is like, I don’t know the streets, and I don’t know the intersections.

On my way to work today I nearly shmucked a lady as she rounded a corner from Douglas onto Saanich. I had the green light on the cross traffic, so I drove through the intersection. I am watching this lady come whipping though through the field sign, and I am approaching. I slow, then realize she isn’t stopping, so I jam on the brakes, and lay on the horn. She swerves right (almost hitting the curb), then hits the gas. As she hightails it out of the area, I notice that she has Oregon plates. Sheesh. Welcome to tourist season!

Proud Whoosh

Weekend wrapup:

Volleyball on the rooftop of the Strathcona was awesome. After only playing for a few minutes I had to take a quick breather and tape up my wrist. Landing on it in the sand was causing a little pain, and I didn’t want to reinjure it. After taping, all was excellent. After cleaning up and showering, the v-ballers reconvened on Todd and Lisa’s for an excellent BBQ. V-ball and BBQ were both in celebration of Todd’s birthday.

Sunday morning arrived too quickly. The alarm went off at 6 so Sue could get to her triathlon by 7. I lounged around at home a bit, then headed over to watch her race. She did great, and I was very proud of her. After the race, we went home, got cleaned up, grabbed the pooch, and headed downtown to watch the elite mens race in the Bastion Square Grand Prix. What a thrill. The guys are so powerful and fast. The noise that comes off the peleton as they zip by was amazing. It definitely sounds like a whoosh.

We grabbed some Blenz drinks (coffee for me a hot chocolate for Sue) on the way back to the vehicle, then headed home for some rest. Well, Sue rested, I worked on the computer and imported my old content.

To top the weekend off, Sue and I went to Spinnakers Brewpub for some dinner and dessert. I had an excellent prime rib dinner alongside my pint of Mitchell’s Extra Special Bitter (ESB). Mmmmm, yummy.

Blinded Cook

There almost was a Coreman sighting today. In the vicinity of Cook and Vancouver I saw the Coremobile. The goldy/bronzy metallic paint nearly blinded me.

Sue and I went to Fort St cycle for her Triathlon for Healing bike and helmet check, then it was off to Frontrunners to pick up a couple things.

Soon we are off to the Sticky Wicket for roof top volleyball. Later we are heading to a BBQ. If you think today is busy, wait until you hear about tomorrow.