birchy

Sweet! Colin does awesome work!

That's awesome Rick! My commute is 12km each way.. and I find that's a good hike! It's funny how quick you get used to it.. I've had to take the car a couple times in the last few weeks and on the drive home in gridlock, I find myself sitting there thinking "this is so pointless.." I can make it home in 32-33 minutes on the bike.. can take anywhere from 20-40 minutes in the car depending on traffic.. Plus I get an awesome workout!

My boss (slingshotz) has the day off today because he's down on a supervised Willow outing.. Hope it goes well!

Woot woot!

You got a little something on your face there... kind of all over.. and right in the middle.. it's white.. Nice pics boys! Thanks for sharing.

bahaha - smart@ss! Nice fish!

Absolutely! Thanks from me as well!

Damn thieves..!

Excellent! Did anyone ever end up getting the "Douglasdale ball diamonds poacher" I posted about last year? I haven't yet...

So you'd think I would've learned from reading this... but oh no! Flat tire last week.. replaced the tube.. flat tire again this morning when I went to leave.. I'm assuming it's a similar problem.. something still stuck through the tire that's poking the tube. Will have a look tonight.

Great ride in today! Sun was shining.. wasn't too cold.. excellent start to the day!

This. Haven't had anything happen in quite awhile, but I've kind of decided that I'd just smile, wave, and say "thank you" next time I get yelled at.

Of course there are always exceptions.. I'm referring to the blatant disregard for the law because "it's not convenient for me", versus "it's not SAFE for me". Two completely different things.

Absolutely! Cyclists are motorists.. they're just on extremely under-powered vehicles! It's actually illegal for an adult on a bicycle to be riding on the sidewalks.. although I'm curious if it's ever enforced - I highly doubt it.. It always makes me laugh to myself when the odd driver yells out their window to "get off the road! that's what sidewalks are for!". It doesn't happen very often though.. most drivers are pretty courteous. I agree Pete.. as a cyclist AND driver.. it irritates me watching other cyclists switching between the road and the sidewalk at their leisure, to get around red lights/stop signs, etc. You can't have it both ways! Those are the types that infuriate some drivers and cause them to take their aggression out on every cyclist they see! That being said.. it's the same with everything in life.. there's always a few yahoo's that ruin it for the rest of us.

Just remembered this thread!! How's it going this year guys? I started up again last week and so far so good.. had a flat tire when I went to leave the other morning, so had to get the wife to drive me. Picked up a new tube at The Cyclepath on McLeod and was able to replace that myself after getting a little kit from MEC with the tire levers later that evening. Going to patch up the old one and use it as a spare.. lesson learned. Managed to get myself a rack that fits my bike this week (disc brakes), as well as a Pannier, so today was my second day riding with the weight on the bike (instead of my back).. MAN.. what a difference?! I've been rocking the climbs the last couple days.. Side note - I'm not a huge cycling fan.. but it was pretty cool to see Ryder Hesjedal win the Giro d'Italia this past week! First Canadian to ever podium in a Grand Tour race.. let alone win it!

Agreed. When I worked downtown I'd wander over there on my lunch break's once in awhile just to chat and kill time.. Super nice guys.

There ya go!

Maybe you can get a hot deal on them now...

This is what my wife and I have, and we have no complaints about it whatsoever: http://vistek.ca/store/DigitalSLRs/254757/...efs-1855mm.aspx Excellent entry level DSLR that would last anyone for awhile I'm sure. Don't be fooled by the "entry-level" tag.. you can still do a heck of a lot of stuff with it... way more than the average person would ever do if normal use. Review here: http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-revi...t3i-review.html

www.calgarygasprices.com. I use it quite often.

Just thought I'd throw this out there to get some more opinions.. 2003 Dodge Grand Caravan - 3.8L V6 with ~101,000km's. For the last while it's been gradually losing coolant.. but no puddles forming underneath and/or in the engine bay. Cold start (especially when it's cold outside) = rough idle, stumbling, and blowing lots of white smoke, with a sweet smell. Blown head gasket right?! One would think so.. However.. - after it warms up, it runs completely fine. No white smoke. - I changed the oil recently and it was completely black.. and the level was fine. Not milky looking at all.. - Coolant is green as can be.. - Takes longer than normal to get up to normal operating temperature, but once it does, it stays there. No overheating issues at all.. needle does not move even one notch above where it's always been. Had me pretty confused for quite awhile.. recently, I mentioned this to my mechanic friend who said he's seen this before (albeit with a Ford truck), and this is what he thinks is happening.. When I mentioned the "green" coolant.. he said, "are you sure that's the right coolant for your van? I bet you it isn't..." Went on to say that if the wrong coolant is in the van (I've since verified that the used dealership that I bought it from did indeed put the wrong coolant in. It's not the HOAT formula that Dodge requires), it can slowly corrode the intake manifold gaskets and cause symptoms that SEEM like a blown head gasket.. just like what I'm having. He said if the gaskets are getting corroded, the intake will suck some coolant in every time I shut the van off. Then the next time I start it up.. it'll run rough, blow white smoke, etc. until that bit of coolant gets burned off.. then it will run fine again.. until the next time I shut it off and the process repeats. Solution is to replace the intake manifold gaskets.. which is a pretty big job. Any mechanics on here that can comment? This definitely sounds plausible to me.. but I can't call and talk to an actual Dodge mechanic without them wanting me to come in pay to have it looked it. Which I don't want to do.

I'd have a look at www.dfsdirect.ca. It's the Dell off-lease stuff.. you should be able to get something decent there in your price range.

Thanks for sharing Rick! Looked like a blast!

Beautiful Peter!! Thanks for sharing. I had no idea that a person could even do that!

I just wanted to congratulate the Vancouver Canucks on getting one more playoff win than the Oilers this year...