On Bixis

As I was walking from the bus station to the Metro after coming back from the April birthday party in North Hatley this afternoon, I had the idea, "Why not take a Bixi back to my house?" As the day was sunny and I had a minimal amount of luggage I did so in my "dingo-rasslin' " coat as my brother Stephen snarkily refers to my Driza-bone coat. (It was sunny but cool.)

On the plus side, it did allow me to stop to shop unsuccessfully for towels at the Bay.

On the down side, it cost more than the Metro; it wasn't easy to use the "vending" mechanism; the bells on the bikes didn't work very well; and Bixis are much too small for me. It didn't help the that I was wearing a pair of shoes with fairly thick soles. However, the fact remained that even with seat raised as far as it could go, I felt like I was riding a kid's bike. I would dearly like to know what the range of user heights those things were designed for as I suspect that there was probably a bone-headed decision made in that regard (one of many relating to the Bixi program.)

On decisions being made

Well, I got my vacation requests for the 2012 summer period back: 3 weeks in June and July and 1 week for John's wedding in August. The June-July vacation will be the Calgary-Winnipeg portion of AMUAM JuNITO. I have already booked a flight with WestJet from Winnipeg back to Montreal. I haven't booked the Montreal to Calgary flight yet as I am waiting on the latest seat sale from Air Canada before selecting which airline I will take.

WestJet is generally the better airline for cyclists having slightly cheaper base fares and a much cheaper bike transport policy than Air Canada. However, Air Canada's East to West flights leave at better hours for me. Conversely, Winnipeg to Montreal, WestJet had the better schedule.

In any case, I should get Leonardo ready for the summer's big bike trips.

Update
I have booked the Montreal to Calgary flight on WestJet.