On a surprise at work

I was surprised yesterday by the sight of this in a hallway near my desk:

This is a bike repair station that the City has bought and plans to install somewhere outside next spring. The exact location and when it will be operational have yet to be determined. As a cyclist, I think it is great idea. The first one I saw was in Ponce, Puerto Rico. I love the bright orange colour.

I hadn't heard about the project, so I asked around to find out who was in charge of project. It turned out to be my immediate superior. She is also a cyclist and did the Eastern Townships Challenge with me a few years ago along with her partner. Kudos to her for getting the project through.

As this involves work, please note that the views I express here are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer. However, given that my employer bought the bike repair station, I think I have reason to believe that my employer also thinks that a bike repair station is, at the very least, a good idea. I could be entirely wrong about this. ;-)

On the effects of weather, part 317 of a series

In the process of doing my final scavenging of parts from die Fledermoose, I removed the old inner tubes which had protected her and her paint job from theft, general banging around and the Sun. The degree to which the Sun had faded the paint job can be seen in this picture.

 

The picture also shows part of the crack which put an end to her. I have included a few other shots to show more of the weathering.

 

The new bike was supposed to be ready by today or tomorrow. Unfortunately, the weather forecast is less than favourable for biking! Snow is a possibility every day or night for about a week!

I have tried to jinx the snow by buying a bus pass for November. It would be very annoying if the biking season were to end so soon.

On last rites for Floria die Fleddermoose and other bits and pieces

Nearly three weeks ago, I went to Martin Swiss to order a new frame and have the people there transfer the relevant parts from Floria die Fledermoose, especially the wheels and the brakeshifters. After some discussion, it was decided that the optimum frame available on short notice would be a 2017 Kona Private Jake. When it came time to make a deposit, I was horrified to discover that my Visa card wasn't in my wallet. I had used twice earlier that morning, most recently to pay for breakfast. I tried phoning the restaurant in question, but they hadn't discovered anything. I made the deposit with my debit card and set off to retrace my steps and possibly go to my bank to see about getting a new credit card. I had gone barely a block when I mentally retraced my steps at the restaurant. I had paid for the meal with the credit card, but I had left the tip in coins... Sure enough the credit card was in the coin pocket of my wallet.

On the way to work this Wednesday, I stopped by the bike shop to check on progress. The frame had arrived, so they were waiting for me to bring in die Fledermoose. For various reasons, I couldn't do that until Friday after work. One of the reasons was that I had to scavenge a few more bits off die Fledermoose and put tires back on her. The latter involved a bit of head-scratching as I had to work out what the optimum strategy was for reconciling tires of various sizes, mudguards and racks. I also had to consider that the time I would be best able to do the work would be Thursday night, at which time, a heavy rainstorm would be in progress. This effectively meant, that Leonardo would not be welcome indoors. So, I did the minimum change and put some old "street" calibre tires on die Fledermoose.

On Friday, there were very strong winds out of the South-West, reaching 78 km/h with gusts over 100 km/h. On the way to work, I was crawling along de Maisonneuve, practically in Leonardo's granny gears into the face of the wind. At one point, I was tempted to turn around and see if I could get to Quebec City in a day! However, I didn't have my bike computer with me and if I went back home to get it, I would then have to dig out bike shorts, water bottles, etc. and knowing my luck with winds, I felt the winds would have died down by then. Also, I did have to go to work.

Furthermore, I had to bring die Fledermoose to be cannibalised after work. When I did, I asked if I could see the new frame, mostly to know what colour it was. It is slightly unfortunate that it is mostly black as to my mind, there is far too much black around these days. (Please note that I refer to the aesthetic qualities of the colour black, and in no way refer to race.)

I am now facing the challenge of having to come up with a name for the new bike. I love the bat-moose logo that Margaret designed for die Fledermoose. As the new bike will have parts of die Fledermoose, I am toying with keeping the last name. Conversely, as the arrival with be assembled with bits from a "dead" bike, the name Victor von Frankenmoose comes to mind. Then again, it could be Victor von Fledermoose. Unfortunately, I can't figure out something that incorporates the brand name of the bike. The name "Jake" evokes in me the memory of Aunt Lorna's last standard poodle (a nice, somewhat silly, black dog who could eat blackberries off the bush) and the song Jakey's gin by Great Big Sea. Neither of these two references suggests a fun derivation.

There is an irony in me buying a Kona in Montreal as the company is based in Vancouver, B.C., which is where I bought Leonardo, a bike build by DeVinci, a Quebec company!