Blogger vs. Word Press

I’ve read quite a few blogs the past couple of days, mostly from Powell River and the Comox Valley and it seems somewhat evenly split down the middle on which blog service people use.
Blogger and Word Press.

I have an account on both, and try and keep them both running. However I’m just debating on which is better.

Here is my blogger site: http://thecitycyclist.blogspot.com

Here is my word press: http://ryanz4.wordpress.com/ 

I do find blogger easier to customize, but word press more professional looking.

 

Penny and bikes

I’m sure if Penny as things stand right now, Penny (my Pembroke Welsh Corgi) can’t stand my bike. The second I bring it outside of the house, she knows that I’m going out.  Two things happen 1. She goes into a stat of depression by sitting on the couch and ignores me. 2. She’ll wait in the yard and when I call her she’ll pretend that she can’t hear me. And when she finally does she’ll take her sweet old time coming in.

Hopefully for her this will change one day. Everyday when I’m out riding I’m keeping an eye out for parts that people may be throwing away so I can make a trailer for her.
Not as easy as it seems mind you. Whenever someone does throw away trailers or parts for them, they never last long.

Well once I’m settled in BC next year, if I haven’t built her a trailer I suppose I’ll purchase a kids trailer to take her out in!

 

Downtown, two-way update

In a previous post, I “typed” my displeasure with the new two way traffic on St. Paul as the road is much more narrow.
Last week I had to go back downtown to drop something off at the Library and still am not impressed.

One of the goals for the city was to create a more bike-friendly downtown.
I find St. Paul much worse to ride on now.
East bound on St. Paul which was the original one-way direction is still fairly busy. Although not as busy as it was on day one.
Heading west bound mind you could be considered a cyclists dream. The three times I’ve gone west bound there were no cars in front or behind me.
Of course you have to watch out for opening doors and you have no choice to ride in the centre of the lane.

The more unpopular move to “beautify” St. Paul and make it more bike/pedestrian friendly would be the elimination of parking, at the very least on one side.

 

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day to all my fellow Canadians!
Along with celebrating Canada’s 142nd birthday, it is also the official kickoff to the CFL season!

 

Will people ever learn?

This has very little to do with bicycling, however I will tie it in throughout this post. This post does have to do with a certain type of motorist that I think it’s safe to say everyone, cyclists, other motorists, pedestrians, taxi drivers etc would all want off the road.

Drunks…I have a hard time believing anyone will defend them.

Last night around 10pm my dog woke me up because she was giving these loud growls and then I heard someone talking loudly outside.
I passed it off as people walking home early from Port Dalhousie. When it started up again, I decided to run to the back door and check it out. Two nights ago, newly (about a month or two ago) planted trees were destroyed, fortunately ours were untouched.
When I got to the back-door, I saw a large black Chevy pickup, behind a BrockU taxi van.

At first I didn’t know what was going on, however when the women came out of the truck and started talking to the cab driver, you could hear her slurring her words.
Just before the Police arrived, I then noticed the front passenger side of the Taxi was all dented in and the front bumper was bent inwards.

The Police arrived quickly, assuming they were already down in Port Dalhousie and no sooner did they arrive, the women was taken back to one of the cruisers.

It was hard to hear what exactly happened, however from what I did hear the women was swerving in all lanes and was going to go head on with the cab. Ironically this didn’t take place in front of my house, so I can only assume he chased her down, where it ended up by my place.

So once the police left, a flat bed was called in and took the Van (taxi) away, and then a tow truck, I believe who worked for the NRP took the truck away. It wasn’t until the tow truck had the truck raised up you could see the pickups front passenger side wheel all messed up.

I really have to wonder why we still allow people who even on a first offence to drive still. An absolute zero tolerance on drinking and driving is needed.

And to tie this story in with bikes, I saw two go by between 10:30pm and 11pm when all that was going on.
The first I swear was going 100kmh by, and the other really bothered me. Driving opposite to traffic, wearing pretty much all black and had one hand on his cell phone.

 

Already a failure?

Today was the official start of two-way traffic on St. Paul street in St. Catharines. I wasn’t going to check it out, however I had to go to the south-end of the city, so I was going to be going through the downtown anyways.

I had high hopes for the two way traffic heading into today, but after riding on it today, I’m pretty sure I’ll be more than happy to avoid St. Paul street now.

Heading east bound, which is the direction that it was when it was one way before was terrible. Cars couldn’t/wouldn’t pass me and I wouldn’t pass them. Things got worse when the directional parking stretch kicked in. The road narrowed even more. You could ride on a small stretch of the parking area, however then cars backing out wouldn’t be able to see you.

Heading west bound was fine mind you. Of course it was fine because until I got to St. Paul/St. Paul west/Westchester and Ontario there were no vehicles behind or in front of me.

I’ll give it another go once everything is settled in, but as it stands now, I’ll be avoiding St. Paul at all costs.

On a plus side, from what I saw of King Street it does seem better with two way. I didn’t spend that much time on it and there were no cars at that time.

 

Tourists…

Yesterday was the Lake-to-Lake bike race, which started in Port Colborne and went to Port Dalhousie (St. Catharines).

So last night around 8:30, I decided to go down and see what was going on. Didn’t expect many people. Boy was I in for a shock. The second I hit Port Dalhousie, you could hardly move because of the traffic. Thankfully there was a bike lane for the most part.

Anyways, my beef comes from my ride leaving Port Dalhousie. There was this red van, in which I stayed right behind until I got to the bike lane. I still stayed behind him because of a drive-way coming up. I was going around 12kmh, while I’d say he was doing 20kmh. I kept an eye on this rear end waiting for his single light. Well he started to pass the drive way, so I started to pick up more speed because of a large hill to climb. Then in a flash he turns and then singles right in front of me. Jamming my brakes on I was less than an inch from hitting his van. Didn’t even bat an eye lash to me.
It was quite obvious this was a tourist. He had Ontario plates, but no one in this city/region drives that way.

In credit to American tourist, they know how to drive around cyclists. Or at least they go out of their way to avoid us. (at least those from NY or Pennsylvania)

Just had to rant, because I don’t think I ever have close calls like that.

 

St. Catharines buses to get bike racks?

http://stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1617696

Appears the buses here will be finally getting bike racks. Not a big deal for me, I’d probably never use it, but good for those who have to travel a farther distance.

 

Highest crash fatality rates

Here in Niagara, every time the weather becomes warm and sunny, the fatal crashes come abound.

On average, Niagara Regional roads claim the lives of 30 people. Currently we sit at 15 deaths and 13 who have suffered life-threatening injuries. We have some of the most dangerous roads in the Province.

I hardly ever hear of bicycle related accidents, and when I do they never are that serious here.

What brings this up is that a 77 year old man was killed yesterday afternoon, while he was waiting at the intersection of Scott and Niagara. An SUV for whatever reason swerved right and went right into this mans van. He later died in hospital.
Ironically enough I rode this way just days ago. This area on Scott is terrible. Busy traffic and pothole covered roads. As for that stretch of Niagara, roads aren’t the best. You have a gravel shoulder and many potholes in the area.
And just yesterday, I was in this area twice. I rode right where the accident took place on my way to No Frills, and then again on my way back, I was just riding around the Grantham Plaza waiting for Grantham Library to open. I was here two hours before this all happened.

As a whole, this doesn’t have that much to do with cycling. And when it comes to most fatalities, they take place on stretches between Niagara communities and not on city roads. At least with St. Catharines.

Just something to remember for cyclists coming to Niagara this summer for touring. We have some of the best cycling in the Province, just be cautious.

 

Canada’s second bike city?

So for many years now, I’ve been looking, thinking, debating with myself about where to move in Canada. From Kitchener to Fredericton to Charlottetown to Montreal, back to Kitchener then Ottawa, to Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Lethbridge, Prince George, Hope, Nelson, Victoria, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Kelowna and all the way back to remaining in St. Catharines.

There’s something about the climate, scenery and, well, everything that just seems to fit me when it comes to BC. That is why I have opted to head west.

Of course a place such as Vancouver is far too expensive, but that’s alright. The city of Vancouver, despite being a top ranked city in the world, I have no interest in it. And that’s not a shot at the city.
So I looked further West. To Vancouver Island. I’ve been looking at places from Duncan, Nanaimo, Campbell River and Courtenay.

And that brings me to Canada’s second bike city. In the Comox Valley, 4.1% of the residents commute to work by bike. Only Victoria is higher! That would be around 1500-2000 people commuting by bike. Doesn’t seem like many, but keep in mind that the Comox Valley has a small population.

So even though Victoria would be a blast to live in, realistically it’s just not feasible because of the high cost of living.
When I read things such as the Comox Valley being one of the leaders in Canada for bicycle commuting, it does lead the way for myself to move there.