Blackburn Pete

Francis Chow has created a great cargo bike from a couple of mountain bikes. The deck is an old snowboard. The rear dropouts of the front bike support the bottom bracket axle of the rear bike. Several other contact points have been welded to create a very strong frame. The chain had to be lengthened and the old front derailleur from the rear bike was left in place to support the chain. Later, Francis removed the derailleur because it makes too much noise. While we were checking out the cargo bike, Carl just happened to be riding past with his Do-It-Yourself wooden frame cargo trailer. Carl claims he can haul about a hundred pounds of cargo behind his bike. We did a quick stress test on Francis’ cargo bike by loading Sean onto the snow board deck and pedalling him around.

Check out the video at the link below.

The Electric Vehicle Council of Ottawa (EVCO) hosted an EV Expo on Saturday. There were several electric cars and lots of electric powered bicycles. One of the electric cars was a Solectra Force. They were a production model conversion of a small GM car in the late 90s. There was also another small GM car that had been converted. Sparky the electric pickup truck was also on display. The electric bikes ranged from a pedal-assisted scooter to a homemade ebike powered by a hand held grinder. There were longtail ebikes, recumbent ebikes, production ebikes and lots of ebike conversions. One display even had a model train powered by hydrogen cells.

Another blurry screenshot. This one is from Brian’s wipe out on the icy bike path between Hurdman and the old rail bridge. Click the picture to see the Youtube video.

I just saw the movie on TV today. I can be seen standing beside my old pickup truck just as the little girl (Dakota Fanning) escapes from her captor. Just as she runs up the hill screaming for her mom. I was an extra on the set during filming. The chase scene was filmed on the new Inland Island Hwy on Vancouver Island near Courtenay. Coincidently, I also made that stretch of highway when I operated heavy equipment. It was just a hillside full of stumps when I first showed up for work.

At last! A winter bike attachment that makes sense.

Last night, while I was browsing the web and looking up old Raleigh bikes I owned in the 80s, I ran across this amazing link to a collection of bikes from the Canberra Bicycle Museum. The bikes date back into the later 1800s all the way up to about 30 years ago. There are 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers and even some 4-wheelers. There are bikes for single riders, tandems and even more. The file takes a few minutes to download so be patient; it’s worth the wait!

Canberra Bicycle Museum Collection

Here’s my favourite winter bike from the collection.

Spring seems a long way off while I am sitting inside and it is going down to -30C tonight. As soon as I step outside, the snow is crisp under my boots and the windchill almost takes my breath away. My winter bike satisfies my craving for two-wheeled adventure meagerly on my short jaunts around the neighbourhood, but now it is even too cold for that. I long for those early Sunday morning rides with my wife on her trike and me on my long wheelbase recumbent, and nothing but the breeze in our way. I’m hungry for the brunch we had on the patio overlooking the canal and I can almost smell the fragrance from the flower beds along the bike path. When I close my eyes, I can hear the murmurs from the Farmers’ Market and if I try hard, I can almost see the veggie stands with colourful bursts of produce and honey vendors handing out free samples of their products…

Suddenly, I am jarred back to reality by the weatherman on the evening news. He is droning on and on about the frigid temperatures forecasted in the days to come. My despair is broken briefly when I see my wife’s trike lurking in the corner of our livingroom, gently reminding me that better days are just around the corner.

Everyone wants a picture of our granddaughter, Cassady, and everyone wants to know that she was 7 lbs 2 oz.

Ride along the Ottawa River

I was coasting down the big hill on the north end of Blair Rd. in Ottawa and filming with my new Hero GoPro Helmet cam. I am trying very hard to keep my helmet still so the video isn’t too choppy. I made it up to 70 km/h without even pedaling. I uploaded the video to Youtube so you can have a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I949EOODwc