robmaeder.com

Where else in the world would they have an automated underground bike storage facility? This thing is amazing. I have no clue what the reporter is saying, but basically, you put your bike on this machine that sends it down an elevator and into a giant storage area that can hold up to 9,400 bikes!

Later on, when you come back to retrieve your bike, the machine finds it and just whisks it right back to you. In the video, it only takes 23 seconds for the bike to be returned, which is probably less time than it would take to unlock your bike.

Yesterday my brothers and a few friends and I went for a nice Sunday bike ride. The weather was great, the road and trail conditions were pretty good, and we all had a good time.

Once we got home, we hung out in front of my house for a bit and then went inside for dinner. During this time, Albert’s bike was left in front of my garage, behind my brother’s truck. We came back outside about an hour and a half later, to find the bike was gone. So sometime between 6pm and 7:30pm, the bike got tooked. In broad daylight, in a nice little subdivision in Whitby. It was very disappointing.

Albert was extremely mad, so we took a drive around the neighbourhood looking for any signs of the bike. We didn’t see anything, and I’m not sure what’s going to happen next. Unfortunately, the bike is probably gone forever, but we’re hoping we’ll spot it out and about somewhere near our house soon. If we do, some kid is gonna get the beat down of his life.

Back in April of last year I bought a new bike and started riding quite a bit. I had lofty goals of riding 1500km by the end of 2007, and I kept track of all the days I rode to work, as well as all the weekend rides I went on.

I checked my records the other day, and I rode a total of 1340km last year, falling a little short of my goal. I had a lot of fun, got some good exercise and I’m a lot better on a bike now than I’ve ever been. Since late fall, I haven’t really done any biking, but I’ve been seeing a lot of people riding even in the snow lately, so I’m thinking I might do a little winter biking soon.

Shortly after getting my bike in April, I got a nice little wireless speedometer/odometer for it so I could keep track of my riding. I’ve kept track of pretty much every ride I’ve been on, and today on my way home, I hit the 1,000km mark.

Over half of those kilometers came from riding to work, which I’ve done 45 times now. I did some quick calculations, and I figure I’ve saved about $150 in parking and probably another $100 in gas by commuting via bicycle.

I may be bragging a little, but I’m pretty proud of this feat. I bet if I added up all the time I spent riding a bike since I was a kid, it wouldn’t amount to how much I’ve ridden in the past four months. My goal for the year is to accumulate 1,500km, so I still have another 500km to go. But there’s still another two months or so of biking weather available, so I’m sure I’ll reach my goal before the year is up.

When I got my new bike about a month ago, I also got a helmet. I ride on the roads a lot and sometimes there’s a lot of traffic. The idea of going headfirst into the road, a car or a street sign doesn’t sit well with me, so I figure it’s a good idea to protect my brain.

If Alan had been wearing a helmet when he crashed last weekend, his head might not look like this right now:

Moral of the story: helmets are cool, not dorky.