Riding the fixed gear has been a bit of an adventure since the snow really started accumulating this past weekend. Some insane lockups have had me scaring myself at points. It’s really be an interesting challenge to ride fixed gear in the snow, typically there has always been some brute force involved with riding bikes in snow, and often spinning out just goes with the territory. That’s not been the case riding fixie to the same extent, if I spin out I’m going to be in rough shape and likely will have to step off a pedal. Instead I’m very aware of weight distribution and power application as I negotiate curbs, snowbanks, icy patches and death cookies. There’s a heightened awareness of how tight I’m pulling corners as all chances to slip out will likely grant you the opportunity to slide. If I thought I was learning to think in advance of where I planned to go just by riding fixed during the summer, winter fixie riding has really done some re-teaching of that concept.

I’m suprised how well the $6 tyres I bought are working out, I’m running them with low pressure, especially the front, which is on a free wheel/rim that I’m not particularily concerned about denting. I don’t believe the progression to spikes is going to be necessary this winter with the short commute I’m doing.

I just finished getting appropriate bindings mounted on the skis my Dad picked up in Calgary for cheap so that they match the boots I got a month ago here in Edmonton. Less than perfect communication meant that we had to deal with the less than perfect situation brought on by the incompatibility of SNS and NNN binding styles. At any rate there’s a match now and I’m excited to get out on the snow to do some classic skiing this winter. The river valley trails are going to see some use from me this winter as I’ve got a lot of preparation to do in advance of the Birkebeiner race in early February. The number of people who I’ve found that have equipment and would like to get out on the trails is awesome. A couple triathlon club people and a few people I know through IVCF. It should be a good opportunity to get out and spend some time developing a skill I haven’t really used since I started the downhill skiing era in grade 5.

The Justice film Festival took place this past weekend in Calgary. It was a great success with over 2100 people attending over the course of the weekend, approximately a 50% increase in attendance over the inaugural festival last year.

Things are set to take place in two weeks with a re-viewing of a sub-selection of those films in Canmore Alberta on November 30 and December 1.

Some of the Highlights?

• 540 people, the capacity of the auditorium came for opening night. And then even more came, people sat in the aisle and stood in the back, it was great!
• An excellent post film conversation took place following the film Finding Dawn regarding Missing Aboriginal women in Canada.
• The NGO village actually had serious traffic. Last year we found it was tricky to generate traffic in the Gym but something worked this year and many people perused Fair trade goods and groups promoting activism and seeking Justice around the world.
• Questions from the audience surrounding the film Ryan’s Well were nearly all posed by children.

For more information check out Our Website .

I put together a short form for my SeatoSea website that allows people to submit an email address to receive email news. Just a quick form found on the Sea to Sea Homepage for anyone to fill out an email address and receive news.

I figured I could hold off and fiddle with that code at a later date but I’ve been keeping tabs on traffic to that part of my website and have noticed that there are plenty of people getting here from the “BLOG” listing on the CRCNA website. That prompted me to do this sooner than later. The option is there, sign up if you’d like to hear about the experience… probably a weekly thing during the summer and maybe a few messages in the lead-up months.

I was on the website for the UltraMarathon Cycling Association this afternoon. If you’ve never heard of them before they’re the organization that keeps track of all of the endurance cycling records in North America. How the system works is each state and province has a “North”, “South”, “East” and “West” point identified in it. There is a potential record to be set for racing E-W, W-E, N-S and S-N for each jurisdiction. If the record has not been set all you have to do is complete the ride while obeying their rules and you get to claim the title. If no-one has yet gone any direction in your province you get to choose where the start and end points are for the ride.

Alberta has no records set, and while I don’t think the ~1513 km North South direction is something anyone is going to undertake for many years I do think that the West-East record would be totally sweet. The route that I would propose goes from the BC border just outside Jasper, and ends on the Saskatchewan border… in the middle of nowhere, heading east from Red-Deer. The trip is ~712 kms long. And while it’s not as short as the 375 km (heavy wind at your back) Crowsnest Pass to outside Medicine Hat route. It would make for a really serious challenge. The 375 km ride may even be able to be completed during daylight hours in June if the wind cooperated, but the route originating in Jasper would be a multi-day affair. It also carries with it a bit more likely hood that your record sticks around if you are able to complete it.

Made the conversion of my Fixed gear today… for the most part. I finally got ahold of some presta tubes that fit the tyres I got. I got Schraeder originally because no 38 mm tubes were in stock… but of course they don’t fit through the rim. I’ve got things in line now and the fatties are ready to ride! I also flipped the stem upside down, it’s a steep one and with the fork having a much more considerable rake than my tri bike I didn’t really realize how much higher I could put the bars. They’re good though, really upright for riding.

I unfortunately had to swap the gear back for the 17 tooth. My chain is just a couple links short of what I need to fit it on the 20 tooth cog. That’s OK for now I suppose but I’ll need to get some chain links to fix that problem before it gets really icy.