Oilsands emit more than entire countries: report

Wow, just when we thought that the tar sands were emitting a ray of sunshine... Oh Alberta you must be so proud.

Run DMC

New Job in November!!!!

I have been holding off saying anything to anyone for the last couple weeks but its now out of teh bag on FB. I will be starting a new job with Cross Country Canada as the Athlete Development Coordinator. Working at developeing athletes from 5 to Junior National Team level across the country by way of utilizing the Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model. Lots of administrative stuff with some travelling to clubs around the country fostering youth participation in our sport. Julian is stoked because they have a wicked Biathlon program in Canmore for kids, Meems doesn't really get it and Dana is happy for a change of pace and possibly scenery. We are all a bit nervous but will really excited once everything begins. Three days a week in Canmore with two days at the home office in Golden.

Crab Spider Enter Stage Left

I'm still scratching and extraordinarily wigged out by this thing that crawled across my lap about fifteen minutes ago. This is the closest I could find to what it looked like. I HATE!!!!!!!!!! spiders. I can't even think right now. Gotta go have a shower to make sure its not laying eggs in my skin or something equally gross. I hate being such a pussy when it comes to spiders but alas...everyone needs some neurotic uncontrollable fear.

Cool Shot

Where is this? That is the coolest water feature I have ever seen. Picked up from Chicks and Bikes Blog. I love this picture!

Veggie Splendour.

Mmmmm Veggies aplenty. We now have finally begun to see the labours of love popping out of the ground. Peas, beans, radishes, carrots, two types of lettuce and beets for Dana. I am loving being a gardener! This is my first garden ever so I am feeling pretty darned proud. Gardens rock. Next year....potatoes and maybe cucumbers.

Hmmm...I'm not sure I would like to sail in Sweden...not on my boat anyhow!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1s4qoYKCqM&feature=player_embedded

Check it out.

Just minutes after the shot on the title page I cracked the mast step in my Bombardier Invitation sailboat. It was the best wind in years that I have sailed, blowing a steady 20knots all afternoon. The old boat just couldn't take the pressure and with that tall rig and huge sail area she folded under the pressure. I hope to get to work on the repair this week. Loving this little boat. Tonnes of floor space for teaching the kids and also a very stable and forgiving boat under sail. The biggest issue is its upwind sailing ability. Could be the beat up sail which performs much like a bed sheet at the moment or simply the rig design. Not sure. I am pondering upgrading to a kevlar sail for next year with battens. That.....will make her faster and a better upwind performer. These shots are from Invermere, awesome day. The kids had a great day full of sun, wind and waves. They would have been on the boat

Boat and Harbour Pics

"Swallow", our new boat, a Grampian 26...our new coastal cruiser.
The ultimate little fam boat...

The ultimate little harbour where she lives. That little bit of development is where the main liquor store and grocery store is on the island. There is camping immediately adjacent the moorage and there is a really nice looking restaurant and marina under new ownership.
AND.........one of the best disc golf courses in the west within a ten minute drive.

Boat moorage in the harbour on a glassy afternoon.

Where to start....we'll start with the REALLY good stuff!

About a week and a half ago a friend cornered me and mentioned that his Grampian 26 needs a new home NOW. He just does not have time to cope with two boats and would like to sell his boat to us. We have been talking about this for about five years now and finally, with somewhat good timing decided to take him up on his offer. We have been talking about getting a bigger boat on the coast for quite a long time now and this is even one of the boats that has been on my boat journal, buysell and kijiji list as a perfect fam boat.

We have taken possession of this great 26 footer with loads of head room, furler headsail and main and lots of extras. It is moored on Pender Island, an area that I have spent NO time at....PERFECT! We are pretty excited to get this show on the road. I am hoping to get down there next week and take an inventory of the boat and start compiling a wish list. The only thing I need to pick up to sail is a handheld VHF radio. Steveston Marine has a great sale on right now and will hopefully be hitting it up on the way for a new radio and a replacement mooring ball.

Here she is, enjoy the pics! This is of the harbour at dawn. Who the hell wouldn't want a piece of that!

Stolen Idea Creates Sweet Townie Ride

Seeing the Veloplzen crew over in Calgary is doing an ice cream slowbike ride I thought why the heck can't we do that. So.......here it is. Next weekend prepare to not loose those calories gained on your bike ride. Slow and steady reigns supreme.

F U Greyhound Loading Dock Guy!

I found an pic of my old p21 and am today feeling a little bit sad and bitter that I never got the chance to ride this sweetest of sweet bikes at the Moab 24hr back in, oh.....1994. En route, this bike along with a Turner Burner painted in Ritchey colours (oh man...that thing would be worth so much money today in a collection) were stolen in Chicago on the way out to Grand Junction.

That is we shall say...was the end of my racing career. Crap! Mmmm this bike is so lovely. This was taken prior to mounting my Mag 21 Ti. All totalled this bike weighed in at 21.2 lbs. It was THE lightest bike I've ridden. I miss you P.

Environmental Responsibility At Your Fingertips.

ATREEM by Nitipak SamsenJuly 6th, 2009
Royal College of Art graduate Nitipak Samsen has designed a credit card-operated carbon-offsetting meter that attaches to trees.

How brilliant is that!!!

Cool things I found this week.

I didnt realize that there was an optional bike rack attachment for Vespa's. The things you learn. That is just so damned Cool.

I'm not generally one to post pics of hot girls on bikes but I had to post this great one of uber hot and talented Zooey Deschanel posing with her matching red townie. Good god, no wonder townies are back!

It's boat swap day!!!!

I am selling my vastly underutilized sea kayak to pick up a new sailboat. A Bombardier Invitation (16ft. ) which is like a Laser with some more leg room. Leaving in an hour to Cranbrook to do the drop and pickup. Oh dinghy sailing..... its been too long.

Nothing beats a no $ exchange!!!

I need to build a trailer so I can pull it with my bike, how sick would that be.

One step closer to the Golden Yacht Club. I can't wait to make hats! Haha.

Bikes as tools of comfort and function (aka...It's not always about the adrenaline people!)

ARTICLE FROM GOLDEN ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION BLOG

This is not a remark to isolate all of us rural community cyclists, but is here to offer an insight into how the big players in the cycling industry are finally designing bikes for "the rest of us". This typically refers to a weekend cyclist or commuter who's idea of going for a ride is more likely to be a paved or gravel pathway (separated from vehicular traffic) or a ride downtown to their favorite coffee shop for an early morning treat than hurtling themselves off a cliff or riding 100km on the highway.Golden has some of the best cycling opportunities in the world with fantastic downhill, cross country and road cycling. What seems to be forgotten a lot of the time is that there is an entirely other market segment, one which accounts for over 75% of bike sales worldwide.It seems that there is a lot of intimidation when it comes to cycling in our community. New cyclists are freaked out when they walk into a shop and find that a price point bike starts at $1000, or sales staff aren't knowledgeable in how to mount fenders, or find it annoying to discuss simple thing such as what type of lube to use. Many shops simply cater to the tourists with their expensive bikes and don't even recognize the middle aged local standing there who needs to know what kind of tube he needs for his old ten speed. Take care of your community first people! (RANT)

Specialized, one of the industries original players, in fact, one of the originators of the mountain bike, has just released an entirely new division of their company called Globe which is aimed at the commuter/hipster/slow biker. While these bikes don't officially release for another few months a few leaks have filtered through which continue to create much buzz throughout the industry, which really, is a return to the simplicicty of years pasts.

Specialized is not the only company offering more colour variation to their paint booth. Style plays a role in today's bikes. While basic and utilitarian they still offer a visually stimulating pedal. The single speed movement has seen a drastic increase in usership in the past few years with simplicity in maintenance and purity of style offering a glimpse of past decades and a century of cycling when it wasn't all about how many gears you had. K.I.S.S.

Function over fashion...not necessarily. You can actually have it all. No I'm not trying to sell you a new bike, although I have lived that life. I am trying to instill a sense of "doing everything" on your bike. There is really no need to jump in your car, drive three blocks and buy two bags of groceries. Bikes are coming with all sorts of cargo type features such as this cargo rack. Sure it would be nice to have one of these in your garage but you can rig up your existing bike with a set of fenders, lights and rack to allow you the freedom to negotiate anything our little town of Golden has to throw at you. There are people who commute 30-40km everyday on their bikes in Golden. Have you seen them yet? Every time you throw a leg over your bike or walk somewhere it saves you money (gas), and a little portion of the air we breath (emissions).
For the price of two tanks of gas in a mid size car you can set up your bike for commuting daily. Just imagine how much your heart will appreciate it.

Yet another display if simplicity. This is an 8 speed bike but has no external derailleurs to tear off or maintain. Some of these new bikes are even getting rid of a chain in favor of a belt drive, the exact same thing as your car utilizes. This creates a quiet and incredibly strong, low maintenance vehicle. You'll have to replace your tires every three or four years at $30 each, but you can't say that about your car. Most residents of Golden probably spend that much every couple days on their motorized vehicles, if not more.

Built in generator lights, similar to those of years past are one of the hottest selling aftermarket items these days. Reducing our need for disposable and harmful products (batteries) the "dynamo light" runs off of electricity produced by a small generator which spins on the tires sidewall. Portable power to keep you safe at night, which cost and pollutes nothing.
Reduce your impact, reduce your dependency on fossil fuels and pull out your bike. Searching the local thrift store, used bike shops, and garage sales will often turn up some fantastic gems from the past. In fact, until this past week (where Annabelle-my old bikes name-switched hands to a new owner) I had been riding a 1954 CCM cruiser bike with side racks and generator light which I pulled out of the dump ten years ago. Now, I'm on the quest for something a bit more functional with a couple gears and more space to pull all of our recycling on the weekends to the recycling center.

Lastly, what people have seemed to forget is that if they search back through all of the experiences through their lives, there is guaranteed one, usually from their childhood, that involves a bike. Cycling is fun....let yourself rediscover those great experiences. Leave the car at home and pull out that bike your soul with thank you for it!

Polo Carnage

Oh man....we were battling tonight for Beno's last game in Canada. I ended up going over the bars (or something similar to that) and ended up with this. Yes, my elbow is a bit blown up and weird looking, no I don't believe anything is broken. My stupidity. My payback....ski team strength session with loads of push ups and ski striding with poles. This is going to hurt tomorrow night more than now.

Oh well, all in the sake of entertaining the fans.

Best T's in the known universe.

Me, being the uber nerd that I am and my never ending love of wity and charming T's has brought me too the most incredible website. If any one would care to buy me a gift sometime I'll provide you with my shirt size and style.

Check out http://controversy.wearscience.com/ for the best shirts ever!!!

World Cup Calendar Announced This Past Weekend for 2009/2010 Season

The Sub-Committee for the Cross-Country World Cup was working hard in Cavtat last week to finalize the World Cup Calendar 2009/10. In the calendar, there are 24 World Cup competitions (the Tour and the Final both count as one) in 11 different countries in North America and Europe.
The season will kick off in Beitostoelen (NOR) on 21st- 22nd November and will then move to Kuusamo (FIN) for the Nordic Opening where the traditional programme with a sprint and an interval start competition will take place. New at the beginning of December is the city sprint in Düsseldorf (GER) moving from the weekend before Christmas. With Davos (SUI) a traditional venue follows before the first period concludes a new World Cup venue of Rogla (SLO). It is the first time since 1993 that a Cross-Country World Cup will be held in the home country of the sprint World Cup winner Petra Majdic.
After Christmas, the FIS Tour de Ski will kick off on 1st January in Oberhof (GER) with three Stages in a row before moving to Prague (CZE) for an evening sprint event. After the first rest day, the Tour will continue with a Stage from Cortina to Toblach (both ITA) while the sixth Stage will be staged directly at the rebuilt stadium of Toblach. Another rest day follows before the Tour is traditionally concluding in Val di Fiemme (ITA) with a mass start competition and the Final climb to the Alpe Cermis.
After the Tour, the World Cup continues with weekends in Otepää (EST, 16th-17th January) and Rybinsk (RUS, 22nd-24th January). The third period of the Cross-Country Calendar features the pre-Olympic races in Canmore (CAN) and the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver which will take place from 12th - 28th February 2009.
After the Games, the Cross-Country family will conclude the World Cup season in Scandinavia with the traditional competitions in Lahti (FIN), Drammen (NOR), Oslo (NOR), Stockholm (SWE) and Falun (SWE). In Lahti, for the first time since several years, a relay and pursuit will be on the schedule while Oslo will organize the test events for the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2011 in the rebuilt venue at Holmenkollen with a sprint and a mass start long distance race. Like last year, Stockholm and Falun will host the World Cup Final which is a four-stage mini Tour.
The FIS Nordic Junior World Championships will return to Germany next season after hosting this event in 2002. In Hinterzarten in the Black Forest the World Cup skiers of tomorrow will fight for the medals from 24th to 31st January. Please click here to see the World Cup Calendar 2009/10

Spring work weekend.

Our happy little home
The trees are blooming and smelling oh so good.

New Planter boxes for veggies only!!

Recycled Wood, community top soil and a whole lot of work make great veggie boxes.

27 wheelbarrow loads of top soil from our elderly Italian neighbors yard, 2 Subaru's full of sand, and Nates old framing from his roof have created two great new veggie plots which will have peas, tomatoes, beans, carrots, lettuce and radishes, We will build a third one (where the kids ricketty swing set is for potatoes next year.

I can't wait to have fresh garden veggies....mmmmmmm. The yard is filling up with flowers and the smell of spring is finally in the air.

oh, oh.....I've discovered Photoscape.

I'll never get anything done again. This is a great photo editing program. Check out my first test of a new race event poster for the DMC. Photo of Alex Harvey thanks to Dave Best.

Ezra Caldwell and the Cancer Destroying Master of Wood

I just had a poke at the website of Ezra Caldwell. I have secretly been fantasizing about his fenders for a long, long time, pretty much since the site went live. Ezra is having his last round of chemo today after a nasty bought of cancer. I am so proud of that guy for breaking that evil viper and moving on to get married in Nova Scotia with his beloved.

Check out the handmade wooden handy work of Ezra at http://www.fastboyfenders.com/. Fenders and bars built of hardwood goodness. Enjoy the cruise.

More disc golf pics

All she need now is a golf bag and she has herself a summer job.
Our beer baby making a solo trip down to the bottom of the course. It had a small upset along the way. No beer was harmed in the filming of this sequence.

The crew at about hole #8, only 30 more to go.

And then there was disc golf!!! Holy Frickin Fun!

Thats why I through a left hook. Damn. I think I need some video analysis of technique next time. Such a coach. Think I ended up 7 over par for my first disc golf game ever. I'm OK with that. We punched out the full 38 after many hours and many beers.
Julian became more interested in the cool frog than the disc golf. He's my science nerd through and through. Love It!!

M made new friends. That gnome is such a good listener. Meems had lots to say.

They both took to multi sport play quite well with Julian playing some pingpong and Amelia performing some gymnastics tricks.

We went for a drive down to Go Organic Disc Golf on Sunday for a great game with sunny skies and no bugs. You really can't go wrong.

Happy Nasjonaldagen Norway!!!!!

Oh I wish I could be over in Oslo for all of the cool festivities going on right now. Have a great day Norway, I'm thinkin of ya!

Yay...long weekends.

Spring has finally sprung with flowers blooming in the backyard
Whats an action packed day without a good breakfast of cakes and coffee!

Loaded up for a trip to the recycling depot with Julian. I need a Ute, this is only about a quarter of the load. Very tight. I'll save my recycling pennies.

On the path to the recycling depot, Julian ahead.

Dr. J taking control of the recycling situation.

We are off to pick up some sand for the bottom of our new veggie garden planter boxes with the kids grandpa. After that we're off to the pool!

Bicycle Friendly Business-Sustainable Employers

According to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, San Francisco has seen a 43% increase in bicycle ridership since 2006 and 6% of all in-city trips are now made on a bicycle. And according to Transportation Alternatives, bicycling is the fastest growing mode of transportation in New York City with an increase of 35% from 2007 to 2008. No matter where you look, bike commuting is on the rise.
With this growing interest in bike commuting, more and more employers are offering incentives to those who give up the car and ride their bike to work. Yahoo, for example, provides company-owned loaner bikes, lockers, showers, onsite bicycle care, and free tune-ups to all of their employees. Discovery Communications (parent to the Discovery Channel) reimburses employees up to $350 toward the purchase of a new bicycle, while also providing secure bike parking.
The League of American Bicyclists has added a “Bicycle Friendly Business” program to accompany their more well-known “Bicycle Friendly Community” program. (You can view the full list of Bicycle Friendly Businesses by clicking here.) Following is an overview of how award recipients are chosen:
What is a Bicycle Friendly Business?A Bicycle Friendly Business (BFB) is a corporation, organization, association, or nonprofit that actively promotes bicycling for transportation, recreation, exercise, and sport. A BFB practices social responsibility by weaving bicycling into the business culture and gives employees the opportunity to be active stewards of their personal and environmental health through bicycling.
The Bicycle Friendly Business program evaluates applicants’ efforts to promote bicycling in four primary areas: encouragement, education, engineering, and evaluation. Examples of these measures include:
EngineeringSafe cycling access; bike racks for employees and guests; showers and lockers for commuters and lunchtime riders.
EducationBike-safety programs; mentorship for new commuters; and equipment tutorials.
EncouragementBenefits for bike commuters; paid mileage for trips made by bike; loaner bikes for errands and short trips; and earn-a-bike programs.
Evaluation: An assessment of what’s already being done and what to aim for in the future; in-house bike coordinators; and target ridership numbers. This is also the section to highlight your business’s unique programs and policies that promote and celebrate bicycling—from loaner bikes for short trips and in-house spin classes to supporting charity rides and sponsoring bike-racing teams.
What types of incentives does your employer offer bike commuters at your workplace? Do you have access to showers and secure bike parking? Are you offered reimbursements for purchasing bicycles and accessories? Do your company’s commuter benefits extend to include bicyclists? In general, do you feel as if your employer is doing enough or would you like to see more incentives and support? Let me know in the comment section below.

This is pulled from Eco Velo, a fantastic site definately oriented towards city commuting. This does not need to be the case. Let me know what you could do as an employer or what you would like to see your employer provide for you, here in Golden.

Swedish architects Tham & Videgård Hansson create beautiful green space.

Swedish architects Tham & Videgård Hansson have completed an apartment refurbishment in Stockholm with a colour scheme representing the changing seasonal colours in a nearby park.

The overlapping colours transform the layout of the apartment and add a new structure of spaces linked to each other across the original plan. The parquet floor also function as a uniting system that offer design possibilities. Once we had a set up of colours in different shades, we could develop each each room in relation to the others, every piece of parquet was defined to fit into the right postion, there was no random factor in the construction process.

I have always loved intersting and unique architecture and interior finishing from around the world. The greens are so powerful. It is an extra breath of fresh air seeing all of these colours coming to life in our community. Very, very cool.