A song

on the iPod

to start the trip.

What one will it be ?

Today I think

AFX

Crying in yur face

Yesterday was

U2

Beautiful day

Tomorrow ?

You choose!

And the song

for the end

I think

that is still

too far away

yet.

… no, No, NO. Not that one. Not the current one. This one.

Oh, oh, OH! An update from WandA. BF woz never President but he did invent bifocals & formed the 1st public lending library. So he’s an all round good guy, pretty smart (unlike some Presidents) and clearly liked a glass or two of ale.

… if you are squeamish.

Due to popular demand here are some pix of my injury. Don’t worry they are not too gory. And tomorrow I get the stitches out and perhaps I’ll be able to bend my leg again.

Before

Inbetween

After

The owners of Pedal Plenty would like to apologise for the period of service outage experienced this afternoon.

Regrettably this was due to some incompetent, mildly inebriated sys admin (who will remain nameless) deleting the whole blog on a whim after lunch. Said sys admin is now undergoing disciplinary proceedings including bevvy counselling and a refresher course on what click and drag actually does in MacLand.

The sys admin is naturally blaming the Duck.

… she knows nothing of derailleur setup, wheel truing or how to stop that annoying squeak in your brakes but she’s got some clever squirty pink liquid and all the right tools. Phone her for all your bicycle repair needs.

… to eat pie.

… in the middle of the road in the rush hour. Humiliating? Yes, indeed. Doubly so coz the sprawling in the middle of the road in the rush hour was due to inability to unclip the SPDs in the new shoes.

Yes I’m fine, I said to the girl who helped me up.

Jump on bike, jump on bike. Quick, quick or late for work. Zoom, zoom.

Oh ouch that hurts. [pout]

Oh look blood. Oh quite a lot of blood.
[little tear falls]

Oh I don’t feel so good now. [an almost ceramic bus* moment passes]

Get’s off bike and pushes. More humiliation. Limp, limp. Park bike at work.

I said, Mr Sweaty Onion, I fell off.

Let’s look.

Colour drains from both our faces.

Let’s get T the speedy boy, he suggests.

T’s not just fast he’s also the first aider.

Aye, A&E** is his knowledgeable diagnosis as he applies a great big dressing.

Three stitches and a lot of Ibuprofen later I am now digging out the toe clips. Pictures to follow, just as soon as I am brave enough to look.

Cultural notes to my North American friends

* driving the ceramic bus = vomiting

** A&E (Accident & Emergency) = Emergency Room

…. you go all month with no money in your bank account, eating daisies and grubs for lunch to save cash. Your credit card bill comes in. You cry a little bit. You go online and make yourself feel better by buying a pair of NorthWave Goretex mountain biking shoes. Such is the life of a TransAm cyclist in preparation.

But, they are lovely. Perfect for my trip. And they breath too altho’ I haven’t found their lungs yet. But most importantly they are Italian. And we know that the Italians make the best cycling shoes. Don’t we now? What do you mean you didn’t know they made the best. Tsk Tsk. See Northwave and Sidi and eh … Prada as examples.

So my old NorthWave mountain biking shoes ? They’ve gone to that great spin class in the sky.

… the date is set.

• The deed
  • booking my flights to Vancouver (out) and Halifax (back)
• The date
  • 11 May 2008
• The damage
  • one scorched credit card and the bolstering of the Canadian economy by the Old Country.