Back in the saddle

It has been a very long time since my last post. So long in fact, that I can't remember anything that I have shared so I don't really know what has and hasn't been shared. There is no time to be funny, so I will just do a little summary of where I am at these days. Here is my current biking status:

current bike : Breezer uptown 8 LS
km's to date for 2017 : 1075
km goal for the year : 1500 (stretch goal 1750)
Total lifetime km's on my new bike (2014) : 5899
Total lifetime km's since tracking (2013) : 6504

I bike-commute to work 3-4 times in an average week, and bike an additional 10-30kms outside of work.

Things that are changing in my world of biking : I have noticed over the past few months and years, that I consistently bike in my hardest gear at all times, even going up most short hills. I gear down only when stopped, and I basically go down to my easiest because I can and not have to worry that I'm already stopped (internally geared). However, I could easily start in a harder gear. My top speed is pretty much 22-23kms/hr unless I'm going downhill, in which case I might go faster but I can't really pedal much.

I have taken my bike to the shop as I would like to increase my max speed a bit. I've asked to swap out the cassette to get a few more teeth in, which should allow me to bike in an easier gear and still have capabilities to change gears if I want to go faster. A little bit sad because it probably means I will lose my full chain-guard which I LOVE, but it's a sacrifice I will make for a bit more speed.

I was seriously contemplating getting an electric bike for the past year or so, but I think if I can cut my commute down a bit by making this change, I would settle for what I already have because I love the posture of my current bike. I am hoping to increase my max holding speed at somewhere between 25-27 kms/hr (but who knows, maybe I will go even faster) which should finally drop my commute to under 30 minutes. I might still go rogue and buy an e-bike (or most likely convert a bike), but maybe not for another year or so.

Also, I lost my bike helmet in a freak accident where I left it accidentally on the back of my car, and drove away without remembering.

That is a quick update on my current biking status - I hope to post a bit more regularly now that I remember I have a blog - but I'm not going to make any promises because chances are I won't.

An 8 minute walk is only a 3 minute bike ride

And yet.. I had to walk to the grocery store because I don't have my bike with me at work today! As my baby sister says, "I hate walking because it takes twice as long to get away from creepy old men who are hitting on you" - preach on sista! Why walk when you can ride? But anyway, crisis averted and I was able to buy my corriander for the awesome meal I plan to make tomorrow night.

So, I have been neglecting my bike blog, mostly because I'm not really a blogger. Some updates - my new bike is just as awesome as I thought it would be when I bought it - I have biked 685kms to date on my new bike and plan to hit 1000km by the end of the year. My goal is made significantly easier by the fact that just by biking to work 4 days a week, I hit 100kms. However, I have not been biking every day. Some of my excuses thus far - it's raining out (though I have actually done a few rain bike rides and they weren't as bad as I thought they would be); I have to be (at some location) by x time and biking has me arriving home 45 mins later than by driving; and my current excuse for the month of July is that I am celebrating the month of Ramadhan by fasting and I won't survive the day without water. But.. starting in August.. I will resume biking to work!

Other news, my old beater bike has been gifted to my mother, who has now also started biking to work. The first time, I went with her on a weekend so that I could show her the best route (after which we stopped for a lovely picnic in the park). I have also encouraged her (and have gone with her) to the grocery store, which takes pretty much the exact same amount of time as driving there. I've convinced other people to bike more often, or to buy a bike period. Basically, I'm an awesome bike advocate... which is why I'm so active on this blog. I also saw this girl wearing a super cute skirt with bikes all over it, and told her it was awesome.

I've also taken to following bikers on twitter, to find out what is going on in the NCR world of biking. When I think of another awesome bike post, I will share it here.

kthxbai

I am NOT Riff-Raff

Remember how I bought a beater bike last year? - I wanted to see if I would like biking enough to justify buying a really cute bike, that was also a little more sturdy and had a few more bells and whistles (Actually, I only needed 1 bell, and no whistles, but you get the idea)

That is what led me, a few months ago, to go into a LBS, just to see what was available. I had been doing a little bit of research online, so I wouldn't find myself in exactly the situation that occured. I didn't want to look like I had no clue about what I wanted, and what I was talking about. Let me preface this whole thing by saying that, as I mentioned in my previous post, looks trump all! So yes, I wanted an awesome bike, that had all the things I was looking for.. but I also wanted to look mega-cute while riding my bike!

So.. my research had me looking and finally even understanding what is meant by different components, different frame materials, different styles of bikes (once I even told Bhel all about my research into French vs. Italian vs Dutch style frames, and as we were walking along, I would point them out to her). All this to say, that when I walked in to that LBS, I was no n008 (n00b?).

So I walk in, and lay down my specs! "I'm a hard-core biker, commute 25km round trip, several times a week (but not in the winter, are you crazy? Well actually, winter bikers aren't crazy, I'm just not into that), I'm no FWB (Fair-weather biker, for those not in the know - except for the fact that I started my own bike club... the Fair-weather Bike Club. In retrospect, the title might have been a mistake but I already got my letterhead printed...)".

So the guy, takes me to the bike section where the window is, and... I may have kind of casually mentioned, why are some bikes on one side of the store and others on the completely other end of the store (this is where is gets interesting). "Oh, we keep those bikes on that side to keep out the riff-raff" he says to me. That's fine, he was taking me to the hard-core side! No worries there.

Anyway, he shows me a pretty nice bike, a Raleigh (don't remember the model off the top of my head), hybrid, 24 speed, last year's model so on sale at a great price - but... not really what I'm looking for. No fenders, no rear rack, but I could have added those on if the bike fit me well and I liked the way it rode. But.. the deal break? Black. So I asked, "does it come in any other colours?"

Answer? "No, but I don't mind black." Me thinking - but.... *I* mind black, I will definetly not look cute riding a black bike.

I may have looked a little apprehensive because then he started showing me some other bikes that were in white or grey or something, but that weren't hybrids, had no features I wanted, and all-around not for me. THEN, he took to over... to the other side of the store.. you know.. the riff-raff section? He said, "I think one of these bikes might be better suited to you." Uh.. I don't think so... Full on dutch bike? Heavy frame? Not made for commuting long distances at all. Who did he think I was? Didn't I mention what I was looking for?

I kindly thanked him for his time, and left the store feeling very put-off... I am not riff-raff.. I want a good bike, that meets all of my needs.. and I want it to come in a nice colour. I ended up spending a good chunk of $ on my bike (story to be maybe told later)... I'm not about to spend that kind of money on a bike that is ugly.

Beater Bike

Now that I'm a hardcore biker, I deserve a new bike. Well actually, because I got a fairly sizeable chunk of money I deserve a new bike. But before I tell you of my adventures in trying to find a new bike, I'll start with talking about my old bike.

(ok, well I haven't gotten around to taking a picture of my bike - it is currently still sitting in my storage locker, next to all my other sporting equipment. Instead, here is a quick description - bright turquoise SuperCycle bike, probably from the late 90s, with fenders and a nice rear rack - It also includes my life-hack - neon pink milk crate attached to my rear rack for bonus storage space)

This is my bike. Biggest pro about this bike - It looks so cute, I love the colours! Cons? Heavy and the chain slips off if I go over too big a bump. But the pretty-factor wins out every time.

Last year, I went to a local bike sale hosted by the Boy Scouts (and Girl Scouts too) because I had decided that it was totally possible to bike 13kms for work. It would save money in gas (to be re-allocated to Shawarma and Booster Juice!), it would get me active in the mornings and afternoons, it would be fun and get me in tip-top shape. But before I totally committed to it, I would need to make sure it actually was possible. So I decided to buy myself a cheap bike to see if I liked it. Introducing the Kermit.

As those who know me, know - I suck at directions. Like, really suck. Actually, I think one of my early blog posts on my 1001 things mentions this particular talent of mine. So I google maped (and studied the street-view) a route and printed it off. Then I took Kermit on a test ride on the weekend. I even arranged to have my mother be available to pick me up should I decide that a return trip was not possible. After a few detours and back-tracks, an hour later, I could see my work down the road. I decided that seeing it was enough, I didn't actually need to make it there and touch the end point (what I do when running). I called my mom, called off the ride, and headed back. Another hour later, where I daringly improvised parts of the route to make it less confusing, I reached my apartment, completely exhausted. My mom was there with a meat pie in hand to congratulate me on my accomplishment.

I didn't bike to work that week, my butt was a little sore. The week after though, I was ready! I packed everything in my nice pink milk crate and headed out to work with my sister (well, only the first 30 seconds with her - basically until the end of the parking garage). Made it to work in 50 mins - only getting lost once on the way! Success!

Until I made it to work, and couldn't figure out how to get hot water in the shower... fail.

Re-launching my blog

Instead of starting a new blog, I have decided to rebrand my current blog. This way, I already have fun content, but I will have new stuff to add to it.

A little about me: Although I've known how to bike since I was a kid, it had been years since I've actually ridden one. This wasn't helped by the fact that my former bike had no seat. Last year, I made the decision to begin commuting 13km to work each way (about 25km round trip). I bought a cute green hybrid for 40$ and outfitted it with an amazing neon pink milk crate. It makes me look so cute! Like, adorably cute! And everyone at work knows its mine. "Hey, I saw your bright pink milk crate this morning!" One time, I was meeting a friend at Starbucks and my sister walks in to saying, "I knew you were here, I saw your milk crate outside."

Last year, I only biked when it was sunny, and stopped once the snow hit. But, before you go thinking I'm only a fair-weather biker, note that even when it was frosty outside, I still biked to work, all bundled up. But the snow? That was a little too much for me. My people come from the tropics. When they first came to Canada, they described snow like falling garlic skins... I'm allowed to drive in the winter!

This year I'm thinking I will bike even in the rain, but I have back-up bus tickets just in case I change my mind... But, as I recently took the bus for the first time last week, I found out it takes justs as long to bus to work as it does to bike. In that case, might as well bike and spend my 3.50$ on food and electricity to heat my water tank after taking a long shower!

So, now that the switch over to the bike-friendly interface has taken over, prepare yourself (and by yourself, I am talking to my 1 dedicated reader) for all my biking-related posts that I have planned for you!

Digital Archives

My work has recently acquired two new photographic printers. As the printer heads need to be used every week to keep them from getting jammed, we were all told that we could get some prints from our collection printed for our office if we knew which ones we wanted. With this incentive, I took myself to the LAC homepage to find some interesting photographs. While there, I reflected upon a theme that we had discussed during the photography class - Archival Encounters. In particular, I reflected upon how the LAC's digital archive of photographs, and the colonial legacy, shaped the way that I encountered that archive.

On the LAC website, there is an option to search through the photographs where you need to select one or several key words. As I was doing this, I really came to understand that I would have to conform to the keywords pre-selected by an archivist who would have assigned keywords to photographs. I was unsure of what these keywords were, and initial attempts to find images of war posters did not yield the expected results. I initially tried searching for what I considered the images to be, "war posters" which only came back with 1 result.

A second attempt, "war poster" without an 's' took me to a photograph with the caption "MIKAN 3396789: Two Canadian soldiers reading a War Bond poster in a ruined village in their lines. December, 1917." Upon seeing this, I realized that I might have been using the wrong term in my search, so I switched the term to "war bonds" which brought up a larger amount of relevant results. In the end, I decided on the following image to be printed: MIKAN 3668563: Our Daddy is Fighting, Buy War Loan Bonds and Help Him Win the War.

Although I selected a few other images that I wanted printed: MIKAN3387419: Tobogganing at the Chateau Laurier,MIKAN 3386153: Girls' Hockey Team, and MIKAN 3192911:

Byward Market in my searching I found myself getting constantly frustrated while searching for keyword terms that I felt were appropriate only to be faced with finding limited results, even when I knew a picture existed. As well, I realized that I had to frame my search terms in particular ways to be able to find images the way that the archivist had categorized them. Often, I would turn to very basic and fundamental key words when I wanted to find a large amount of relevant results, for example, the blanket term hockey which came back with 276 images. Even then, I was unsure if there remained images that I was missing due to my keywords.

This experience is very relevant to the James Opp piece, the Colonial Legacies of the Digital Archive because it brought to the surface how important the archivist's role is in future searches of the digital archive. In the process of digitization, the archivist assigns keywords that must be replicated exactly by the researcher if they want to locate that image. The experience also highlighted to me the fact that the archive is not the 'neutral, impartial observer' it is often made out to be. In order to 'unlock' the digital archive, one must work within the framework that has been created by the institution, something that may require the researcher to put their own ways of thinking aside or else be faced with the dreaded red sentence: No documents containing your search terms were found.

Family photo albums - context is everything

I found the readings this week particularly compelling, since they are asking us to re-evaluate the way that we think about the seemingly private domain of the family photograph album. I decided to use this blog post to further reflect upon some of the readings in particular that touch upon the same theme, one of the context of experiencing an album. Deborah Chambers and Kirsten Emiko McAllister discuss how the album has a particular function within the context of the familial and private sphere, that colours the way in which the album is analyzed. By altering that context of the private when an image is seen from an archive or museum, these family albums are torn from the social context that made them meaningful. Moreover, this new context of viewing changes the types of stories that come out of the albums. This was also apparent from the workshop that we did during class. I also drew upon Martha Langford’s piece when thinking about how a researcher might experience my family album without the benefit of familiarity to the subject.

My pictures that I chose for this blog post are extracts from my own family album that I brought to class today. While going through the album with my mother and sister, I was coming at this album from a familiar context - I had seen many of this pictures before but still felt compelled to listen to my mom, telling me the same stories, reaffirming what I already knew about them. However, this time was different than in the past because I was reflecting upon this week’s readings. As Chambers writes, family albums are often devoid of any writing to provide names, dates and other contextual information (as mine is), which Chambers suggests that these albums function within an oral framework – the album serves as a jumping off point where, as Chambers argues, women take on the role of filling the story behind the photos through storytelling.

Taking this into account, I reflected upon my personal experience interacting with one of my own family albums, in my mom’s home – a private and domestic space. When I was looking at my family album, I felt that the photos in it provided a cohesive narrative, although perhaps not linear – all of the people and places depicted within the frame were of importance to me, and I understood who the people were, and what was the significance behind the changing locations of the pictures as my family moved from Uganda to Karachi, Kitchner and finally a few seemingly random recent pictures in Ottawa. When I looked at my family album, I was really able to understand the album holistically, as an entity in its own right. More importantly, I had my mother who was able to provide context, insight and extrapolations from the pictures. With my mother’s oral testimony, the photos were able to function as a whole to provide a narrative of my family’s history, that fit within a larger story about Indians living in Uganda and their expulsion in 1972.

This personal experience differs drastically from how one might experience the same family album when the context of viewing is altered, to that of an archive, or museum. The workshop that we did in class provided me with a glimpse of how a researcher might experience it, much in the way that McAllister experienced the images of Japanese families in internment camps, or the way that Langford tries to piece together an unfamiliar album. When the class looked at my family album from a pseudo-research perspective, they were unable to locate the pictures or situate them in time beyond a fairly large window. Furthermore, in this context, I found that the pictures became more individual stories, grouped together in clusters, rather than as part of a cohesive whole. This experience was similar to that of McAllister and Langford, who attempted to do close readings of the albums. With McAllister in particular, due to the images being stored without a physical album, it was difficult to analyze the images within the family context. Instead, as her article demonstrates, they were used to understand larger trends taking place within the Japanese community during this time period. As for Langford, although the pictures are stored in an album, without much contextual information, it is difficult to piece together the narrative of the whole album. However, in her case the physical album is able to provide some boundaries for thinking about the pictures. In an archive, my album would likely be disassembled, resulting in making the pictures even more individual pictures as opposed to pictures to be understood within their larger framework within the album. Instead of reflecting the personal story of my family as they made their way from Uganda to Canada, researchers would likely only look at the pictures as they fit into their particular topic of study, if they could even locate them in time and place.I felt that this week allowed me to gain a better appreciation for the context under which images are viewed deeply affect the way those albums can be understood.