Summer Update

I know, I know I’ve been terrible at keeping on top of this with new and interesting stories ( Well I guess if they are interesting is up to you guys, but at least new stuff) Luckily I have a lot on my mind to write about so I should keep regular updates coming for a while. But first I’ll try and give a quick rundown on some of the exciting things that happened through the next couple short post.

So what’s happened? We’ll lets give you a little re-cap from where I left of to bring you to speed. First, Canada Day saw a quick little tour of BC with my parents, from Calgary across to Revelstoke and then down to Kelowna and back along the southern route. I must say I’ve fallen in love with the Nelson/Rossland area and could easily call that area home someday. The trip also allowed for some mountain biking at Kicking Horse and my first big mountain riding experience has me stoked to move closer to the area in the New Year. The trip was a little fast as there was business on the agenda but it definitely further opened my eyes to the fact that I’ll never call Southern Ontario Home

This brought me to ask myself even more about why I’m living in the GTA. The traffic, the commute, the stress and pace of live, and the distance from outdoors and I question why a lot of people choose to call this area home. To add to the negatives mentioned above that surround a lot of large cities, you can add to fact the cost of living keeps climbing and in among canada’s highest, however the median/avg. income continues to drop. Toronto’s average household income has now dropped below the national average which says something about where the economy is going. The staple of Toronto’s employment Bay street is even moving a significant number jobs to Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. Leading towards a larger division and increase in Toronto’s wealthy and poor, as the middle class slowly disappears in this city. Toronto seems to be going the way of many US cities such as Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia in this respect.

Thankfully our social system and lower tolerance for Racism will ensure we never hit the extremes some of these cities see. However, I definitely do not see Toronto as one of the prosperous city and Canadian economic hub it once was. The city of Toronto is going to have to make some quick changes to keep it’s international reputation of a clean, green, with strong values, and being a melting pot of people, cultures and social status that all work together.

I returned to a weekend of leisurely racing with a fun team at Chico’s 24hrs of Summer Solstice (yes you can read fun as drinking team). This event should be added to as a must do for any mountain biker in Ontario. It’s a great event that really encompasses the mountain bike scene or vibe, with a mix of Pros and weekend warriors competing in categories from Solo (i.e. ride your bike in a 15 – 20KM loop for 24 hrs straight and see how many times you can get around, yes these guys are crazy), and then a variety of competitive and non-competitive teams in the 2, 4, 5, and 10 man team taking turns doing laps. There really is no reason to be intimidated by these events as 99.9% of the riders are courteous and just there for a good time. After racing multiple 24hr events on Competitive team aiming for the podium, this year we entered a 5 man team with no expectations other then to have fun. We did well considering we where a couple DH Riders, and guys who had not put in many KM’s this summer, with the exception Josh who ripped it up all weekend, we finished 15th out of 45ish team in our category and where short of a top ten by 2 mechanicals that weren’t fixed trailside. So not to shabby and ultimately we had a lot laughs, beers and fun.

Check back soon for a mountain bike season re-cap and a the results of my Nfld. adventure.