I am currently working at Earl Grey Golf Course and will be there until the season ends or I manged to find another job downtown.  I haven’t been very motivated about getting a desk job downtown, the nice summer weather and the great hours (6am – 2pm) allowed me to bike up a storm and get a nice farmers tan.  Now that those ‘nice days’ are gone (for those of you who didn’t know it freaking snowed in twice this week), and my tan is fading I am starting to get my resume out on the streets.  I have had a couple of interviews but nothing has developed into a full time position yet.  The architecture industry is still in the slump of the recession but i think things are starting to pick up… Fingers crossed

My evenings are spend up at school.  I am at MRU (formerly known as MRC) three nights a week for the next few months. I manged to snag a bike locker at the school so I am able to get a few more km’s in the saddle commuting to and from class.  Today was a bit sketchy because of the snow and ice but i am enjoying ripping around at night on my Mountain bike.  However I do need to get a some stronger lights on my bike as I have almost been hit, and in turn, flipped a few birds at drivers for cutting me off.  I don’t think people expect a cyclist to be riding on the roads in -10 at 6am or 9pm.

I have been spending a lot of time sitting on machinery at the golf course which has allowed me to catch up with some good music.  The day seems to go by a lot faster with some good tunes pumping in my ears.  Greg has hooked me up with some sweet Essential Mixes and they just keep getting better.  If you like your House/Trance/Dance i suggest you check out some Funkagenda and some Gui Barrato.  Funkagenda did a remix of one of my all time favorite songs – Laurent Garnier – The Man With The Red Face – and i feel in love with it all over again.  It gets me jumping every time i hear it.  So check out this little didy I have cranked at least once a day.  I couldnt find the mp3 so you will have to listen to the youtube version.

If you like the Funkagenda mix you should also check out the new one from Deadmau5. Its called Faxing Berlin… it takes a while to get into the thick of things (usual for Deadmau5 I think) but its a wicked song.  check it

In other bike news, i have decided that my next big bike purchase is going to be a cross bike for sure.  I have been snooping around Dave’s Flicker page (http://www.flickr.com/photos/10861308@N05/sets/) and get excited about racing cross.  I know the season is almost over but i can always dream of next year. I would like to think that with my running background, my crit experience, and my triathlon dismout and mount experience I would be somewhat ‘good’ at the sport….. only one way to find out though.

If you did the pictures on Daves site you should check out Dalla’s video of the Dark Night Cross race here in Calgary. You can read about it on his blog http://dalrock.blogspot.com/.  Check out the vid… looks like a fun time.

how to Dark Knight from Dalrock on Vimeo.

Anyways, thats all for now.  Hope you guys enjoy the beats!  If you cant get your fill of TripleC you can always follow me on twitter. Until next time. Caio!

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This film conveys a sense of life and experience, extreme and heightened feelings as well as pensive and quiet moments. It is reminiscence, a visual diary and a document of a day. This is achieved through the journey of one man.

I know i have been lacking in the posts for a while and i apologize. This past week I think i managed to work 60+ hours and have been dead tired when i arrive home. Apart from having to work this past weekend, this week is looking a bit better. My Mom is coming out to Halifax to pay me a visit on Thursday and staying for a few days, and then on the following Thursday I am heading down to NY for the weekend. I found a cheap flight and a nice place to stay in NY. I am meeting up with Meghan on her way back from her classes three and a half week architectural tour of the southern US. should be a blast and i am looking forward to seeing her again.

Will try and post some more… laters

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 The Architecture Admissions Committee met recently and reviewed your application to the Bachelor of Environmental Design Studies program.  I regret to inform you that your application was not accepted.

This being the second unsuccessful application to this program I am left very unsure of my future in this field.  I do, for the most part, enjoy working in architecture, but the role of a technician has run its course and I was looking forward to going back to school to further my career.  Now I have to make a decisions…  to reapply again next year or to find a different path. Things to ponder…  

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University of Dalhousie

I should finally find out about school this week. For those of you who have been watching the countdown clock at the bottom of the page you might have noticed that it is a bit overdue. I guess the architectural office here at Dalhousie was moved into a new space last week and they are a bit behind on getting the letters of acceptance (or letters of denial) out to the applicants. I phoned today and was told that is should be in my mail box sometime this week. Fingers crossed.  if you want to take a look at my portfolio you can view it in the previous post here.

On the racing front I have been keeping track of some great racing back in Calgary. This past weekend was the Lethbridge race and from what I hear the SpeedTheory team is kicking ass. Trev has put a lot of hard work into creating a great team and its paying off. He mentioned to me that his goal is to “create a team that has depth and structure in almost every Cat. Then start dominating races, ….so it will force other clubs to respond and step up their levels. Overall, I want the level of racing to increase, which it seems to be working in small ways already, which is awesome”

It would be great to see the level of racing in Alberta move up to compete with B.C. From what I hear it has a long way to go but it’s a start. If your looking to join a team out in Alberta I would highly commened checking out the Speedtheory team/store for some more information. They have heaps of triathletes as well…. If your into that sort of thing.

Paul racing at the olympics

Also heard that Paul Tichelaar is back in the racing scene up in Edmonton. I don’t know how he was talked into joining the ERTC team (Now they have the Wood brothers and Paul… damn). You can read some of the post race stories and check out the results from the SpeedTheory team here.

This weekend is the Tour de Orchards here in Nova Scotia. It is the first sanctioned race in this part of the wood and I am pumped to get going. My motivation has been lacking and maybe a race or two might get things moving towards a workout every day. The bluenose run is coming up fast too so I better get things organized.

Cervelo’s news letter this week had some information on the impact that the new ICU rule changes, and how they will be impacted. This is what the blurb said

Cervélo has received some questions about the new UCI rules. We have commented before that any rule changes can have a negative and potentially devastating effect on some bike component manufacturers, especially in these tough economic times. By extension, it will have a negative effect on pro cycling, as the costs of these changes will in the end come out of sponsorship budgets. Furthermore, if rule changes such as these reduce the number of potential component sponsors, the sponsoring fees will be reduced over time – a simple matter of supply and demand.

For Cervélo, it makes little difference:

1. For all our triathlon customers and most of our other customers, the UCI rules are irrelevant.
2. The Cervélo TT frames comply with the new UCI rules.
3. Our TT seatpost may not comply with the rules that the UCI is proposing for applications in 2010. However our engineers have already designed a new seatpost that will retrofit on all our TT frames – past and present. Our customers know that whether they already own a Cervélo TT bike or are purchasing one now, they will be able to use it in 2010 and onwards without a problem.
4. Of course, 99% of our customers will prefer to continue to use the current seatpost, as it is the fastest possible seatpost and they never compete in UCI events anyway. (All triathlons and most time trials do not follow the UCI rules.)

And for those of you who happened to check out the wicked tuneage on the previous “Beats Post” (this page managed to get 60 hits that day), here is another one for you. I can’t seem to find the mp3 for this song so I have to keep hitting replay on yourtube. Enjoy.

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My Hurt Wheel (Click For Larger View). And yes i know my tire is thin... its an old one.

I have had these wheels for a long time and they have been the best set I have owned.  They are the Velomax (now Easton) Tempest II.  They are fast, light, and have been through a lot of races..  I think i have had them (as racing wheels) for at least 4 years now and have only had to tru them once or twice.

With the recent move to Halifax i was only able to bring one set of wheels (Time and $$ didn’t allow me to ship my other junk set).  So now I am left with no front wheel, or at least front wheel that wont last much longer. To make matters worse I am trying desperately to save for school this coming September and cant affort, or justify, getting another ‘nice’ wheel at this point.  I might have to head down to Cyclesmith and pull a cheapie off the shelf…. unless someone from OGC can help me out with a deal… hint hint…

I am sure i will find a wheel in time for the next race, it just might be a pain in the ass.  Hope everyone else is enjoying the nice weather in Halifax, and the snow isn’t causing to much of a mess in Calgary… har har har!

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Thursday night was Meghan’s graduation party at the North Street church here in Halifax and i had a blast.  I only know a few of her classmates but they all seem top notch people.  The evening started out with a slide show containing a lot of pictures from the past 2 years that the class has been together.  It defiantly was inspiring to see how everyone became friends with each other and all the good times they had.  Something I hope to be a part of next year…   after a good dinner the party got started and the dance floor was created.  Drinks were cheep, music was good, and everyone was there to have fun.  I ended up hitting the pillow around 1am with a but of a wobble in my step.

Dinner at the north street curch

The next morning i woke up around 8am to get my bike stuff organized.  I had a wicked headache and was temped just to skip out on the ride.  I eventually dragged my hungover, and hurting body to the Rotary to meet up with about 20 or so riders, all with of the exception of 2 I had never met before.

The ride was good for about 2km and then I got a flat.  From this point forth it was a shitty ride.  I changed my tube and tried to inflate my tire and my CO2 nozzle froze open and I lost half a cartridge, in attempt to save what was left of the cartridge i pulled it off the valve and ripped a hole in the tube.. FRACK!  I pulled out my second tube only to find out the valve stem was to short for me to get a seal.  I would have been stuck on the side of the road if it wasn’t for Eli (who i met on a previous ride).  He rode up and gave me a hand with one of his tubes and a CO2.  Without him helping me out I might still be out there… thanks again Eli i owe ya one.

Once i was back on my bike we headed out to Peggy’s Cove with hopes of meeting up with the group on there way back into town.  After about an hour and a half on our own we saw the train coming down the hill.  We both jumped on and had a good ride back into city.  It as  solid pace with a few good pick ups on the hills and my old, tired, untraind, hungover ass eventual decided to call it quits.

When i got home I logged onto the ecmtb.com form to thank Eli for helping me out.  I was surprised to find this little video of the group riding back into town, and even more surprised that people I don’t even know were making fun of me on the internet.

I have been told, on a rare occasion by a few people back in Calgary, that the road scene is hard to get into. They would say it’s full of stuck up roadies who think they are all hot shit and dont really care for newbies.  I didn’t believe it because I was friends with a lot of them we all enjoyed having newbies and regulars on rides with us.  After this weekend I can see what they were talking about…..  Lets hope this is a friendly challenge… I am all up for games. Until next time.

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University Application

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