Archive for May 25th, 2008

Bike to Work Week starts tomorrow.

Ah, who are we kidding, the way gas prices are going, if you can bike to work the thought has already raced through your brain and you’re doing it. But if you need a little push to get up the hill, here it is.

The City of Vancouver has bike lanes in and around the downtown core, so you’ll have your own dedicated space along Beatty, Homer, Hornby and others. The entire city has a comprehensive web of North-South and East-West corridors to get you across town with a minimal amount of congestion and traffic trouble.

Here are some links to bike maps for Vancouver, Burnaby and Surrey. Don’t forget your helmet, it’s the law in the city to have one on when you ride.

If biking to work is a little crazy, you’ve got no excuse not take your wheels in for a tune up, because June is Bike Month!

Bike Month events include the Stanley Park Bike Festival, BEST Pancake Breakfast, the Sapperton Street Festival, the Bike Fest in Surrey, Island City by Bike in Richmond, the Car-free Commercial Drive Festival, Bike Movie Night, the Giant Critical Mass and much, much more. Come join the hundreds of thousands of people in the Lower Mainland who experience the pleasure of cycling, in the month of June and every day of the year. [source]

Metro Vancouver has some hidden gems to take your knobby tires off rocks and over logs. You know, a little mud on your face instead of sweat on your suit.

The South Surrey Athletic Park has over 3km of rolling terrain with trails, jumps and obstacles for all skill levels. The site is maintained by the Surrey Off-Road Cycling Enthusiasts Society.

But the true place for those who like to put the pedals through the paces is the North Shore Mountains, home to World and Olympic Champion Alyson Sydor. The local hills are to mountain biking what Whistler is to skiing – simply one of the best on the planet.

Vancouver, British Columbia’s North Shore freeride scene is the cycling media and bike industry darling at the moment. With its demanding trails and “X”treme stunts, and the new breed of rider that the area has brought to prominence, it has grasped the bike world’s attention span by the jugular — and has plenty of bike companies latching onto the bandwagon. - BikeMag.com

If you’re up to the challenge, check out the rides on the top of the mountains, whether you packed your bike on the Grouse Mountain Super SkyRide, or hit the trails and ride up on your own.

If I still haven’t hit on anything close to where you live, check out this ultimate list of trails and paths in BC at TrailPeak.com.

I live in North Vancouver, and work in Richmond. It’s about 30km and up and over 3 pretty hefty ridges and 2 nasty bridges. So riding to work won’t happen, but I am the cyclist for our 95Crave team at the Vancouver Triathlon World Championships, so a few laps to Deep Cove and back is not out of the question.

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?

It was another sunny, gorgeous weekend on the Wet Coast.

So I know you had a few minutes on a patio to sip on something. This is what I had in my hand most of the past 48hrs.

Photo: Buzz Bishop

Ahhh.. Pastis. I first discovered it in Provence in May, 1996. I was visiting family friends who were living in Aix-En-Provence I had my first sip of sweet summer drink on a steaming plaza in the town square.

Pastis is a distilled spirit made from a blend of herbs. The flavor is predominantly that of anise, thus putting it in the same general class as sambuca and ouzo. It is commonly consumed as an aperitif—sort of a liquid, alcoholic appetizer—and in France, where it’s most popular, the custom is to dilute it at the table with about five parts of cold water. The ritual of adding the water, which causes the translucent yellowish liquid to turn cloudy, is part of the fun of drinking pastis. [source]

Pastis is a way of life in Provence. When you have a handyman over to do some work, he won’t start until he sees a milky yellow glass sitting on the kitchen table.

I feel the same way about my backyard.

The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?