racecar spelled backwards

So i race cars, not in a car, but on my bike. on tank this time of year to be specific. which is a challenge seeing as tanks real name is slow-moving-heavy-and slightly dangerous to ride-rust-bucket.. so what is racing cars? and why do i find it enjoyable.? let me explain. first the rules: the first rule of racing cars when riding a rust bucket or any other two wheeled human powered machine is to accept failure. you won't beat them, ever, you'll get close though, so yep accept that, it's all very zen. rule number two, just beacause you're going fast doesn't make you invincible, be aware of what's going on around you and watch out for cars and other hard sided fast moving objects. rule three, you must obey the traffic rules, stopping at stop signs and stuff. rule four, for christ sakes wear your ficken helmut, come on hipsters all the cool kids are doing it. how to race cars 101: when at a stop light or stop sign take note of the cars around you, then when the light changes try to catch them at the next stoplight. that's it super fun super simple. i've gone from work to downtown catching the same cars at each stoplight on a good day (ie they hit all reds). it feels awesome. this game is especially fun when racing some ass who has cut you off  (likely they were also talking on thier cell at the time) or leaned on thier horn as they passed you. they think they're in a car and can get away all annonymous-like. it's super fun when you pull up beside them at the next light and wave.

on an amazing fundraising note. total so far is 373! woot. thanks so much. my little website says that's 6% or my goal. almost there! if you'd like to sponsor please visit my sponsorship page

ride safe y'all

the FUNdraising begins!

Hello Friends, Once again I’m climbing on my little two wheeled, human powered machine and making my way from Toronto to Montreal, over 600km, to raise funds for Toronto People With AIDS Foundation (PWA). This time with a bigger goal and a smaller beard. Your donation helps PWA to fund services for thousands of men, transmen, transwomen, women and children living with HIV/AIDS, and it gives me hope and inspires me to keep biking up all those hills and through all the different kinds of weather. Your spirit of giving is the wind at my back. And this year I have big dreams. Last year You helped me raise 3600 dollars. This year I’m shooting for 6000, yep that’s a big number but I know we can do it. I’m running on the premise that every little bit counts. Some ideas on how to find little bits -Get a jar (a pretty one) and at the end of each week empty your small change from your pockets and wallet into that jar. When it starts to get heavy count it and then send the heavy thing to me. Even if it’s all pennies. That’s awesome. -During lent (if you do lent) if you gave up something that costs money (buying coffee for instance), take the money you would have spent and send donate it to me. Easy! -Raid your couch cushions, you never know what you might find! -You know that giant stack of beer bottles sitting in your (or your neighbours!) garage. Gold mine! See there are all kinds of ways to find little bits of cash that can make a huge difference for a person living with HIV/AIDS. Let’s make all those little bits add up to something amazing. And once again, for every 100 dollars over the $2200 minimum raised I’ll be donating 20 dollars of my own to The Guelph and Wellington AIDS Committee. Last year you helped me donate 280 dollars to this amazing local organisation. If I reach my goal of $6000 in donations, that's 760 buckeroos to a wonderful local organization Thank you so much for your continued support Sincerely jaye Quick Reminder! All donations over $20 will receive a charitable tax receipt.

Please click the link on the side of the page that says "click here to donate" to be taken to my online sponsorship page. or next time you see me give me your pocket change. whatever works best for you.

Also i am looking for locations to set up my bike on my trainer and ride for a few hours to collect donations if you have ideas or a spot i can use please let me know. look for me outside the farmers market in the next coming weeks!

day 4 and 5 blur, and day 6

So  i don't remember alot about day 4 and 5. they were mostly a blur of biking eating biking and eating.it was really pretty. i remember that and at the end of day 5 there was a candlelit ceremony that was quite moving.

day 6 we crossed the border to quebec.

My and some of my team doing the celebratory photo at the border

then we started on our way towards montreal. it was a nice ride. in kingston they said "it's all downhill from here" they lied. but the last day was super nice and flat. then getting into montreal was a trip! we all met at a certain spot so we could bike into montreal en masse. we totally took over the waterfront bike lanes. and for some reason the police escort didn't happen like it did in toronto and we got stuck at stopsign and stoplight after stoplight. we basicly walked into downtown montreal. kinda anticlimactic. but we kept our spirits up by doing the wave and singing. then we arrive at our final destination. and lucky for me my love is just stepping out of the bus terminal as i pull up. i start to cry the moment i see her. ah love. so we get some free beer compliments of montreal pride and do lots of hugging and congratulating. then christine and i treck off to find our hotel. you see i won a free stay at the W hotel. which is a way swankier hotel than i would ever be able to afford. you walk into the place and you think you're in a fancy dance club. dimmed lights dance music the whole bit. our room is awesome. king sized bed and a shower that you can see into from the bed! woo! we go out for dinner and drinks with my teammates then head back for the night. we were heading to biodome the next day and i was exausted. and my parents were going to arrive the next day to start our vacation out east. 

Over all it was an amazing and inspring ride. I was able to push myself physically harder than i have in a long time, was able to expand my comfort zone immesely, i got a really awesome bike short tan, i met amazing people, and to top it all off you helped my raise 3600 for an amazing cause, and 280 for a local amazing cause.

Me, My love, and my giant beard at the finish line

So that's it for last year. i'll try to get those videos up. but getting pictures on here is a huge accomplishment for me, so it might take a bit.

Now onto this year. Big Dreams, Big Goals, Smaller Beard! click the sponsor me link on the side bar to go to my sponsorship page.

and this year i'll try to be more on top of this blogging thing

Day 3 red dress day!

SOOO sexy!

so this is short day. we ride into kingston where there is a read bed awaiting us. and becasue it's a "short day" we do it in dresses! My dress was a hit. And not so bad to bike in afterall. you see i didn't really get a chance to try it out before the ride. i thought biking through guelph in this outfit might not be the best idea. So off we go. Today i rode with my team, in a group. it was alot alot of fun. we got going really fast. it was kinda scarey. only a few close misses (one my fault ops). and then as we were pulling into kingston an idiot in an suv decided i wasn't going that fast and that making a right turn just after they had passed me was an awesome idea. lukily i'm good on my bike and have come to expect drivers of large vehicles to not know how to be nice to bikes and was able to avoid being run over. i yelled and swore at the driver. i bet they've never been swore at by a bearded man in a dress before. it was a great day. and then in kingston we went out for dinner and to a drag show. not jsut any drag show, the most amazing drag show i have ever been to. miss conception and heroine marks. amazing. blew my mind. totally redefined what drag queens can do. it was awesome. and miss conception was a rider in the rally so did a show then had to get up and ride over 100k the next day. amazing.

The ride day 2

so day 2!

Not a good sky colour for biking

we awoke in the middle of the night to a thunderstorm. Thankfully i have a good tent (unlike some of my more unfortunate fellow riders) and getting wet was not an issue, but the lovely tree i had parked my tent under (so i wouldn't get cooked out of my tent by the morning sun) was the one and only topic of my thoughts as the storm raged on. We had to delay our start be a few hours because there was so much lightning. Bikes and lightning are not a good combo. So they have a look at weather maps, the weather has passed we're good to go. We take off and after rideing for a while, me and one other rider are riding along some sort of escarpment, you can see a long way and all you can see is big dark clouds. i mention casually that i think it might be coming our way. so silly us we try to out bike it. that never really works i figure. we got drentched. but it was awesome. tear jerker number 1 came in the middle of the downpour (no lightning) we;re biking out in the middle of no where and parked on the side of the road is a van, outside the van under umbrellas and in raincoats are the members of a local PFLAG rining bells and cheering for every rider. needless to say i started to cry. it was awesome. by lunch the rain had stopped but we were all soaking. i had mostly dried off by the time we pulled into camp but my shoes, oh they were wet. it wasn't so bad, the old newspapers in the shoe trick worked wonders. again the campsite was awesome and the food amazing. i swear that food crew deserves a medal. one thing i do need to remember for this year is earplugs. i have no idea how people have the energy to party after cycling for 110 km.

The Ride! (flashback to end of july 2011) day 1

Oh my how to sum this up and make it short enough that you all will still want to read it.

OK day 1:

Ready to go! Nervous as hell!

I had slept over at a freinds house and then biked from there to our meeting point at queen's park. Yep i biked in toronto. you people who live and bike there i salute you. that is some crazy traffic. please wear a helmet. please! So queens park. 350 riders plus crew gather, listen to speaches, get a large group photo taken, then all at once take off down the streets of toronto, with police escort thankfully. what an awesome sight. i didn't really know anyone at this point, and my legs were shaking from nerves but all i had to do was keep my legs moving. that's simple enough. and before i know it it's time for snacks! let me tell you, you will never go hungry on this ride. the snacks and food is awesome, and on top of that you don't have to make any of it. i ate like a king. and realisd how many calories my body should be getting on a daily basis. wow. our first campsite was on lake ontario, in a farmers feild. when i arrived my team leaders had grabbed my bins and the bins of my teammates so we could set up our tents together. this made my little nervous heart celebrate. no awkward walking around "can i set up my tent here?" it was awesome. then we got to eat more! then go to bed. i made a video that night be for some reason it didn't work. it's alright. i got all mushy anyway. but i did make other videos i will publish once i figure out how to make them smaller. A few things that did become apparent at the end of the day, 1- I'm good at hills, i spent my day passing people going up hill, who knew! 2- i didn't put on enough sunscreen.  

That is a crispy looking face.

Final Results (back in time #2)

So last years fundraising results! You amazing people helped me raise 3601 dollars. yep that's a chunk of change! And true to my word. I've donated $280 (20 bucks for every 100 over the 2200 minimum) to the local AIDS comittee of guelph and wellington. Amazing you are all amazing thank you so much.

To Barrie and beyond!

So I left you all the night before i was to embark on my bike journey from guelph to my parents place (north of barrie). To prep for this i had google mapped a route, written it all out, brought a map that i thought was suffiicient (note that i thought it was sufficient...), i ordered a large cheeze pizza to take with me for snacks. packed some extra drink crystals, filled my h20 bottle, filled my paniers with cliff bars, and went to bed.

woke up the next morning early. i wanted to be on my bike around 7 (i think). christine took some photos for me:



Handlebar set up, with ever important left and right on hands.



all ready to go





And then i was off. Things started out smashingly. the weather was lovely, light wind. i felt great. the cold pizza was awesome. Then i hit an odd turn just around rockwood area. thinking i knew what i was doing i biked merrily on. and on and on. then i hit hwy 124. i wasn't supposed to be anywhere near hwy 124. this was a problem. thankfully i hit it right where a gas station was, i went in and got myself a better map (with backroads!) found where i was, where i was suppposed to be, took in the realisation that i had biked about 20 km off track, sighed, and got back on my bike. On the right track again i hot some pretty awesome hills. if you have never been to chetlanham badlands by bike i recommend it. it's quite the trip.



The roads are as hilly as the badlands.

the next stretch was quite nice along the trans canada trail from Inglewood to Tottenham. Nice packed stone. flat flat flat! i had a lovely lunch with christine's mom in the tdot. (tottenham that is), then carried on. where i met with the worst road to bike on i could have coem across. it was so nice and flat, but so gravely and rocky it made it feel like my nice padded bike shorts weren't even there.  



Doesn't look that bad from here.

      
But persist i did over 10km of the stuff. Aweful. But at the end of the road, i stopped to take a bike and had a lovely converstation with a fellow biker that had jsut came up the same aweful road. He was very excited about his new spedometer thing on his bike and was going down hills as fast he could trying to beat his speeds. i'm glad he was wearing a helmet.



End point for the day



Wind catcher in barrie



I pulled into barrie late in the afternoon and called my sister to come get me. i told her i'd bike towards her and whereever we meet we meet. I made it to shanty bay. biking a total of 150ish km (including the unintentional detour) in one day. and i didn't feel that bad at all.

Then i stayed two nights at my parents place (one to see my sisters dance recital andone for birthday cake!) then i packed my stuff up again, ready to make the return trip. my dad drove me to the south end of barrie to start my trip off. I took a slightly differnt route going home that would avoid the above road from hell. this  new road, although paved had its nice share of hills. i credit this ride as to why the hills on the bike rally didn't really seem all that bad. The closer i got to home, the harder it became to peddal. i took more and longer breaks. i was ready to get off my bike, then i arrived in rockwood. i wasn't supposed to be in rockwood...that same turn that messed me up on my way to barrie messed me up on my way home. but rockwood was a nice detour. I'll end this now as it is getting long but lo and behold, i made it to guelph over 250km return trip. A great way to see if my body could take the pounding of the 600 km i was about to do.  

Home sweet home (and a giant beard!)

After a long silence the blog awakes!

So remember way back when, i said i was really bad at blogging. yep. i'm really bad at blogging. fell right off the blogging wagon and didn't post a darn thing. Left all you wondering if i ever made it back from the round trip bike to barrie. (i did by the way, hence being able to type this). So here's the deal. I'm gunna doa few posts of recaps of what i should have posted last year. And most importantly get y'all excited about the ride for this year (more details to come!). So without further a-doo, let's go back in time *wooo dooo wooo dooo* <- that's the time machine cound by the way.