Real Riders!

Yes, I ride, as do many of my friends, and coworkers (and their spouses) at BlueCircle. With work, I also have the privilege of spending a fair bit of time with people in the riding community, be it all those great people in the sales, finance and service departments at motorcycle dealerships or the fantastic volunteers of many of the motorcycle clubs and riding organizations or charity groups that a lot of riders are involved with in their spare time.

Of course, I get quite humbled by many of those good folks who put in so much of their personal time in creating a fun motorcycle event that also raises much needed funds for a good cause. It seems the motorcycling community is unparallelled by any other group , and I've been involved in many, including schools, community associations, hockey and baseball teams and leagues, music groups, and Guides and Scouts, to name a few.

One other thing that humbles me is when you meet the 'real riders', the ones that go off on week or month or year long rides, to other provinces and states, countries, and continents, and roll across hundreds, thousands, millions of kilometres of terrain, be it paved, gravel or otherwise.

I have the pleasure of working with a gal who's one of those riders and has who knows how many hundreds of thousands of km under her belt. Angela's side business is Ride Stop n Go, with partner Troy, and they've explored the highways and bi-ways from Alaska all the way to The Baja, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back again. Not only are they great people, but they love to share, so give their website a visit and chat them up next time you see them at one of the many (if not every) event going on in the motorcycle community in Alberta and beyond.

Jeremy Kroeker

Another hard riding person I had the pleasure of meeting lately is Jeremy Kroeker, a Canmore Alberta native but also a motorcyclist who's been far and wide on his adventure bike, including Turkey, Syria, and Iran. Jeremy has also shared his vast riding experiences in several books, such as "Through Dust And Darkness" and "Wind Therapy", but also his latest written work called "Motorcycle Messages". Of course, doing the riding is one big adventure, and writing a book is another, but getting it published, printed and distributed is a whole new ride! We heard about Jeremy from some mutual friends and clients of BlueCircle, above average riders in their own rights. Jordan and Sandra knew that Jeremy needed some help, and that we loved to be involved in the motorcycle community and would do our best to lend a hand. And so, Jeremy's book dreams became a community affair and we were very pleased to be a part of the 'crowd funding' effort to get his stories out there to be shared with the public.

A great read, just like Jeremy's other tales of motorcycling adventures!!

The Fire Hydrant

I did a post on March 11th about that devastating house fire that destroyed 4 homes in Calgary the day before. No-one was injured or killed thankfully, but apparently the homes were all total losses and it led to a discussion on a couple of key points. One is that you need to ensure that you consistently review your insurance policy limits with your broker and update regularly, as the accumulation of assets is a constant process and the value of your home's contents changes over time. Secondly, you need to keep proper records of what you own, with lists and photos or video, so that if you ever need to make a claim under these circumstances you will be able to easily remember and substantiate what was lost in the fire. We've made that easy for you, download our Insurance Items Checklist, to be aware of what you own.

It's amazing what you can learn when researching a topic and subsequent to that post, there were a few more articles about fires and interesting fire facts, including a mention of the first fire hydrant. The inventor of that first fire hydrant was questionable due to the fact that the patent was lost, ironically, in a fire. Again, while looking into this fact there were several interesting things discovered about the fire hydrant, also known as a fire plug, and the history behind the device that we urban dwellers take for granted nowadays.

The first fire protection device may well have been from ancient China, where iron cisterns were placed in strategic locations and filled with water to assist fire fighting efforts.

A water cistern in China which was used when fighting fires

Different types of cisterns have been used throughout the world for the same purpose and even today there are several cities, such as Tokyo and San Francisco, which still use this method due to the fact that, unlike the standard water main and hydrant, a cistern can be built to withstand the effects of an earthquake.

A San Francisco cistern is demarcated with this brick pattern

The inside of a San Francisco cistern , built after a devastating earthquake in 1906 disabled the water mains.

Side note: Only one water main and fire hydrant withstood the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and was subsequently used to help save the Mission District, now commemorated as 'The Golden Fire Hydrant'.

The Golden Fire Hydrant is repainted yearly in a special ceremony

The first water mains built in urban areas were constructed of wood, first with hollowed out logs and eventually staved, like a barrel. When there was a blaze, the fire crew would show up, dig down to the water main, drill a hole in the pipe and use the water to douse the flames. After ward, the hole would be sealed with a plug, hence the term 'fire plug'. There were recorded use of water mains with permanent holes pre-drilled, and with plug extensions bringing water above ground level, in London from as early as 1666. Eventually the plugs were replaced by valves and wooden boxes which were placed at ground level to protect the standpipes. Soon after, water mains were being made of cast iron and by 1802, the first cast iron hydrants were being made by, of all people, a cannon manufacturer. I suppose a cannon barrel isn't that much different than a hydrant 'barrel'.

This is a British hydrant manufactured in 1869

Today, many urban areas in North America have fire protection with hydrants. In fact, the insurance industry has a basic directory to access information about the proximity of fire hydrants to homes, which aids in risk assessment. There are 3 types of hydrants used today, a Dry Barrel, Wet Barrel and Flush Mount. A Dry Barrel has the main valve situated below ground, at a depth which is relative to climate. The colder the climate, the deeper the valve is buried. In Alberta, the frost depth would dictate most water mains and hydrant valves be 7' of deeper. Wet barrel types have valves at the top of the hydrant and are pressurized at that point. That's why you see that old standard movie scent with the car hitting the hydrant and causing it to spray water. of course, this is a warm climate type of hydrant, as there would be freezing issues in places like Alberta. Flush Mount hydrants are somewhat similar in that they are warmer weather type units, set flush with the surface and covered with an access lid. Mostly uncommon in North America but in use world wide.

This is what we're all used to seeing in Canada! Fido likes this type too!! haha!

Safer Roads Or A Cash Cow?

Just reading multiple newspaper and online articles about photo radar, in both Calgary and Edmonton. A few things of note regarding this topic and both city's use of this technology. It makes a ton of money, it's use is dramatically increasing, and it's irritating a lot of people who think that it has nothing to do with being a deterrent to speeding. 

10: the number of photo radar vehicles in Calgary

1,000,000: approximate number of vehicles registered in Calgary

273,082: the number of photo radar tickets handed out in Calgary in 2015

49.5%: increase in tickets handed out last year compared to 2014

$388.oo: red light violation fine

$78.oo to $480.oo: speeding violation fine, if under 50km over the posted speed

$21,100,000.oo: revenue collected from photo radar enforcement in Calgary

$38,600,000.oo: additional revenue collected from other 'radar sources' such as red light cameras, speed on green cameras and manned radar traps.

500%:  last year's increase from 2014 for the number of photo radar tickets handed out in Edmonton for the range of 5 - 11 kmph over the speed limit 

$451,000,000.oo: annual budget for Calgary Police Service

$297,000,000.oo: annual budget for Edmonton Police Service

$41,000,000.oo: revenue from photo radar enforcement in Edmonton

1 in 4: number of fatalities in Alberta attributed to driving at unsafe speed

1 in 10: number of injury accidents in Alberta attributed to driving at unsafe speeds

1 per day: the number of pedestrians struck by vehicles daily in Calgary

90%: pedestrian odds of surviving impact by a motor vehicle travelling under 30 kmph

50%: pedestrian odds of surviving impact by a motor vehicle travelling between 40 and 50 kmph

I often wonder if photo radar is actually a deterrent to speeding or just a convenient way to collect a lot of money, like a speeding tax, so to speak. While there may be good cause to use this type of technology to deter speeders, the statistics mentioned above, and the noted increase in the use of photo radar to bolster those high revenue stats, might suggest that both Edmonton and Calgary City Council are seeing photo radar as a cash cow. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm no saint when it comes to speeding, though I never go over the limit in residential areas, school zones or playground zones, and not when there's construction crews or emergency responders working on or near the road. There are certainly plenty of times when I witnessed some idiotic driving and wished there was some sort of photo radar or a radar trap around to catch those morons, but I can't even remember the last time I got a speeding ticket, be it manually issued or through photo radar. The point is that all this cash collection doesn't affect me directly and it's not my beef, but it sure is irksome to think that the money collected has nothing to do with getting people to slow down and more to do with lining the City's pockets with money they can spend on whatever they want, with no real accountability on either end of the process

I saw photo radar on the highway the other night, on my way to the airport. They were set up a few hundred metres before the speed went from 100 to 110 kmph, which i though was pretty pathetic. Like....who cares? Maybe the focus should be on cracking down on speeding in excess, like the people on Hwy 2 who are going 30 or 40 kmph over, or the ones who tear around in residential neighbourhoods and don't slow down for school or playground zones. 

You be the judge.. 

Riverwalk

Such a beautiful weekend, with sunshine and warm weather. Since we live close to the Bow and Elbow rivers, it was a perfect day to go explore the Riverwalk. There were tons of people out, families, couples, individuals, walking, running, cycling, rollerblading, playing by the river's edge and at the newly developed St. Patrick's Island park.

The new George C.King bridge that links the north and south sides of the Bow to St.Patrick's Island

I remember as a kid running down a hill so fast my feet couldn't keep up

Some of the best fly fishing in the world, right here in Calgary

I love the Peace Bridge, designed by Santiago Calatrava

All the construction on St.Patrick's Island didn't keep the family of owls from returning this Spring

Papa Owl was keeping a close eye on the nest while Mama watched from another tree nearby 

The Creepster Bunny

Hey, it's Easter and why should Santa Claus be the only mythical creature get to scare the crap out of little kids?

Must just be the age.

Actually, this Easter Bunny looks pretty friendly but....

Not tears of joy

Yikes!

That's good...distract the child so she doesn't notice the bunny.

The child is fine but I am creeped out!

Run for your life

Groucho Bunny

Not a chance!

Who thought this was a good idea?

Definitely not having fun here

The Easter Bunny

I always thought that the Easter Bunny was a marketing scheme made up by some chocolate manufacturer to turn a Christian celebration into a profit making occasion. Maybe it's been exploited to be such in modern times but I found out that the original tradition dates back as early as the 1600's and was founded in German folklore. There were stories of The Easter Hare, who acted as a sort of judge, deciding which children had been bad or good and giving gifts of coloured eggs to those who had behaved well. Sounds a bit like Christmas and St. Nick, doesn't it, and I suppose parents were always looking for a way to get their kids to behave or to have a little 'magic' in their lives.
Hares may have been celebrated as part of Spring, with large litters of kits born in the early months of the year, typically around Easter time.

The Window Of Three Hares at a 13th Century cathedral in Germany

Weird Fire Facts

Hopefully you had a chance to read the recent blog post about house fires and being prepared for making an insurance claim, with emphasis on creating a catalogue of your home's contents. The other post was about some of the historic devastating fires that have occurred, including out of control forest fires, with the thought on that being that sometimes no matter how careful you are, events do happen that are out of your control. Of course, that's why you have insurance, right?
While researching some of those fire facts, i came across a whole slew of weird news items and trivia about fire, so check out some of these strange items.

No-one can prove who invented the fire Hydrant because the patent was destroyed....in a fire!!

A supermarket fire in Paraguay killed 300 people because the owners shut the doors to prevent people from leaving without paying.

The Eternal Fire is a natural gas vent in Iraq that has been burning for over 4000 years, as mentioned historically by Herodotus, Plutarch, and in the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament.

Due to the abundance of low hanging overhead power lines, the San Francisco Fire Department uses only handmade wooden ladders made by on-staff master ladder builders.

The plant Dictamnus Albus is a small flowering bush which secretes an oily flammable substance that can ignite and burn without damaging the plant itself.

Salamanders are often associated with fire in mythology because they tend to find shelter in rotting logs. When these logs would be used as firewood, the escaping salamanders would “magically” appear from the flames. 

CalgaryNEXT

If you read yesterday's post about Roger's Place in downtown Edmonton, which is the new arena being built for the Oilers NHL hockey team, you can do a little 'comparison shopping' and check out the CalgaryNEXT proposal for the same idea in this city.

Reading a report in 'Business Calgary', there are multiple people pitching multiple ideas about why this project is so vital to the city, with one relevant piece being from the editor of the magazine himself, Pat Ottmann, where he suggests that everyone needs to get the facts and avoid the politics of the proposal. I couldn't agree more, hence my interest in what Edmonton is doing and what the actual project calls for in Calgary.

First and foremost, the NEXT project is a much larger and certainly more ambitious venture than Roger's Place project , and also comes with a slightly larger price tag, almost double the price at $890 million. Similarly, the facility funding would come from a private-public partnership, made up of the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC) owners, the City of Calgary (taxpayers) and a community revitalization levy. It breaks down to CSEC paying approx $200 million, the user fee paying for $250 million, City funds covering $200 million, and the Community Revitalization covering $250 million.

One of the apparent stumbling blocks revolves around the contamination of the site, caused by an old creosote plant, and the need to deal with that during the construction, something which would add considerable cost and for which there is no decided commitment for funding. The contaminated site is currently owned by the City and remediation has been approved, but not the how, what, when, and who will pay portion of the plan. With the Federal Government looking to spend some money to help kick start our economy, perhaps there's an opportunity there to channel some funds to a much needed remediation of this land.

And let's consider the aging structures, McMahon Stadium built in 1960 and The Saddledome built in 1983, which are the oldest structures in the CFL and NHL respectively. Needless to say, it's high time to update both of these structures, even if this proposal wasn't being put forward! If you ever tried to use the washroom or get a beverage at either of those facilities and you know you'd miss half the game if you tried to do both on the same foray. Uggg! I can't even imagine what would happen if there was ever an emergency and the place(s) had to be evacuated. Also, everyone questions why Edmonton gets all the good concerts and Calgary gets skipped, which is totally true due to the limited load bearing ability of The Saddledome roof. Most large acts need twice the load bearing capability which The Saddledome offers and at least 5 to 6 concerts are lost each year for this reason.

If it sounds like I am a pro Calgary NEXT, you are correct. I think a thriving, vibrant city such as Calgary needs to get with it and build something which supports that concept. 

This project would dramatically change the landscape in the area

It would be a pretty amazing field house and football stadium

NEXT is a great looking building

Edmonton's New Arena

Since being in Edmonton for business, it was interesting to stop by the new home of the Oilers, under construction in the downtown area. Rogers Place is a $480 million project, if it stays on budget, and should be completed in time for the 2016/2017 hockey season.
The financing for the project comes from a five pronged approach as such...

$130 million: Katz Group lease and cash

$125 million: ticket tax

$120 million: community revitalization levy (a city loan repaid by future property tax from new downtown development)

$80 million: parking revenue and other city sources

$25 million: Edmonton regional collaboration grant

City also pays: $79 million through levy for land, pedestrian connection, LRT link, winter garden, community rink

Concept rendering

Inside during construction

It's of particular interest to me, as a resident of Calgary, since there is a push from a group of people, including the Calgary Flames NHL hockey team and the Calgary Stampeders CFL football team to build a mega project that will incorporate both a hockey arena and a covered field house for football and soccer. After seeing the set up for the financing for Rogers Place, it made me look further into what is being proposed here in Calgary under the name CalgaryNEXT. Check out my fact finding mission in my 'next' post.

The White Room

Whenever visiting Edmonton I stay at my friend's place, in the basement suite. It's way more fun to hang out with them in their home, compared to a boring old hotel room, especially when my 'personal bathroom is affectionately known as 'The White Room'

Yes, that's 'The Colonel' himself.

This area has one of many eclectic groupings

The Ptarmigan

What is that green frog doing on the shelf?

Hog wild!

The owl snowglobe

Some Fire History!

Just did a post a few days ago about home fires and what you need to do  to prepare for such a terrible event, in regard to your insurance. It did get me thinking about other aspects of home fires and there are some interesting historical facts about man's relationship to fire and the negative aspects when carelessness enters the picture.

Charred bones and wood ash indicate that early hominids were tending the first intentional fires more than 400,000 years ago.

There's a saying that "fire makes a good servant but a bad master". Despite our many years of practice at using fire, historically there have been many devastating incidents which demonstrate the latter. Today, this has been greatly lessened due to better building codes and construction material, the advent of fire response crews and equipment, but unfortunately there are still occurrences daily across our country and the rest of the world. 

In 587 BC, fire destroyed the Temple and city of Jerusalem. In 406, fire destroyed much of Constantinople and again in the year 532 wiped out most of the city. In Hangzou China 13,000 homes were destroyed in a fire in 1132 and 5 years later another fire burned out 10,000 homes. 

In 1666, a huge fire burned 80% of London England and destroyed 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches, St Paul's Cathedral and most of the buildings of the City authorities, affecting 70,000 people in a city of 80,000.

Two deadly fires broke out in the U.S. on exactly the same day, Oct 8 1871. One in Chicago, Illinois and one in Peshtigo Wisconsin. The latter killed 1200 people.

In our own country there have been multiple cases of conflagrations that caused loss of life and severe damage to property. A fire in Montreal in 1852 leaves a 5th of the population homeless, one in St.John New Brunswick destroys 1600 homes in 1877, and the Great Vancouver fire in 1886 wipes out all but 3 buildings in the city. In 1904 a fire burned 64 downtown building in Toronto and put 5000 people out of work.

Of course, everyone can remember the horrific fire that killed 43 people in Lac Megantic, Quebec, when a train pulling oil tankers rolled into the town and crashed, exploding in a ball of flames and burning the centre of town.However, most of the deadliest fires in recent history in Canada have been related to forest fires, such as one in Salmon Arm, B.C. in 1998, or Slave Lake in 2011. Some of these were naturally occurring fires, like lightning strikes, some caused by carelessness, like campfires, and some are 'arson known'. Of course, they all cause major problems, burn thousands of hectares of land, cause smoke related  health issues, evacuations and loss of homes, and cost millions to combat. 

Sprint Triathlon

I was #95, or should I say I felt like 95!! haha!

I entered an Indoor Sprint Triathlon on the weekend, put together by the 3433 Sport Performance Centre, which is part of the Talisman Centre, a world class training venue in Calgary. The weather outside is still unpredictable and the swimming portion of a triathlon is certainly adversely affected by our climate if it were to be held outdoors! haha!
For an indoor event, competitors were put into heats based on their swim times. Each lane of the pool was shared by 3 or 4 athletes and swim times need to be fairly compatible, as there really just isn't a lot of room to pass slower swimmers. After completing 20 lengths in the pool, the athletes climb out of the pool, run along matting and head to the gym where the bikes are set up. Competitors are wearing a timing chip on their ankle, to keep track of segments and over all time.
Based on the aforementioned heats, the gym is divided into two segments of TACX training rollers, with your personal bicycle set up and calibrated to the same tolerances for everyone, as per your body weight. An electronic monitor is attached the handlebars so the rider can check his speed and distance and, just like in a regular triathlon, swimmers must get into their shoes and cycle a specific distance, in this case 12.5 km..
Once the rider hits the distance, they transition to the next stage, jumping off the bike and changing shoes, then heading up to the elevated, oval running track which circumnavigates the 3 gyms at the Talisman.The inside track is 200 metres so runners must complete 15 laps (3 km.) before crossing the timer mat at the turnout on the corner.
Despite the fact that this is a 'competition', there's a lot of camaraderie at an event like this and it was a lot of fun, as well as a personal challenge. Sometimes the act of signing up for something like this is a good motivation to get fitter and train more, plus work on one's weaker disciplines. For me, that would be swimming, and the need to make improvements in the water was paramount. I mean, it's not an issue to swim 500 metres but to do it quickly and effortlessly (relatively speaking) is a challenge. You still have a bike ride and run to contend with after the water portion, so keeping some energy for those is a must.
Of course, the beauty of a triathlon is that you need to be good in all 3 disciplines, or at least well rounded. Some athletes certainly are, but no matter what, everyone does have a stronger segment and time lost in one area can be made up in another. For me, starting in Wave 2 of my heat, meant I should at least be finishing in the middle of the pack,but it was a little closer to the end than was desirable. However, I was able to maintain a 30- 32 km/hr pace on the bike and made up some decent time, being second on to the track.
There's something else I need to work on...transitioning. The old legs felt like stumps and it took me 2 km just to get going, which leaves plenty of room for improvement. I had a strong finish but hink my ranking ould have been quite a few places higher had i managed to get the legs moving a little quicker (and pared down my swim time too, of course)
None the less, it was challenging and fun and I was pleased with the results. Certainly it is a benchmark as well and motivation to keep working hard and improve the overall fitness level. I might even get some 'professional help' and see if some expertise from the good people at the 3433 can help make a difference.

The first heat of swimmers gets briefed

Wave 1 of heat 1 gets started

Rea

This group were swimming like dolphins in the water

Out of the pool, run along the mats and head to the gym

Each heat was divided into two and cyclists faced each other

Lots of young (and fast) athletes in this group

Up to the track for the run