Bringing in the New Year

Seems to be a growing tradition for New Years Eve. Again, we find ourselves at the Condo in Fernie. I love it here. The temptation to move here grows and grows with every return we make. Fernie has a really great feel to it. Lot's of young families (almost all of them being very active and into outdoor activities) the usual ski-town mix of young Aussies, Kiwis and a few Europeans, and of course Fernie has it's share of Canadians visiting from their homes a few hours away. It makes for a friendly mix of strangers who all seem to be pleased to be here, and act as though they're enjoying themselves. This type of company feels good.

Tomorrow we're renting nordic skis for the whole family (I brought my along) and we're going to check out the trails that have been groomed at the Fernie Golf Course. We drove by yesterday, and there are lot's of families out skiing. Looks like some great trails that should be easy enough for small children. I'm stoked about it.

Whenever I come to Fernie, I'm always amazed at the number and interestingness of the bicycles seen around this town. I've always thought it would be cool to start photographing all of the bikes that I see here in Fernie, and create a collection to share. Bikes of Fernie. I finally started doing that, and yesterday got a few frames of some bikes. I'll be putting a post together of all the bikes seen this trip, when we're done here.

I hope you and yours have a very wonderful New Year, and make it something better than last year. For you, and everyone you know.

Cheers,

Jeremy

Cross county skiing

My sweet wife bought me some nordic skis for Christmas. I went out tonight for the first time, and it was so fun. I'm sure I look very ungraceful, and I've got to figure out the whole waxing thing, but I am so stoked to be doing a lot more of this!

Another home video

I've got this thing lately for taking video with my DSLR. For my photography, my main camera is the Canon 5D Mk2. This a great camera for stills, but it also shoots full HD video. Pair that up with some fast lenses (large aperture - shallow depth of field) and you get a look that is quite cinematic. I shot this with a 50mm f1.2 lens. This allows shooting in low light, and also give a very shallow depth of field. It allows you to have a very tight focus range, and blur out the background and foreground. It can be a bit tricky to use, but the results are so much better than using a typical 'camcorder'.

I'm on a real kick for making these little home videos now. It's a nice way to preserve memories. Enjoy.

Dinner at Japanese Village from Jeremy Goertz on Vimeo.

The season for people

Lot's of get togethers happen at this time of year. It's awesome and I love it. Earlier this week a bunch of our friends came over to our house and brought some food and drinks. I took a few pics a shot a few clips of video. I love the way we prioritize people at this time of year more than any other. We should act like this all year long! Enjoy.

Friends over at Christmas time from Jeremy Goertz on Vimeo.

Good Decisions

We lead busy lives. Too busy I'm convinced. It seams that these days, it's so easy to get wrapped up in this, be a part of that and get involved in all manner of things. Good things, things that are on their own just fine. It's up to us, though, to keep these things in check. There are always going to be groups, organizations and people that need as much of you as you can possibly give. Sometimes you just need to say no.

Today we did that. First was hockey practice with a 7:30 am ice time. Both of my boys are on the same team, and I'm one of the coaches. We opted not to go today. Yesterday I was asked to shoot a few assignments for our local paper. I said no. I turned down photography for Friday night, Saturday and some on Sunday too. Our family needed something different than the typical business that weekends can bring.

Instead of all these things, we decided to take a family day. We all slept in, and then we snuggled in bed for a half an hour. All five of us. We slowly started to cook a big breakfast. As a family. Everything happened at a relaxed pace, nothing hurried. We laughed, we all helped out, we all ate at the same time at the same table. The only thing that was important was that we were together, eating and enjoying just being a family.



I think it's good to be involved in stuff, and I do feel that when you commit to something, it is important to show up. But every now and then, there comes a time when the best thing you can do, is step back. Even if only for a weekend.

I hope yours is great!

What a difference those studs make

For the type of snow that we usually have around here, I think the Schwalbe snow studs are an excellent tire. Their design is self cleaning, and even when riding in mud, the treads free themselves of junk by the time they're ready to bite back down into the ground.

When I drop the air pressure down to about 30 PSI, like i did yesterday, I can get really nice bite from the studs. Even in 4-6" deep ice ruts that we have at some of the intersections, the tires hold their course for the most part. Pump them up to 45 PSI, and the studs almost don't touch the surface for when the roads are clear.

Now they're aren't overly large tires, which makes deep fresh powder a challenge for them, but for commute type riding, and running errands on city streets, these are an excellent tire.

It feels good to be back riding in traffic again, and not worrying about losing traction. Lots of looks of amazement (or insanity) from the motorists.

Ride yer bike.

Studded tires

I've finally gotten around to putting the studded tires on the Xtracycle. It's taken me a while to get at it as I've been mostly riding for fun lately. Those rides only require about 1/2 block of riding on streets before I hit the canal path and then gravel. The Karate Monkey does fine on these conditions, but without studded tires, any riding on streets is pretty iffy.

This is the 4th year I've had this set of studded tires, and I'm amazed at how well they are holding up. The rubber still has that almost greasy feel of brand new tires and the studs are still in decent condition. If I were buying studded tires right now, I'd probably opt for the newer Marathon winter tire, but at the time (4 years ago), this was the easiest winter tire for me to get my hands on. They're still stocked at MEC, and compared to non-studded tires, the traction difference does justify buying a set.

I'm still considering a set of ice-spiker's for the Karate Monkey. If I did, I'd also add some fenders and end up with a great winter errand bike. But then again, I'd lose it for the service of exploring and the fun rides. The one issue I have with the Xtracycle is that with the longer tail, weight distribution is more concentrated on the front tire. I often spin out going up short steep hills and when I'm taking off. I've even rode around with dead weight in the Xtracycle, just to aid it's traction issues. I suppose for the shorter distances that I have to go in this small town, a little back wheel slipping isn't a huge issue.

I've started adding stickers to my deck

These are the Specialized Nimbus EX tires that I run on the Xtra in the summer. I can't say enough good about these tires. Fast, smooth (enough), and they have amazing traction in rain. Again, after more than 4 years of service, they're in pretty decent conditions still.

I have't even lost one stud.

Finally ready for winter

I'm trying out a new two-flasher setup on the front.

A great blog post to check out

Fellow bike blogger Derrick, wrote an excellent post on bicycles, life and marriage. This man has some great words to say. Head over to his blog and check it.

Exploring the options

I am weighing out a few different options for this blog, and my personal blogging in general. When I started this blog way back in the day (over 4 years ago), I was mostly just looking for a viral place to connect with others who were as interested in bicycling as I am. Not too many of my close friends share this passion with me, and living in a smaller town makes it hard to join or even be a part of any cycling groups or clubs. This blog has done a great job of connecting me with some great cyclists all over the world. I feel like I've made some genuine friends with people I've never met, or may never meet in real life. 'Online friends' sound so ridiculous, but in this day and age, I feel it's more legit than it's ever been. Many of the folks I follow via their blogs and so one, I probably would be hanging out with quite a bit in 'real life'. If we weren't so far away of course. I've even had the good pleasure to meet some great bloggers in real life, and I like them even more than I did when I only knew them through blog contact. (And by the way, it does seem weird typing this still. Somehow I've still got a stigma regarding the whole 'internet-social' thing) Vik, is a great guy and I've bought a bike from him, rode with him and had lunch on a few occasions. Smudgemo and I met up for beers once while I was on a quick business trip to Oakland. The fact of the matter is that the internet is indeed a social place, fill with real life people. We may never meet them, but we can still hang, and get caught up in our little worlds of interest that we share. It's great. Chris, Doug, Jon, Hughie and Micheal to name a few, are people that I may never meet in person, but we do share a common interest and enjoy each other's online interaction.

That leads me to exploring some of my options. My interests are vast and varied, and many come and go. There are a few though, that do keep my interest, and I find as I'm getting older, I tend to bounce around from one thing to the next less. I love bicycles. Bummer is that in the winter my riding drops quite a bit. I run more than I ride. Food. I love food. I regularly post iPhone pics of the food in my life on my tumbler blog, which is more of just a random dump of quickly shot iphone pics. It's not interactive at all, and I like it more it's non-committal nature. Throw pics up when I can. Nothing more. I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook, and my twitter is more oriented towards business. Then there are my photography blogs, which I will keep as places for people to view my latest photography work. But lately, I've been wanting a place where I can blog about more of the activities and interests that are in my life. Cycling, running, food, design, beer, photography, family, DIY and simple living. I want to put up more quality posts, with quality images (seeing as I've got some decent camera gear) about a variety of topics.

I find myself asking if this blog is the right place to do it. The first thing that bugs me about this blog is the name. Way back when I started it, I had never put much onto the old inter-web, and I choose a nickname for it's title. My name isn't Jerome. It's Jeremy. And the URL very clearly states 'bikes' in it. Would it be fair to have less content on bikes than other topics? I think the only thing that is making me think so much about changing up to a different blog, is that this one has some sentimental value to me. It's where it all began for me, and it's done me very well. I feel that blogging here is a decision that has enriched my life and I really like what this little blog has done for me and how it's allowed me to meet and interact with so many great people.

There's a steady stream of traffic that comes here. Would I lose some of that? I guess I might. But then who cares? I do hate to inconvenience anyone who might want to continue to follow what I blog, by making them have to update their bookmarks. But, hopefully the change will be worth it with a larger stream of content that they'd enjoy. It's not an easy decision, and it hasn't been made for sure yet. But I am indeed leaning towards a new site with more content that spans a great interest of topics.

All this to say that there may be some changes coming in the way that I blog about my personal interests. Any thoughts or suggestions?

I'll keep you posted.

Cheers,

Jeremy

Even when it's cold out, I feel sorry for those stuck in cars

I'm sure they're taking pity on me too, out there, in the cold, riding a bike. If they only knew how great it is.

I do still need to work on my winter gear though. Nasty cold fingers again. It was -9C (15F) and -14C (7F) with the windchill, and my skiing gloves just don't do the trick. This surprises me as they are good gloves, and while on the ski hills, they're always great. Must be the wind. I'm gonna look into a set of poggies, or some snowmobile mitts. Flirting with frostbite isn't much fun, and limits time outside. Today after about 15 minutes I was in pain. Shut the ride down at an hour, and again, pain when I came inside.

Still beats being stuck in a car!

Ride yer bike!