About a month ago I posted an entry with a shot of the first Bamboo Bike Studio Toronto Frame being built. Since then, the video I put together has gone live (link below) and three custom 'boo frames were displayed and put up for sale today. All very exciting stuff. I'm very proud of Steff's (Zef) accomplishments as I know this has been a real labour of love.
In that earlier post, I said I was looking for permission to use some music to enhance the documentary. We heard back from Johan Hultqvist from Mr. Something Something with a green light... so here's the video! (watch it in HD).
And as for the latest frames, they are stunning. I've begun working on a short video highlighting them however here's a shot of one... as much as I love the clean look of the black carbon and natural 'boo I think the added beauty takes it up 3 levels. If you can get to the Bike Geek Boutique show you can see the two Chiale frames plus "#3" which has a brass inlay head-badge. Look for more creativity from the 'boo studio yet to come! If you do make it, take a peek at the photos on the wall @ the Boutique... my first public showing in a while :-)
Confluence: a coming together of people or things; concourse. A number of unrelated events have conspired to make this all happen and I'm delighted with the way things have worked out.
I retired from IBM and started into this next chapter. And now that the local cycling scene is in winter mode I have downtime.
Andrea... well more on that later.
Knowing that this might be a once in a lifetime opportunity I suggested she take a break and take an extended vacation. "What would we do with all that time in January" she thought... and then said "what about going to New Zealand?". Great idea!
About the same time I discovered the youngest of the Canadian Kraiker clan (my nephew Brendan) and his partner Jenna were on a major trip that had them spending the better part of a year in New Zealand. The wonders of Facebook. Here are a couple of shots they have online...
Jenna
Brendan
Then I found out that they work at Lucky Rental, one of the many companies that rent campers in NZ!
Well... all of this came together to have me book a New Zealand Air flight to Auckland on January 1st 2012 with a "Cruiza" hightop camper booked for 27 days and a return flight on February 1st. That was my day yesterday...
The Cruiza was originally one that Jucy rented out, here's a video they put on YouTube showing the setup. Still figuring out the logistics of bringing bikes, swim gear, and all the other things that might make that month more enjoyable. Very exciting!
Andrea came across this piece and it reminded me of the time we rode there on Velibs (the Paris city bikes) in 2010. Another great excuse to highlight a few photos I took there including the lipstick-covered Wilde monument. That was our "volcano" trip and April 14th (the day these photos were taken) was the day Eyjafjallajökull erupted in Iceland. We were "stuck" in Europe for an extra week and ended up cycling in the Ardennes, seeing some more great Spring Classic bike races, and having a great extended vacation.
Andrea and I met up with our friend Liz for a hike along the Bruce Trail on the weekend; a perfect opportunity for some late autumn photos. The new background is one of them... Tiffany Falls in the Dundas Valley Conservation Area. I took along my 5D MkII with the 16-35 lens and played with light and textures. I put up a handful of shots I like on my website however here are a couple you're welcome to download for free. They are 1600 pixels wide so they should be fine as desktop backgrounds... hope you like them.
What an amazing experience this first part of my next chapter has been... from the first race in April that still had snow on the ground to a final race at Albion Hills that was a muddy cyclo-cross shortly before December began. The 2011 cycling season is now a wrap and I had a blast covering it. And now that I'm done it's like taking a little vacation.
Lots of races in different parts of Ontario, a long trip to Arkansas, Quebec twice, Illinois for a stage race and even Le Tour de France for two weeks... not bad for this wanderer. About fifty days of actual photography, around twenty days of travel to and from the various locations, something like twenty thousand miles (thirty-two thousand kilometers) of driving (not counting the flight to Europe) and probably just as many photographs taken. A couple of additional trips for fun that included Belgium, North Carolina, Vermont, and upstate New York. I did more writing that I've done in years (journalism as well as blogging), expanded my services to include videos, re-learned the art of interviewing, and a little auto mechanics too. All in all I'd say it was good. There were some challenges and disappointments and things that didn't work out along the way. While I am still digesting it all I'll stick with commenting on the positive stuff.
Now that it's done though... it's time for me to take care of all the things I didn't get around to doing since April. To get around to doing things like uploading all my photos to my website, updating this blog, taking care of finances, checking in with doctors and dentists, and such. I also need to sort out what I'll do with myself between now and when the cycling season starts up again... stay tuned. I have a few blog entries I need to finish up as well as my first documentary short.
I'll wrap this up with a video I took during the summer, I think I've linked to enough photos that I'll mix it up a little...
