Cat toys

I have spent a good portion of the night digging cat toys out of the sofa & out from under chairs, the piano, etc. It seems like the sole purpose of the toys is to keep the cats amused for 3 or 4 seconds & then to get lost.

The younger cat likes to chase small balls around much like a dog might do. She actually will pick them up in her mouth & walk around with them. I have been trying to train her to drop them in front of me but so far thousands of years of evolution seem to be working against that.

The other cat doesn't really play with toys anymore, however, he does have a plastic spring that he goes bananas over. I keep trying to film video of him freaking out chasing it, but every time he sees me pointing the phone at him, he stops playing and just stares.

The best toys, though, are the cardboard boxes that are littered around the living room. Just like most children, cats tend to ignore the actual toys when there are cardboard boxes around. Though i doubt the cats are turning the boxes into a TARDIS and the like.

Bicycles

You may have figured out that i have been collecting more & more bikes. The bike in the previous posting is a Raleigh Sprite. I bought it at Dis-a-Ray in downtown Guelph. My guess is that it's from the late 60s or early 70s. At some point i'll look up the serial # on the internet, but i'm not too concerned. I just know it's old & i like it. It's a 10 speed with a regular old deraileur system. I did have the original deraileur replaced with something a little more modern (though not much more modern).

Last week i picked up an early 70s Raleigh Sports for a decent price. Here is a picture of it:

I realize that it looks quite similar to the previous posting's bicycle, but perhaps a little more stoic. It DOES only have 3 gears, after all. In fact, here is a picture of the Sturmey-Archer 3 gear hub on the rear wheel:


Unlike the Sprite, the bottle generator & lights actually work on this bike.

Lest you begin to imagine that this more austere bike has no panache, i give you this view of the front fender:


I spent a bit of time trying to repair the gear shifting system on the bike this week. As i was riding to the library the other day, i lost my first gear. Further investigation revealed that the cable leading from the shifter to the hub was in fact far too lose & stretched beyond proper usability. I visited the local bicycle establishment & procured a replacement cable. This cable was of a slightly different setup, utilizing a screw & eyehole configuration on the business end (nearest the hub). We shall see if it holds up to rigorous usage. Having only 3 gears does force one to work rather hard.

There are a few more bikes in the garage: a lady's Raleigh Sports (1980s, likely), a CCM Elan (resembling but not quite up to the standards of a Raleigh), a 1960s Mexican 10 speed Windsor (complete with tubular tires), my reliable 80s Fiori 12 speed, a Manhattan Green bike 3 speed (a modern Americanized attempt at an updated very affordable English 3 speed) and a few others.

People rarely ask me, "TJ, if i were to need a bike to get around town, what would you recommend"? Well, i *do* wish they would ask this question because i would tell them not to do what i did for years. Do not ride a mountain bike around town. It's pointless. There are no mountains & in fact a mountain bike would be terrible on a mountain because it's so damned heavy. You could buy a so called hybrid but the bike shop will probably sell you something flashy & hip, it'll likely be stolen & then you'll be sad. If you're going to be riding across town to get to your job, i'd recommend getting something cheap & reliable. An old 3 speed seems like a good choice. You can pick one up at a garage sale or on Craig's List (though i don't know Craig personally). The Green bike i mentioned earlier would also be great & is less than $400 new. Will hills be difficult? Only for the first month. Then your legs will be strong and people would secretly admire you for them.

If, however, you're going to be riding FAR across town and up and down many hills, then do yourself a favour and pick up an old 10 speed. You know the one i mean. An older one won't cost you much & will weigh about 1/2 as much as that mountain bike you've been walking up Gordon Street. Yes, the tires are a bit more flimsy, but that's what riding carefully is for.

I say this because i simply cannot believe that i was ever foolish enough to ride a mountain bike with knobby tires twice daily for 5 or 6 km to my old job across town. A road bike would have saved me much hassle & sweat.

I have never tried riding a fixed gear bicycle, nor do i have any intention of trying to recapture my early late 20s/early 30s. I wasn't much of a hipster then and certainly am not now. Perhaps one day someone will lend me theirs & i will discover that i was wrong, but i doubt it.

My hope is that this summer i will learn a bit more about bicycle repair. That is one of my goals. Last summer my goal was to ride a road bike. I did not go incredibly far - my daily rides turned out to be about 35 or 40 km - but that was much further than i'd been road riding previously (0 km), so not bad all things considered.