Daou unicycle or bicycle, Chengdu Bicycle Parts Factory #3
Living in North East Toronto, Canada is a very large community of Mainland Chinese, many who are recent immigrants. When they ship their lives half way across the world to Canada they bring with them some surprising gems. I picked up this Daou unicycle at a garage sale. It has a 12.5″ rear coaster wheel with back brake, and a skateboard truck up front. The seat is unicycle style, with a black steel handle in the front. Apart from the “Daou” label, under the seat there are two quality stickers from the Chengdu Zixingche Lingjian San Chang, or the Chengdu Bicycle Parts Factory #3. After a couple of key changes this contraption rides much like a unicycle (no left-right stability), but has anterior-posterior stability, allowing the rider to coast. You can pedal backwards to brake, which is good enough to skid the tire. This unicycle rides quite well, can travel at faster than walking speed and allows the rider to coast. Due to the small skateboard wheels up front it can endo if you hit a large sidewalk crack.
Mary Ward's front door archway, a nice piece of steel and glass.
Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School is a high school located in North Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The school is part of the Toronto Catholic District School Board, or TCDSB. These tips are primarily from a parent’s viewpoint and will cover uniform, student attitude, working with teacher adviser (TA) and a little on courses. I hope this helps new grade 9 students.
Bicycling instead of driving a car is not only healthy but is great for the environment. Unfortunately here in North America, specifically in Toronto, Canada, bicycling is relegated to tree kissing environmentalists and kids. This is too bad for everyone. An excellent video by Clarence Eckerson, Jr. shows what is working in Copenhagen, and what could work here in North America.
I have lived in Beijing, China for a couple of years and the bike culture there is pretty safe. This has degraded somewhat now as more people become wealthier and can afford cars. It’s sad to see China go backward on bicycles, but such us progress in the People’s Republic of China.
So pathetic are the driving standards in China that there are a huge number of crashes. China is a world leader in vehicular crashes per capita. If only there were some rules that everyone followed. I propose simple ones such as drive/ride on the right side of the road and stop at traffic lights. It seems like total chaos if there are not enough police around to hand out and collect tickets. I find this video quite amusing, but should not, because people in the video get seriously hurt and cars and bikes get damaged. It is funny because sadly it does reflect what we saw on Chinese roads when we visited China.
Swagman 3 bike rack installs 11.5 inches from my bumper, not a good fit
I have been meaning to get a bike rack for quite a number of years. When the kids were small this was not an issue because they could not ride far anyway, but they are growing. We don’t have a large car, so a bike rack is now a necessity. The Swagman 3 bike hitch bike rack seemed to be the strongest and lightest but well made bike rack I could find. It works very well but the experience of installing it provided some interesting surprises.
Hearing the news about killings at the Square was shocking. How could this have happened? The day after 6-4 I had a lunch date with a Chinese friend who lived on Changan Jie, very close to the Square. Chaos had erupted in Beijing. All intersections were blocked with burned out cars and buses. I was so glad I was on a 10 speed bicycle that I could pick up and walk around road blockages, yet speed down streets. This is my recollection.
Burned buses blocked traffic intersections in Downtown Beijing
A whole lot of snow has fallen in Toronto, and I’ve been shoveling once last night and twice today. While the temperatures are -4C and the snow is fluffy, it looks like around 20cm, which builds up and becomes heavy. It is not cold outside.
Crabapple tree in winter
The trees have snow but not ice.
Icicles by security light
We have some icicles growing from various parts of the eavestrough that are melting, so there’s a constant drip, drip onto the snow outside. They will freeze solid tonight. The kids want them to eat, but they’re too high up and when you crack them off you don’t want to be underneath when they fall.
