Canada : do you smell Opportunity ?

Canada's national population is approximatley the same as the state of California. Our chief importer of our goods is the U.S. ; not a surprise. Today our dollar value is US$1.05. To the south is pretty much controlled utter chaos, between the old guard Republican, the new "Tea Party" Republicans & Democrats. I wonder if "Manufacturing Consent" is still applicable here Mr. Chomsky? Noam I love to know what you're thinking right now. Canada has always been the little sister to the U.S. We're taught that in our schooling and continue to believe it as we move into the business world. As Canadians our first and truly genuine thought to our good neighbour to the south is, we hope the conclusion of this story works out for you, and more importantly for the working "joe" who lives in Cincinnati, Buffalo, New Orleans, Bowling Green, Jefferson City, Flint, and everywhere else. In the meantime, I'd love to know our Parliment Hill's strategic planning this very second. Is Steven Harper thinking, opportunity? Is there an opportunity for Canada to increase its global economic standing? [By all means not at the expense of the U.S. because that would simply be unCanadian.] Conan joked ; if the U.S. is "evicted" from their homes they will move north to Canada and live in our basements. According to some sources the far east have contingency plans ready to go. The Bank of Canada is apparently stock piling "cash". Canada, is this week a pivotal moment in our history ? In the World's eyes will this be a monumental advance for the "Tim Horton" nation? Or at best can we hope to limit damage control. I believe there is opportunity in almost everything, sometimes you just have to search a little harder.

Bala Sprint

Jason L. [Race Director] took several readings of Lake temperature. The lowest reading i'm told was 26 degrees celcius (79 degrees F), consequently no wetsuits. Keep in mind we just finished experiencing plus 30 C all week, where you could practical melt iron ore on your sidewalk next to your eggs. Bala is one of my favourite places for racing and as usual there was great representation from the Barrie TC. All of the members had good races. Lloyd Smith and Mattman had especially top notch performances. However, the highlight of the day was post race when Tina (?) was handing out Awards & "draw prizes". About halfway through a younger lad is announced and he wins a watch. Now, I didn't see the watch first hand, but I'm fairly certain it be a decent Triathlon watch. He sauntered to the front like he was receiving a D+ from his English Teacher for writing a deplorable essay on MacBeth. Tina observing his stale emotions had some fun with the young man and encouraged him (in fun) to celebrate ; get excited ; because he had just won a goddam friggin watch! Expressionless and with a stride where his foot didn't miss a single blade of grass as he dragged the soles of his shoes along the turf, he accepted the watch with a slight nod as to say, "geez thanks a friggin Tri watch, what the hell am i going to do with this?" kind of look, he returned to his spot in the crowd. If I didn't know better, I betacha the young lads mother pointed a stern finger at him earlier on and said something along the lines of "why don't you go outside and get some exercise or sign up for the Bala Triathlon, maybe you will win a watch!".
So, Bala as usual was most enjoyable. To John Letteri, the Hero Burgers were delicious!

Bike Patrol

Reminds me of the TV commercial from the 80's with Robert Conrad (BaBa Black Sheep etc), "go ahead i dare you..."

When its plus 35 degrees C

don't pump your tires up to 120 psi. unless you like changing punctured tires.

SkiN

You're not a true Cyclist until you have taken a spill and lost a layer or two of skin. Jon Dow last weekend had a nasty wipe out during the Peterborough Half Iron. He was unable to finish. It's probably killing him inside that a "DNF" went up beside his name in the overall standings, more so, than the actual loss of epidermis. Ted Read from the Barrie TC had a serious accident at the turn at Duckworth & Cundles. Ted lost his entire season. I've seen cars in winter end up in the ditch at this specific turn. On the glory side the Cyclists is sometimes honoured by naming rights. It may have been Tim Hatch that crowned the Duckworth/Cundles corner as "Ted Corner". To this day, I still think of that one spot as "Ted Corner". Its a honour like a battle ground. Two years ago, I took a slippery wipe out on the railroad tracks that cross Little St. I remember going down and sliding on the asphalt for many meters. The other time was mountain biking and coming down on the end of my handlebars breaking the fall with my ribs. That was painful. Even more painful than sitting through "Super 8" in the Cineplex. Cyclists like showing their war wounds, and Jon Dow's unfortunate fall this past weekend will be one he can speak for some time to come.

Time Trials July 6th

It was great seeing the gang again last night, at our Barrie TC Baydog Time Trials. A fabuluous turnout, with Lloyd Smith keeping time. To the residents on Line 1, we thank you for sharing this beautiful piece of asphalt with our Club. We respect your privacy and will do our upmost to ensure we do not impede while the Time Trials takes place. Thank you.