A conference dominated by molecular genetics and mind-curdling complexity thankfully tempered by hospitality, some urban bike-transport and entry into the world of fully rigid off-road mountain biking.
Toronto is the venue for 4 days plumbing the latest in childhood brain tumoursA 2 day concurrence with Sarah and Alex in Argentina means I have a home to stay in, rather than an anonymous hotel room.Sarah and her father put on the full tour – 65km by bike round the Toronto highlights including Lake Ontario, a bike-show with bamboo-bikes, and an introduction to Canadian beer…My steed – on loan from Sarah’s uncle. A steel Rocky Mountain mountain bike with what would have been some pretty bling kit in its dayXT shifters for example..and some remarkably effective XT centre-pull brakesall with 6 gears at the back… (those were the days!)
It was the height of travel-luxury to be met at the airport, looked after royally (guided by bike right to the conference venue) and provided with a haven free of receptor-ligands and epigenetic markers. Nuestra casa es su casa Miss S Tory!
An evening meal at a restaurant set in a reclaimed brick-works. The vertical garden depicting Toronto and its supplying rivers drew the eye
Just as I reached capacity on the academic front it was all over. Another friend made through the Americas trip happened to live pretty much on the way home – Scott Felter in Victoria, Vancouver Island.
Scott proves a patient host indeed. Our accomplice for Australian remote riding next year and a bike-reckoner par excellence..Scott gamely took me out on his local trail at Hartlands, a great IMBA project not far from VictoriaHe even contrived a tubeless tyre fettling session to allow me to recover from the caffeine buzz induced by his fantastically strong coffee!He’s a man of many bikes (well 2 complete bikes at the moment) I got to ride his Jeff Jones Space-frame half-fat bike. The front wheel at least is very similar to that which will be gracing a new addition to my stable in the near future – all 4 inches of ground-munching width :-)We were joined by Vik of LazyRando fame, and fellow reckoner of all things bicycle-related.Not one to let trail-time go to waste, Vik heads off upwardsbefore swooping back down againblurring as he passesScott and Naomi’s garden not only provides edible things, but beauty. Their connections with the arts and Scott’s past life as a ceramic artist are the foundation of a great collection of individual crockery – none identical.A visit to the local bike shops gets me a fork-mount friendly bottle cage (or two) and lots of spokes (ready for fat-bike wheel construction)A glutton for punishment, Scott swaps tyres on his beautiful Hunter Cycles 29er to allow me a chance to try itAfter an early start as a black bike, it’s now (very) red. My main reason for wanting to try it is that it sports a Rohloff Internally-geared hub – something I’ve got planned for a future bike.So we head back to the woods (Photo S.Felter)(photo S.Felter)and across a few skinny-bridges for good measure, before sadly needing to drop me off at the airport to get back to Australia (photo S.Felter)
I echo Scott – it was so much fun to show you around the city! And thanks for giving me an excuse to finally mountain bike the mountain bike trail that I had previously only run on. My new goal is to make it over the various log obstacles by the end of the summer…highly ambitious I know (especially given my track record on rough terrain). Can’t wait to read about all your crazy bike trip schemes through this blog – so keep writing!
Thank you Joe – still working on being ‘one’ with the new camera, but getting there. There has been some serious and involved reckoning about fat-bikes and the state of the Canning Stock Route universe – will email for your input too :-)
Tom
bicyclenomad 
I told you I was no photographer! :-)
So great to spend some time in your lovely presence, Tom. I am very much looking forward to future adventure…
Scott
Scott – “no photographer” I wouldn’t have put them up if I thought they were no good!
Our future adventures will be many and epic I hope :-)
Tom
I echo Scott – it was so much fun to show you around the city! And thanks for giving me an excuse to finally mountain bike the mountain bike trail that I had previously only run on. My new goal is to make it over the various log obstacles by the end of the summer…highly ambitious I know (especially given my track record on rough terrain). Can’t wait to read about all your crazy bike trip schemes through this blog – so keep writing!
– st
I’m glad to see a demanding job isn’t getting totally in the way of a few two wheeled adventures and some very fine photos.
We’ll work on having some adventures a bit closer to home soon too :-) Glad you like the photos. How’re you getting on with Lightroom?
Tom
Great images and tales from some of my favorite biking folks, cheers gang.
Thank you Joe – still working on being ‘one’ with the new camera, but getting there. There has been some serious and involved reckoning about fat-bikes and the state of the Canning Stock Route universe – will email for your input too :-)
Tom