Car XxX Blog

Toronto has at least two Polar Bear Dips going on New Year's Day January 1, 2011 - 12 noon at Sunnyside Beach (Habitat for Humanity) and 1:30pm at Ashbridges Bay (Sears Great Canadian Chill) and the waters of Lake Ontario are ready for the plunge. Temperatures are expected above the freezing mark so we may only have to watch for rain - you don't want to get wet before the dip! Update: It was both foggy and rainy!
Bring your costumes, thongs and footwear then some warm clothes for afterwards.
See more of my pictures of the Dip and the Chill after the jump.


You can also check out my 2010 photos from the Sunnyside Habitat for Humanity Polar Bear Dip.

New Years is like a birthday party for the planet - so here is a cool shot of the planet, part of the blue marble series from NASA. I tried to get this shot but my tripod kept floating away. If you squint you might be able to see me in the photo below.

And I feel fine. It has been a great year of events and photographs and I say thanks to all my visitors, thanks for all the comments and emails and I look forward to another year of fun. Like many people I will make some New Year's resolutions but the fun is breaking them - so make some doozies.

Here are some other beautiful ends (after the jump) to keep you warm over the winter.

Ducati have recently announced the Ducati Diavel will be available in a new diamond black with black frame together wit ha black anodised headlamp body and lateral air intakes.

Ducati DIAVEL in Diamond Black

The new colour is already in production and will be available in February next year (2011).

Ride safe.

Jon Booth
Email: webmaster@inter-bike.co.uk
Blog: http://bestmotorstyle2011.blogspot.com//
Swicki: http://motorcycling-swicki.eurekster.com/


Add This Social Bookmark Button

I would like to wish all my blog readers Happy New Year 2011 !!!

That little kid in diapers is about to come and kick the old year's ass as we finish 2010 and start the new year of 2011 - like the start and finish line being painted by the Honda Indy Toronto people (they foretold the future, is there anything that the Honda Indy Toronto can't do?).
It's probably good that we use so few checks anymore because you always wrote the wrong year for a couple months, you would cross off the date, add the new date and initial the changes - every time. Young people are going what's a check? Young people don't even know things like today's hot movie True Grit is a remake of a movie of the same name starring John Wayne.  Young people are going who is John Wayne? Now I feel old, thanks you young pilgrim.
There are a million parties going on in the Big Smoke. The biggest will be the free annual CityTV New Year's Eve Bash at City Hall's Nathan Phillips Square with ice skating, free concerts and fireworks hosted by television personalities Gord Martineau, Tracy Moore, Kevin Frankish and Dina Pugliese. You can see Shawn Desman, Danny Fernandes, Stereos, These Kids Wear Crowns, Divine Brown and Blake McGrath.
The show starts at 10:00pm and the countdown at midnight is a chance to kiss your significant other. Try to get one of the neon balloons and don't swallow any confetti.

New Years is the time you make resolutions where you end the bad stuff and start doing the good stuff. While it seems like the good stuff should include partying and drinking generally these fall into the category of bad stuff, especially if you do it to excess. However, party like it's 1999, eat and drink then ride the free New Years morning TTC (12:01am to 4am) or take a taxi home and if you wear a lampshade or your girlfriend flashes don't forget to send a picture. Here is a great website to find a party in Toronto on New Year's Eve.

When you build a fancy new hotel and condominium sometimes you forget how to put it together so sometimes you have to leave big pink post-its to remind yourself of the next step. The 65-storey Shangri-La luxury hotel and condos goes up on University Avenue. The hotel is on the bottom 17 floors and the condos take over the upper floors.

I found this big, red tongue hanging out just off Queen Street East and I have to admit that it is very familiar. It seems like I have seen it before, but it is so big and red that I think I would remember where I saw it. Obviously the artist is so creative that he has painted something so meaningful that it might be a shared memory buried deep within our genes. And here is a graffiti door, less powerful, less meaningful, it could just be a door and not art, sometimes I never know.

The drugged up bridge namers came up with one long bridge name: "This river I step in is not the river I stand in". The sign maker, grinning, asked if they wanted another paragraph, but they were resting after coming up with that doozy. And so the Don River bridge crossing at Queen Street East was named in 1996, long after the original bridge was replaced in 1911. Just for fun they added a clock to the mix, "shall we make the clock last for hundreds of years so that future generations can weep at the beauty of the words and know what time their tears fell to the ground?" and they answered "no, we wont have enough money left over after we get all the letters made." And so the clock worked for a day or two, then crapped out, probably because three levels of government were involved. Although, as the old saying goes, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
I believe the bridge writing (described as a river of text) is based on a saying from a Greek philosopher Heracleitus who said "You could not step twice into the same river; for other waters are ever flowing on to you" - from Plato in Cratylus. So ... nothing stays the same and things change even as you experience them in the moment. So the river you stepped in (i.e. the water) has already changed and is different than the one you stand in. And don't stand in the middle of the bridge because the traffic and streetcars will make sure you won't be in the same shape you were before you stepped in the middle of the bridge - ha, that should have been put on the bridge. Thanks to the artist Eldon Garnet.

Honda Supra X 125 R CW Specs :
Length X width X height: 1889 x 702 x 1094 mm
Wheelbase: 1242 mm
Lowest distance to the ground: 138 mm
Empty weight: 105kg / 103 (Type Spoke)
Type of order: The backbone
Type front suspension: Telescopic
This type of rear suspension: swing arm and dual shock absorbers
Front tire size: 70/90 - 17M / C 38P
Rear tire size: 80/90 - 17M / C 44P
Brakes front: double-piston disc
Rear brake: disc single piston / Tromol (Type Spoke) <- good !!
Fuel tank capacity: 3.7 liters
Engine type: 4 stroke, SOHC, air cooling
Diameter x measures: 52.4 x 57.9 mm
Volume measures: 124.8 cc
Comparison of compression: 9.0: 1
Maximum power: 9.3 PS / 7500 rpm <- enough for daily ride
Maximum Torque: 1.03 kgf.m / 4000 rpm
Engine lubricating oil capacity: 0.7 liter in the periodic replacement
Auto Clutch: Automatic centrifugal
Dental transmission: Speed fixed mesh
Pattern transfer gear: N-1-2-3-4-N (rotary)
Starter: Pedal and electric
Battery: 12 V - 3.5 Ah
Spark plugs: ND U20EPR9 / NGK CPR6EA-9
Ignition System: carburator - DC CDI
(reference and translated from: astra honda)