This is rich

Here's the reply from UPS:

Dear Ben,

Thank you for your e-mail.

It is never okay to be parking in bike lanes and I can certainly understand your point of view on this matter. I cannot respond on behalf of the driver or why the driver did this, however, I can tell you that this is not normal UPS practice to do such a thing. It is important to address these concerns to the Management Department for further investigation.

If you would like to further discuss this with the Management Department, please provide your phone number. Your phone number is kept confidential, it is used only for Management to follow up with you on this matter.

I apologize for the inappropriate conduct you observed from one of our employees.

Please contact us if you need any additional assistance.

Karen Pellerin
UPS Customer Service

So I guess we can all expect to see no more UPS trucks parked in bike lanes.

Complaining to the Deliverers

I am sending this email to the shipping trio (UPS, Fedex and Purolator), as I am quite sick of seeing them parked in the bike lanes every day on my way to work:

Why do your drivers think it is okay to break the law by parking in bike lanes? It is well documented that they do so:
http://toronto.mybikelane.com/tag/fedex
http://toronto.mybikelane.com/tag/purolator
http://toronto.mybikelane.com/tag/ups

It is not okay for your drivers to break by-laws so that they can get their deliveries done faster. If they have to break the law to get their job done, there is a problem with the management of the company.

I only sent one URL per email of course. If I hear anything back from anyone I will post the reply.

Bike To Work Day

Bike To Work Day
Originally uploaded by Captain Gandalf Cunningham

Nicer shirts this time around. I overheard David Miller himself complementing them on using the organic duds.

Ride for Heart - Aftermath

I raised $330, so the ride was a success. It was great fun too; I'll probably go back next year.

I witnessed a pretty crazy accident along the way. A peloton of 15-20 riders doing at least 30 km/h was traveling down the opposite side of the highway from me. A man somewhere in the middle of the pack fell for some reason and a few bikers behind him fell over him as well. I didn't stop because there were hundreds of people around, and because I had seen many paramedics during the ride. Half an hour later when I made it back the location of the crash, I found that the man was sitting at the side of the road under an emergency blanket with some of his peloton mates. It was pretty disturbing.

Critical Mass May 2008

I wasn't having a good day, so I left early and accidentally missed the craziness.