Stories and helpful tips about bikes and biking - including bicycle tours, bicycle camping, bicycle repairs among others. My intention is through my writing and photography to inform you about cycling and hopefully inspire in you the same interest and excitement that I feel about cycling.

I ride bikes. Every day, whatever the weather, for years. I fix them too. I believe a bicycle can be a tool for liberation, a healthier body and mind as well as for living more sustainably. Most importantly, it’s fun!

My name is Jim, I'm 55 years old, and I'm an avid cyclist and bike commuter in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I started commuting to work full-time in May of 2008. I wish I'd been doing this all of my life. There are significant societal benefits to getting more people out of their cars and onto their bikes (even for people who will never give up driving 100% of the time), but I want to focus on my own selfish reasons for riding a bike. I've bummed too many rides from friends and family over the years to ever demonize the automobile. I like cars. And I'm not going to claim any kind of moral superiority over drivers – a stance I've seen some cyclists take that bothers me immensely.

I want to encourage co-operation, not confrontation. Let's share the roads, and cut each other some slack.

People have called me many names over the course of my life and most of them have been positive and for a very long time I have been “the bike guy” or “the old bike guy” and someone once called me a “raving bike fiend” because of my passion for building and riding bicycles. I was recently married to the love of my life and have two beautiful daughters who I share custody of… we are a family of car free cyclists although the girls do not ride through the winter as I do and have yet to see how my wife will adapt to living in a much colder and snowier climate.

We share our home and our lives with one Shih Tzu (Bijoux), a big assed cat (Thunderhead), and most recently added a pair of Indian Ring Necked Parrots (Lucce and Amore).

After a serious back injury 4 years ago I thought that I might never be able to ride a bicycle again and although I still have trouble walking and standing for any length of time, cycling has been very positive in helping me rehabilitate the mind and body.

I support cycling in all it’s forms and believe that most people would benefit if they decided to make cycling part of their daily life… and you don’t have to be old or a fiend to do this.

Keep the shiny side up.

Riding in edmonton, more riding, bikes, bike pictures, music, and stellar beer reviews.

The King’s Green Pad is a collaborative blog written by faculty, staff, students and alumni of the King’s University College in Edmonton, AB Canada. Through the blog we seek to foster dialog that is interdisciplinary, intergenerational, and interdenominational because Edmonton is Greening, the Blogosphere is Greening and because God is Green. Our effort seeks to advance Christian Scholarship in creation care, environmental stewardship and social, economic and environmental sustainability and is rooted in theological imperatives such as Kenosis and Shalom with the ultimate goal of providing a healthy and sustainable world for future generations.

Biking & Busking in Edmonton

In 2007 I started riding a bike again for transportation, and was surprised to discover how fun and easy it was. Since then, my love affair with cycling has prompted a lifestyle overhaul of the best kind. Now even the simplest outings are healthy, social and fun. Come as you are, and ride with me.