Solstice On The Shore

21 June - Summer solstice, the official start of summer in Canadia. Went braceless for pretty much the first time since the accident in January - decided that the wrist guard was causing more problems than it was solving and feel all the better for it now. Nice weather and a pretty easy day, all things considered. Herb the muffin man came down with a bag of pastries for us (i think his muffin baking girl must be on holiday) and jason came down after work to say hello. Rad, my occasional co-worker, had heard that there was a summar solstice party down at Wreck Beach, Vancouver's local naturalist beach, and I thought that would be a fine place to see out the beginning of the summer. Don't think Rad is going to be with us for much longer - he didn’t feel like working yesterday so didn’t come in, got drunk last night so missed today, has better things to do tomorrow and on Friday he works for someone else ... And he hasn’t even bothered calling Novex to let them know. I really like the guy but i'm starting to understand how he's worked for five companies in four months. He's had the idea of organising the Novex workers on a strike for better workingconditions which I’m not really interested in. I certainly believe that the conditions ar awful but the problem is not with Novex but with the industry. A harder to realise but ultimately more worthwhile goal would be to organise all the couriers citywide and force the companies to increase their rates across the board - the reason for the crap money in this industry is all the companies racing each other to the bottom in order to just get the business, screwing the bikers (and themselves) in the process. In any event, if he wants to organise the couriers in this city (or hell, even this company) he's going to have an uphill battle. After work we rode out to Wreck Beach to find a lot of naked people (not everyone but about 50-50) but no real party. Bought some steamed buns off a naked Chinese man (well, hhe was wearing a hat and his money puch was very strategically located) and we weren’t sure whether the 'five finger discount' he was touting was a metaphor for stealing or him makinga pass at the guys in our group but they were very nice buns. A couple of crazy people dancing to their own music and a very nice sunset so a nice way to bring in the season. Had a spectacular ride back, about 25k with not a single stop. That's not to say that there weren't any reds or stop signs but from the beach to the Drive did not slow down below 19k for the entire journey. Sometimes it works out that way. Probably shouldn’t ve gone for such a longride - for the first time in ages I finish a day and actually feel physically great, not tired at all and then I have to go and wreck it at wreck Beach.