Summer of DIYs

Of all the things I am most proud of this summer, building my own bicycle and renovating my balcony take number one and number 3 respectively.

I have always wanted to build my own bike, with so much time on my hands I decided to make it a reality! I went to the university coop and had lots of help from the volunteers. Finally after working on it for 4-5 days I had my own bike. I made lots of mistakes and had to reassemble and disassemble the bike multiple times. But I also learned a lot about the inner workings of a bike and how everything works.

Start with a basic frame that was a bit bigger for my size, but the coop had a limited selection of used bike frames. 

Disassembled all the parts and prepare to lube up and reinsert again

Since I had it down to the basic frame I thought I would paint it a nice white color - I was going for a minimalistic look 

Finally all painted. But the paint didn't have enough time to dry and the part where the clamp is on the paint actually teared off lols!

Bottom bracker and derailleurs installed!

Found a really nice front derailleur from the used pile - Shimano 105!

From the last pic to this took about a week cause I was waiting for the head stem to arrive. The Bike's frame had a weird measurment for the headstem and I had to get a custom ordered one. 

All the wiring connected for brakes and shifters 

Handlebard tape wrapped! 

Me posing with my sexy bike!

Final Product! Costs me $100 to make. Sold it for $150 within a week lols. Now I am kind of sad, wish I kept it lols. But whatever I plan to build a new one in Toronto.

Number three summer accomplishment is renovating my balcony! It's become my favourite place in my apartment!

Someone threw away a computer table that was broken. It looked to be about the size of my balcony so I disassembled all the parts and used the individual parts as hardwood flooring for my balcony!

The headboard is for when I lay down sofa cushins and this turns into a balcony bed for lounging and relaxing!

Summer relaxing zone! Theres 5 sofa cushins underneath the blanket!

Peace from Quebec!

Stoneham outside bouldering + Fete de Jean Baptiste

So yesterday was the biggest party in Quebec city, the birthday of Jean Baptiste. I checked out the party with some friends. But before that we went bouldering outside in Stoneham at Stone Bleu.

So first bouldering! This was my first time bouldering outside and the weather was perfect. We went to Stoneham which is about 40 minutes outside of Quebec. With our climbing shoes and chalk in tow we climbed up the mountain for about 30 minutes and finally arrived at the boulders! There were many sites and normally you have to bring your own crash pad as some of them are quite steep. But we didn't have any so we pretty much did it with no crash pad and just a friend spotting us. This was not the best of ideas but you know - YOLO!

I actually got a couple of injuries, one in my left hand for bracing my fall, and some scrapes on my right hand. But nothing really too serious. It was really fun to say the least but next time I will definitely be bringing some couch cushins if nothing else. Cause there were some routes I was too scared to try due to the fear of falling and hitting my head on rocks below.

Before this I have been only climbing indoors and it's a huge difference! The rocks outside are much harder on the fingers and usually there are not very good holds. There are a lot of crimps and finger holds as opposed to big jugs. Even the lowest level we tried was a challenge. But it was really fun!!!! Here are some pictures.

After the bouldering we came back realxed at my friend's pool and played some volleyball. Finally at night time we rode our bikes over to the Plains of Abraham for the biggest party in Quebec! After meeting up with everyone we started our way towards the big stage and it was crazy! Everyone was soooo friendly haha I got free beer, redbull and weed from people that were just passing by! The weird mix of cocktail got me high, low and everywhere in between. In between songs we squished our way to the front of the stage with me leading the way. I started random dance parties, got kisses from Quebec girls, conducted people behind me like an orchestra during the slow songs, joined circle mosh pits and started my own mosh pit!

I also pissed off some people haha. Some notable things were two girls who were pissed off at me cause I was speaking in English and told them they needed to pay me money to stand near me. Also some people were pissed off when I went to dance with them. But these were minor things and gotten over quickly with the state I was in.

I finally came back home at 3am had some pizza and went to bed after a long day of partying! Vive fete de Jean Baptiste!

Peace in Quebec!