When Princess of Pavement asked me two days running, “aren’t you going for a ride?” the nature of her enquiry and the way she asked it implied encouragement.
I hadn’t planned to ride.
On Sunday I was scheduled to work on a special project so I was resigned to missing the weekly FRF ride. Instead I went for a solo roll on Friday. When I reminded PofP after her ride query Saturday night, she suggested I could head out early, before I had to work.
Hmmmmmm, free kilometres!? Yes please!
Morning roll-out by dawn’s early light.
Living in an open loft presents challenges for any early or late activities. There’s no door to close to muffle the noise. And while Little Ring has a separate room with a doorway, his senses seem to roust at first light and await any cue that the day is set to begin, especially if that cue indicates breakfast is being prepared.
“Is it morning yet?” he’ll cry out. “I’m hungry.”
So an early-morning ride requires meticulous preparation the night before. That means placing the bike by the door, hanging kit in the bathroom for changing, placing shoes, helmet, gloves and emergency kit somewhere clear of creaking floor boards, honing muscle memory to avoid those noisy floor boards, putting out breakfast utensils and dishes to minimize drawer and cupboard opening, rounding up breakfast ingredients to limit the number of times the fridge has to be opened and closed.
Free kilometres usually mean flat kilometres to maximize their impact on my mileage goals.
The pressure is enormous. One false step, one moment’s inattention could disturb the pre-dawn silence.
The unexpected evening ride, however, usually comes with a peace dividend. It seems Little Ring is more amenable to sticking to his bedtime script when there’s only one of us around; it’s as if he has an innate sense there’s no “good cop” around who will accede to his various nighttime stalling games just to keep the peace.
So when Princess of Pavement asked again on Monday whether I was going for a ride, I was gifted another great big mozza ball of free kilometres.
The sun begins to set at Iona Beach
And while they’ll help get me a little closer to my usual July goal of 1,000 kilometres for the month, I’m resigned that I likely won’t attain it this year. Working at a new job and not having my traditional two weeks holiday during the Tour de France to pile on the rides has been the Yoko Ono to my Strava goals.
Friday’s PoCo Grand Prix transformed Port Coquitlam’s historic downtown into a high speed circuit of lythe, powerful cyclists, carbon fibre, lycra and a whole lot of excitement.
The inaugural Grand Prix is part of BC Superweek, a week-long festival of bike racing in communities around Metro Vancouver that attracts top female and male pro cyclists from across North America and as far away as Australia. In Port Coquitlam, they raced a twisting 1.3 km circuit that circumnavigated the downtown and City Hall.
But the event was more than just a bike race. It was a day-long celebration of cycling with live entertainment, a beer garden, a kids zone, business and cycling expo as well a support races for kids, junior racers, amateurs and corporate teams.
I was hired by the Tri-City News to cover the evening’s feature races as well as capture some of the collateral fun.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO Doreen Speers cheers on the riders in the women’s race at Friday’s PoCo Grand Prix.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO Riders speed through the corner of Donald Street and McAllister Avenue during the women’s race at the PoCo Grand Prix on Friday.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO The bowlers seem to have lost their exclusive parking privileges during Friday’s PoCo Grand Prix.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO Kendelle Hodges celebrates her win in the women’s race at Friday’s PoCo Grand Prix.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO Heidi Ujfalusi rings the bell to signal a “Prime” lap in which riders race to the finish line to claim a cash prize.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO A rider’s elaborate nails prior to the start of the women’s race at Friday’s PoCo Grand Prix.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO Women’s race winner Kendelle Jackson celebrates on the podium.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO The women’s race speeds past the historic railroad mural on Elgin Avenue.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO Aaron Paddon, 6, concentrates as he negotiates the trials course in the Kids Zone at Friday’s PoCo Grand Prix.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO The men’s peloton prepares to turn onto Shaughnessy Street.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO The women’s race speeds along Elgin Avenue.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO The women’s race is underway at Friday’s PoCo Grand Prix, part of the Superweek series of races around Metro Vancouver that attracts top pro riders from around North America and as far away as Australia.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO Wheels are lined up for the start of the women’s race at Friday’s PoCo Grand Prix.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO Justin Williams celebrates his win in the men’s race.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO The men’s peloton is strung along Shaugnessy Street.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO The men’s race speeds on McAllister Avenue at Friday’s PoCo Grand Prix.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO The Sean Michael Trio performs on the Phoenix Entertainment Stage at Friday’s PoCo Grand Prix.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO A racer reflects on the start of the women’s race at Friday’s PoCo Grand Prix.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO Gary Mauris, the president of Dominion Lending Centres, fires the starters pistol to start the men’s race at Friday’s PoCo Grand Prix.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO The men’s race lines up on Shaunessy Street.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO Sara Bergen speeds down the main stretch at Friday’s PoCo Grand Prix.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO The women’s peloton speeds along McAllister Avenue towards the PoCo Court House in Friday’s PoCo Grand Prix.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO Spectators along the barriers on Shaugnessy Street cheer on the riders in the women’s race at Friday’s PoCo Grand Prix.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO American Justin Williams celebrates his win in the men’s race with fans along Shaugnessy Street.
MARIO BARTEL PHOTO The PoCo Grand Prix kids zone provides future racers a chance to hone their skills.
After every ride, I dutifully download the data from my Garmin GPS to the social site that connects riders from around the world who break down their routes into bite-sized segments. Comparing my performance with previous rides can give me an idea of improvements in my own fitness, as well as affirm the sensations in my legs; feeling strong during a climb up Burnaby Mountain isn’t just in my imagination when Strava awards me a Personal Best trophy icon.
Enjoying a baguette and brie on the annual FRF Bastille Day ride.
Earning those little trophies is addictive.
Strava has more than 1.5 million active users. They include cyclists and runners. Logging their activities into the site provides real-time tracking of their performance improvements over segments created by fellow users.
Those segments are also the measure upon which cyclists and runners can compare their performance with others, a sort of giant ongoing virtual race.
Sometimes those virtual competitions can get pretty intense. Setting a new KOM can be conversation fodder in the FRF peloton, a throw-down to other riders.
What’s a celebration of French cycling without baguette and brie?
Not that I ever have to worry about setting or regaining a coveted KOM.
In the Strava world I am famously mediocre. My modest achievements are neither great nor terrible. Inevitably a personal best that I worked hard to attain will end up ranked solidly somewhere in the middle of the pack of all riders who’ve ridden the same segment.
Except for descents. Apparently I can be pretty decent at those; I’ve even managed to crack the top 10 on some, even if briefly.
This Saturday I’ve signed on for the Triple Crown, a challenging ride up Vancouver’s three major mountains, Seymour, Grouse and Cypress. I’ve done all three separately, never on the same day. The route covers 75km with around 2000 metres of climbing.
I’m confident I’ll be able to do it. I’m certain I’ll be slow. I’m scared of the effort it’s going to take.
So instead, I’m going to think of it as three fast and fun descents. Because what goes up, has to come down. Before it can go up again…
The clouds of doom began gathering as soon as the destination for Sunday’s FRF ride was announced.
As we embarked on our ill-fated adventure into cycling’s Heart of Darkness, Delta, they thickened, became more menacing.
Barely over the Bridge of Lost Souls that transports unwitting victims into her lair, never to be seen again, the trouble began. Mike, an FRF newbie on his inaugural ride, flattened. By the time the day was done, the fierce headwind was no longer the topic of our peloton’s consternation; it was Mike’s unprecedented FOUR flats!
An all too familiar scene; the FRF gather around as a flat tire is changed.
Delta is where cyclists get lost, and tires go to die.
The city’s bike routes are deplorable. Not only is their signage inconsistent and often illogical, the lanes are poorly maintained.
It is July, the thick of riding and bike commuting season, and the bike routes are as dirty with gravel and debris as if it was mid-March after a harsh winter of snowplowing and sanding. the sharp stones bite into tires, ricochet into unsuspecting shins, ping off shiny carbon fibre frames and even catapult off passing vehicles. Riding in Delta, especially along busy routes like River Road, is a dangerous game of waving and weaving through a moonscape disguised as a bike lane.
Gravel and stones no the marked bike lane is an invitation to trouble. Routes need to be swept.
Making roads and routes safe for cyclists involves more than just painting white stencils on shoulders. Those lanes should be swept regularly to clear them of the debris and detritus strewn by cars and trucks. A sharp stone squeezed out by a tire at 120psi becomes a missile, capable of gashing shins, chipping paint, flattening tires. Just ask Mike, whom we last saw humping his bike back down the Bridge of Lost Souls, his patience and our peloton’s supply of inner tube and CO2 cartridges exhausted.
Four flats on a single ride is terribly bad luck. In Delta, it’s inevitable.
Photo by Mario Bartel Coun. Bill Harper, the co-chair of the City of New Westminster’s Intelligent City Advisory Committee, examines a section of plastic conduit that will house high-speed fibre optic cable to be installed throughout the city over the next two years. The city will operate its new BridgeNet network as a utility, leasing capacity to private Innternet Service Providers which will then sell connections to business and residential customers.
New Westminster is getting a new highway.
But this one won’t pour even more vehicles off and on the ageing Pattullo Bridge.
This highway moves data.
And, it’s hoped, move British Columbia’s oldest city well into the future.
Tuesday, the City of New Westminster launched its new BridgeNet fibre optic network. When it’s completed in five years, the network of fibre optic cable encased in bright orange plastic conduits buried in the ground will bring gigabit internet to businesses, agencies, industries and residents from Queensborough to Sapperton.
The initiative is the backbone of New Westminster’s “intelligent city” strategy to drive its economic growth over the next 20 years, said Bill Harper, the co-chair of the task force that developed the program in consultation with business, industry and residents.
“You’re going to have to have an intelligent city if you’re going to survive in the modern world,” said Harper.
Gigabit internet capability over fibre optic cable means data can be downloaded at speeds up to 940 megabits per second; conventional internet speeds over existing copper cables range from 10-50 Mbps.
That means more than being able to watch Orange is the New Black on Netflix without pixellating or participating in a multi-player video game without buffering, said Harper. “It’s a process of getting to the next stage of economic development.”
That development will bring new knowledge-based jobs to the city in health care, high tech, innovation and even the film industry.
Nicholas Boughen has been champing at the gigabit since he opened his CG Masters School of 3D Animation and VFX in the Shops at Westminster Station four years ago. Creating digital effects for film, television and games takes a lot of computer power; a single frame of an explosion can take 1,000 gigabytes of data. Moving that amount of data over existing copper cables to massive “rendering farms” where stacks of thousands of powerful computers transform digital ones and zeros into orange balls of flame and roiling smoke is impractical. So Boughen built his own rendering hobby garden of 80 computers in house. Still, rendering a student project can take days.
Having a high-speed connection to the remote rendering farms will “mean our training program becomes more capable,” said Boughen. And that’s attractive to VFX giants like Sony Pictures, Imageworks and Industrial Light & Magic, who he foresees could one day occupy the empty floors of the Anvil Centre’s office tower.
That’s not just fanciful thinking said Alvin Chok, BridgeNet’s Chief Information Officer.
As young workers that drive the technology industries get priced out of the Vancouver housing market, they’re looking to more affordable cities like New West that also offer the big city amenities they value like access to transit and walkability. So are their employers.
“They want to stay connected to the world,” said Chok. “Their big motivators are rents and affordable real estate compared to Yaletown.”
The City will build and operate BridgeNet as a utility. It will install, maintain and own the network, leasing capacity to private Internet Service Providers that will then provide access to business and residential customers; to date four ISPs have signed on.
The network’s backbone will be completed in two phases; the first will connect Uptown, Downtown and Sapperton and next year’s second phase will extend to the West End and Queensborough. The ISPs will then connect businesses and multi-family residential complexes to the backbone. The ISP’s at Tuesday’s launch event, like UrbanFibre, were advertising Gigabit internet connections for residential customers for $79 a month.
But it’s in the business sector the city hopes BridgeNet will really connect. High speed fibre will be an allure for upcoming developments at Sapperton Green, the Brewery District and Queensborough, as well as existing office space Downtown and Uptown, said Chok.
“We’ll have enough capacity so we can scale up,” said Chok. “We can accommodate future needs.”
Including the demands of a redeveloped and expanded Royal Columbian Hospital which will rely on high speed internet to move vast amounts of data like hi-res X-Rays, MRIs and even remote robotic operations.
“Jobs are being created in technology,” said Harper. “The innovation curve is huge; it’s going straight up.”
For more information about BridgeNet, including an interactive map of where and when it will be available, go to www.bridgenetnw.ca
I was recently commissioned to shoot some product photos for Steel & Oak Brewing Co., to be used on their various social media feeds. They’re a small craft brewery located about 400 meters from our condo. Needless to say, I’m fairly familiar with their products…
With apologies to the Eagles, there’s a new kit in town.
Actually, the Fraser River Fuggitivi road bike group has been rolling up and down the hills of New Westminster and beyond for about five years. But this spring the squadron has achieved a milestone coveted by every collective of roadie riders; they’ve got kit.
That’s cycling speak for fancy custom-designed jerseys and shorts emblazoned with the team’s name as well as the logos of various local sponsors. They’re not just riders anymore; they’re rolling billboards for an elite selection of supportive businesses. They’re also ambassadors for the city (minus the talent competition or commitment to wave from a parade float).
The Fuggitivi was formed by New Westminster roadie and New Zealand expat Guy Wilson-Roberts. He lives along the Quay and he got tired of trudging up the city’s interminable hills and rolling all the way into Vancouver to join a peloton of like-minded weekend athletes. By the time he got there, he was already pooped and of a mind to head back home.
So he put out a call on social media for fellow riders to come to him.
A few did. Those early pelotons were pretty modest; sometimes Wilson-Roberts’ group ride was just him.
But his persistence paid off; the group is growing.
This year there are about about 20 Fuggitivi (it’s the Italian word for fugitive) escaping the responsibility of their everyday lives twice a week for a few hours of freedom on the road; the group does a long ride of about 80-100 km every Sunday morning and a shorter, more intense climbing ride on Tuesday evenings.
There’s plenty of advantages to riding with a collegial group:
1. Camaraderie
In a group, you never ride alone. Unless you’re off the back early on a major ascent like Mt. Seymour. Then you’re left to the bears.
Actually, a good group ride will often splinter into smaller pelotons to accommodate different paces. And confuse the bears by giving them too many options.
In the Tour de France, the last rider in the pelton is known as the Laterne Rouge. On an FRF group ride up Mt. Seymour, he’s called bear kibble.
2. Beer
The FRF’s official hashtag is #moremilesmorebeer. And more refreshing than the Wayans’ brothers’ movie Mo’ Money.
Beer!
3. Mechanical assistance
See how the group pitches in to help a fellow cyclist who’s flatted get back on the road as quickly and cleanly as possible. Face it, best to leave the complicated repairs to the expert wrenches at The Original Bike Shop (shameless sponsor plug #1)
It’s all hands on handlebars when an FRF rider has to repair a flat.
4. Beer
Yes, some FRF rides make pitstops at craft breweries. Heck one of the group’s sponsors is a brewery! It’s in our DNA.
Beer.
5. Aerodynamics
Riding into a cool headwind, it’s actually an advantage to be off the back. Because that’s where you’ll be able to take advantage of the rest of the group slicing a path for you through the breeze. You can conserve about 30 per cent of your energy that way, giving you more endurance to bend your elbows for no. 6. Some group’s call such opportunists a “wheel suck;” in the FRF, that’s just smart riding.
This is how to stay out of the wind and conserve energy on a group ride.
6. Beer
Really, it’s just a four-letter word for carbo-loading.
Beer!
7. Sightseeing
Every week a new captain is responsible for the ride’s route. That means discovering new ways to reach familiar destinations. And sometimes subjecting your lithe road bike to knee-rattling gravel. That’s called channeling your inner Flandrian.
Channeling our inner Paris-Roubaix on a stretch of gravel in Richmond.
8. Um, beer
A traditional post-ride beverage favoured by cyclists is a radler. It’s a refreshing mix of beer and fizzy lemonade. It originated in Bavaria, where the drink was called a radlermass, which means “cyclist mass.” Lore has it an innkeeper just outside Munich was running low on beer during a cycling party, so he extended his dwindling kegs by mixing in lemon soda. BTW, Steel & Oak mixes a killer radler (shameless sponsor plug #2).
Radler!
9. Food
Cycling burns calories. We know this because our Garmin computers tell us so. Ride 100 km with your buddies and eat whatever you want the rest of the day. Especially if you crave delicious tacos at El Santo (shameless sponsor plug #3).
The lunch break or snack stop is a key highlight of the group ride.
10. Yup, beer
According to Bicycling Magazine, beer is an excellent natural source of folic acid, which helps reduce the chances of developing a cramp as you ride. If you stay cramp free, you’re less likely to try to ride through it and risk injury because your suffering body wasn’t up to the challenge. Unfortunately that means you won’t need to be taking advantage of the excellent rehab care at Trailside Physio anytime soon (shameless sponsor plug #4).
Beer!
11. Cool swag
Cyclists were wearing cycling caps long before it was cool to wear cycling caps. FRF’s cycling caps are amongst the coolest around. They’re even made by one of the group’s own members, Richard Lee of Red Dots Cycling (shameless sponsor plug #5). Richard also designed the FRF’s stylish new kit.
Oh yeah, you’ll also likely appear in cool photos like this at some point.
12. Navigation
When you ride with the FRF, you never get lost. Especially in Delta, the Bermuda Triangle of Cycling. Nobody gets lost in Delta. Ever.
To cyclists, Delta is the Bermuda Triangle that swallows whole groups whole and never releases them.
13. Beer
You’ve read this far; you’ve earned a beer. Then, oil the chain on your road bike, join the FRF and enjoy more beer.
And….beer!
To learn more about the Fraser River Fuggitivi, check their website or follow their Twitter feed @frfuggitivi. Cap’s The Original Bike Shop also conducts group rides on various days.
Not even a week off the bike and Strava has already forgotten about me.
The following article was first published on The Big Ring
Strava has forgotten who I am.
It’s six days into June and I’ve yet to throw a leg over the Lapierre. And already my mileage barometer has forsaken me.
I’m working again. That means trying rediscover a balance between working, riding and life.
A new job means adjusting to new routines that have a ripple effect on other aspects of our busy lives, like getting Little Ring to and from daycare, when to get groceries, managing household chores, finding time to binge-watch Silicon Valley. Too frequently in the past few weeks, it’s been the riding that’s been left behind.
My mileage on the bike is taking a hit.
In the months after my newspaper closed, I settled into a pretty simple routine; I still got up at 5:30 a.m. to shower and prepare breakfast for the family, get the household going. Once their days were established, I put time into scanning job sites, targeting possibilities, preparing resumés, drafting cover letters as well as crafted stories for my various blogs and freelance accounts to maintain my writing and social media chops. If there weren’t any other pressing errands, I was then free to ride.
Minus the niggling little problem of no income to replenish a dwindling bank account, it was a good routine that kept the household in order, my spirits up, my legs fit and my Strava account active.
While searching for new employment, I kept an eye out for opportunities that might allow me to commute by bike. As a journalist, I’d been denied that chance my entire career because we’re pretty much on the job once we step out the door, and during the drives around town or on the way home. That meant packing along the camera gear in case I was diverted to some sort of breaking news story or last-minute assignment. Or just scheduled to cover something on my way in or from the office because it was convenient.
A number of FRF members are regular bike commuters. I look at their Strava accounts with envy; those 20 km pedals to and from work really add up. And inevitably they’re the guys off the front during our weekly recreational rides.
I did manage to join one of the Tuesday climbing rides. But I thought that meant pedaling up and down hills, not riding elevators!
My new gig is a 400 metre walk from home! Which is awesome! But doesn’t afford me the chance to join the bike commuting culture.
I’m four weeks into the new position and I’m still getting my legs under me. Now I just have to figure out how to get those legs pedalling more frequently.
Jesse Cahill doesn’t think he’s “weird enough” to be mentioned in the same breath as David Byrne.
But the New Westminster drummer and the Talking Heads’ frontman known for his herky-jerky dancing and shock of white hair share a similar passion for bicycles.
Byrne expresses his love for two-wheeled transport in prose; he authored a book about his experiences riding his folding commuter bike between gigs around the world. Cahill uses a medium-format film camera to photograph bikes he’s encountered while traveling through Europe, Asia, and the Americas with his rockabilly band, Cousin Harley. In June, an exhibition of eight of his photos will be on display at the New Westminster Public Library in conjunction with Bike Month.
Chicago Escape Plan
New Westminster Escape Plane
Miniature Escape Plan
Cahill, 40, says he’s been commuting by bicycle for as long as he can remember; to school as a kid, to McGill University where he studied music, to his job in Downtown Vancouver where he teaches at the VSO School of Music.
He never really considered his bike as more than a cheap way to get around until he started photographing other bikes he saw during road trips with his band. In places like Belgium and the Netherlands, where the bike is essential transportation, he regarded bicycles as the solution for moving lots of people in a small space.
“Everybody has one,” says Cahill. “They’re utilitarian and egalitarian.”
They can also be stylish, with flourishes to their form that give them a timeless quality and bely their function to convey people or parcels or often both.
“They have a certain style to them,” says Cahill. “When it’s all over, there will be nothing left but cockroaches and old steel bikes.”
Cahill’s bike photography became a serious project a few years ago. He sets aside time at every stop while on tour to seek out distinctive or unique bikes leaning against walls, locked to trees, chained to fences. He tries to photograph them in isolation, standing apart from the hustle and bustle of a car-centric world.
“I want people to consider the possibilities of cycling,” says Cahill, who often builds narratives in his head about the owners of the bikes he photographs but rarely encounters them. “It can be transformative. It can be an escape. You can ride for the pure joy of it. You can be yourself.”
Cahill’s exhibition of bike photographs, Escape Plan, is on display in the upstairs gallery at the New Westminster Public Library through the month of June.
The first time I was assigned to cover the Hyack Anvil Battery’s annual Victoria Day salute to the Queen, I heeded all the precautions from my photo colleagues; wear earplugs and keep my mouth open to help dissipate the concussion from the gunpowder blast. And prepare for the cacophony of car alarms from around the neighbourhood that answers every concussion.
The event itself perplexed and captivated me.
Any time people gather to blow things up, there’s the potential for great photos. Dress in bright red historical costumes, repeat the explosions 21 times and, well, that’s a good day for any photographer.
Over 25 Victoria Days at the NewsLeader, I missed only a handful of anvil salutes; usually when the spring holiday coincided with my own vacation.
The anvil salute is the perfect New Westminster tradition; steadfastly rooted in the city’s history, quirky in a modern context. Its origin was an improvised solution by the city’s fire brigade when a cannon wasn’t available for the annual salute to be fired on Queen Victoria’s birthday. One of the members, a former Royal Engineer, recalled seeing gunpowder placed between two anvils to create a cannon-type concussion.
Blacksmith Thomas Ovens, who would go on to become Mayor, donated a pair of anvils and members of the brigade set to work experimenting with the amount of gunpowder needed to create the desired explosions without blowing off anyone’s head or hands. The ceremony has endured ever since.
And while attendance in the grandstand at Queen’s Park Stadium waxes and wanes according to the weather, witnessing the anvil salute has become a kind of rite of passage for new residents to the city; every year when emcee Archie Miller asks how many people are seeing the ceremony for the first time, about half the hands go up.
I may no longer be employed by the local media, but it somehow feels wrong to walk away from the tradition of the anvil salute. There’s familiarity in seeing the same old faces of the Anvil Battery, a twinge of sadness when one of those faces is no longer there. There’s comfort in the event’s rhythm and Miller’s annual history lesson. And when the first blast ignites, its concussion punching my chest, I still feel the thrill of being a part of something uniquely New West.
The anvil salute was started by members of New Westminster’s Hyack fire brigade, many of whom had previously served with the Royal Engineers who built the city. Photo by Mario Bartel
Members of the Hyack Anvil Battery look on during the annual Vcitoria Day 21-gun salute to the Queen at Queen’s Park Stadium. Photo by Mario Bartel
New Westminster Mayor Jonathan Coté flinches as he gets his turn to fire the anvil salute. Photo by Mario Bartel
The anvil salute to the Queen on Victoria Day is also the launch of New Westminster’s annual week-long Hyack Festival.
The Hyack anvil salute to the Queen is the only ceremony of its kind in the world. Photo by Mario Bartel
Fred Sparkes calls out for the next shot. Photo by Mario Bartel
Members of the Battery look on as the first of 21 shots is ignited by sparking gunpowder between two heavy iron anvils. The unique ceremony originated in the 1870s when the Hyack Fire Company didn’t have a cannon available to fire a salute to Queen Victoria on her birthday. One of the members, a former Royal Engineer, recalled once seeing gunpowder and the anvils being used to create a blast. Photo by Mario Bartel
As the smoke still clears from the previous shot, members of the Hyack Anvil Battery set up the anvils for the next one. Photo by Mario Bartel
The ceremony concludes with three cheers for the Queen. Photo by Mario Bartel
“Medical officer” Jerry Dobrovolny gives a thumbs up as he checks whether each member of the Hyack Anvil Battery made it through the 21-anvil salute. Photo by Mario Bartel
Kevin Kirkland, of the Hyack Anvil Battery, makes a hasty retreat after igniting the gunpowder between two heavy iron anvils. Photo by Mario Bartel
Members of the Hyack Anvil Battery relax prior to the annual renewal of their unique 21-gun salute to the Queen on Victoria Day at Queen’s Park. Rather than firing off a gun 21 times, members of the Battery place gunpowder between two iron anvils, which then is then ignited by a hot poker at the end of a long rod. Photo by Mario Bartel
Jerry Dobrovolny, the Hyack Anvil Battery’s “medical officer,” alights the anvils. Photo by Mario Bartel
MARIO BARTEL 