Trying to make the rich richer

Here's hoping Michael Ignatieff can put a scare into Stephen Harper and get some changes in the federal budget. I think I'm similar to most Canadians when I think another election will settle nothing and, while I'd like to see Harper out of power sooner rather than later, a coalition will probably anger a lot of Canadians even though they work quite well in other countries. After eight years of misery, I actually envy the States politically because they have a new, charismatic leader who seems to be putting a lot of stock in science and will restore the US's environmental reputation. Our leader only insists on helping out the rich.

Take the new Tax-Free Savings Account. Like the GST cuts, it's a perk for the rich disguised as a boon to every Canadian. I consider myself middle-class. LP and I bring home a good household income with me bringing home over two times what LP makes after taxes. We're good with our money without having to think about where we spend every penny. Our only debt is our mortgage which feels to be unlike most other Canadians in our age bracket who have car payments and credit card debt to deal with. We even have some money set aside to top up our RRSPs at tax time and then we'll use our return to pay down our mortgage. In July, we'll have our second child. We're unsure if LP will return to working but we think we can do well on my salary alone. Despite our good standing, unless someone can point out some huge advantage to the TFSA, we won't be using it.

We pay into our RRSP and are trying to max it out. 18% of our annual salaries is difficult to max out but we're close. We currently have one child so that's $2500/a to get the maximum benefit for Julie's RESP. Starting in July, we'll have to double that. Those are the two biggest savings plans for us. Number three on anyone's list should be their mortgage. If you decide to pay that off over the full 25 years, you'll pay double for your house. Granted, our interest rate is currently super-low thanks to the tanked global economy and we could probably invest our money for better returns but paying down your debt is always a good idea. Add all that together and over 60% of my net pay goes to savings plans and the mortgage. And now Stephen Harper thinks LP and I can find another $10 000/a? Good luck.

That money is taxed before it goes into the savings account so it's not like I can reduce my tax burden by putting it away. Currently, is there something secure I can invest in which will pay high interest? Sure, in time the markets will recover and steady investment in a mutual fund will reap the rewards but I'm already doing that with my RRSPs and I'm having trouble maxing those out. They also save me on my tax bill. ING will give me a 5-year GIC at 4% but that defeats the government's big selling point that I can access my money if I need it, unlike trying to withdraw from your RRSPs.

So who can benefit from Stephen Harper's little scheme? The answer is always the same: the rich. They're the ones who probably have an extra $5000 lying around to invest and would like to save a bit on the earnings. Until my house is paid off, I cannot take advantage of this offer and I'll bet 60 or 70% of Canadians won't be able to properly take advantage of it either without foregoing RRSPs or their mortgage. Then again, maybe that's Harper's little trick; maybe people will pay into a TFSA instead of their RRSPs and the government will collect more tax without people knowing their mistake. The extra money will help pay for a few more cabinet ministers who earn a big raise over regular MPs and are to be neither seen nor heard in a Harper government.

Oh, the irony

We did our monthly or so recycling run today. We like to let it build up so it barely fits in the trunk of the car. We pulled up to the recycling bins to see that someone had backed their Toyota Tundra right up to the little gate in the fence AND LEFT IT RUNNING! LP and I deposited our milk jugs and cardboard where they needed to be but not in record time. Just after we were done, the Tundra driving man finished as well. We noticed he took a few trips back and forth and wasn't speedy by any means. He had been there for a little while before we arrived by all appearances. I was left wondering why someone driving a nice looking Tundra who's taking the bother to recycle leaves his truck idling for 10 minutes in +10°C weather. Calgary is only just figuring out how to pick up recycling with regular garbage while Edmonton has been doing it for 15 years or more so it requires some effort by the citizens who do recycle so I assume anyone recycling in Calgary has some environmental awareness. I have a huge beef with the excess idling that goes on just to have a warm car instead of dressing properly and enduring the few minutes it takes to warm up the car while driving. I'm hoping more anti-idling laws will come into effect and be enforced. By the number of people who use the Fire Lane right in front of Superstore's doors as their own personal reserved parking spot without suffering any ill effects, I don't hold much hope.

Off-season over Nose Hill

I've started my off-season training with some weight lifting. I also had the urge to go for a ride and it was nice enough to do today. A number of paths have been added to the top of Nose Hill so I decided to see how they link up. It took me an hour on my cyclocross bike with knobby tires to complete a 20.3 km loop. I needed the knobby tires because there were a few sections with ice and coming down off Nose Hill was packed snow. It was enjoyable to descend on the snow but it was much bumpier than when I used to ride through the snow with my mountain bike with its front shock. The path on Nose Hill has also been inlaid with small rocks. It makes it a bit rough for slick tires but I imagine it's better for grip when walking in the winter when there's a little ice on the path. I averaged 149 bpm because I wasn't trying to go fast but there were 275 m of climbing and I'm not a climber.

Midweek Mayhem Finale

28 October and the last Midweek Mayhem cyclocross race of the year marked the end of my season. It was a race I probably shouldn't have entered since I hadn't ridden for three weeks before the race and I hadn't exactly been in good shape all summer. The course was fairly good with a few tricky elements. Still there were the usual climbs just to make people climb. In the weeks before, there had been a few cyclocross events on flat, twisty courses. I'm sorry I had missed those because I think they would have been more to my liking. With my bad conditioning and the sun setting early, I managed two laps before deciding to drop out. The winner did about six laps before the race was stopped. I probably would have managed about four in that time. I rode for 13:39 and covered 3.13 km for an average of 13.75 km/h.

Midweek Mayhem 'cross #3

Tuesday saw the second visit of Midweek Mayhem to Laycock Park. After feeling better during my two races on the weekend, I was looking forward to this race. It didn't disappoint as I ended up racing three women, including Tanya. I was able to stay with them for the first three or four laps. The lead was exchanged as one person would surge and the rest in the group would respond. I think I lost Tanya during the second climb of the lap. I was able to ride that climb the on the first lap but I didn't have it in my legs for the other laps. On the third or fourth lap, I plodded up the hill a little slower and moved aside for the riders who were lapping me. This allowed Tanya and one other woman to get away from me. Starting the fifth lap, the last woman in the group passed me but I stayed with her. I passed her back a short time later and was able to open up a gap of 10 or 15 seconds which I maintained until the end. Two other moments of note were me lapping another rider and our slower group getting to the short stretch of single-track just ahead of a group trying to lap us.

Hardcore Hop 'n' Hurl cyclocross

Sunday's race was also at Goldbar Park in Edmonton and I was disappointed with the course. Actually, I should say I was disappointed with the course designer. The technical guide showed a course which used the Woodchopper's Trail. I did a race at Goldbar a few years ago which used that trail and it was lots of fun. Sunday's course had a very good flat section around the small lake in the park with lots of twists and turns around trees but the second section of the course hadn't been changed from the race the previous day except barriers were placed in the middle of each hill which caused me to run up both of those hills instead of riding. A very good course but I was disappointed that something new hadn't been done for more than 80% of the lap. The stakes and tape was even the same as the previous day so it looks like it was just left out overnight.
Once again, I started at the back and toured around at my own speed. I did pass a slower rider on the first lap because he was much younger and much slower than me. On the second and third laps, I had a Pedalhead rider a short distance in front of me who I was slowly catching. Someone must have told him I was sneaking up on him as he picked up his pace and increased the gap.
I averaged 19 km/h for just over 46 minutes with a maximum speed of 45.6 km/h. I felt better than the day before since I never had any feelings of giving up after I was lapped. I don't think it was because I wasn't working as hard because I averaged 165 bpm with a maximum of 177 bpm; both just four beats per minute less than 24 hours previous.
After the race, I took Peter for a lap of the course since he bought a 'cross bike for commuting and was interested in seeing the race. It was nice to have him come and have a look. My dad was out for both races and seemed to have lots of fun playing with Julie and taking pictures. LP took a lot of pictures too and some are up on Flickr. She didn't get any of Peter though. It's nice having a few people cheering even though I'm just out for fun and won't be fighting for a win unless the top 23 out of 25 other races suffer some major mishaps.

GP Champion City cyclocross

I had been toying with calling this blog entry, "open battery surgery." Right off the top I should say that it wasn't anything wrong with me which was causing my low heart rate. My monitor got quite flaky the last time I wore it and was dropping lots of data points. I replaced the battery on Thursday and was up to maximum bpm for the races this weekend.
On Saturday, the GP Champion City cyclocross race took place at Goldbar Park in Edmonton. The weather was great and the course was fantastic. There were basically two sections: a flat, twisty section just after the start and then a more hilly section up above the park for the last two thirds of the lap. There was a good hairpin just before the start line and two dirt trail climbs which were challenging but could be climbed on the bike. My favourite corner was at the far NW end of the course. The trail had a slight bend to the left while going downhill. Where the trail emerged from the trees, there was a sharp right turn. The ground fell away slightly but very quickly and there was tape and a big side hill for anyone who ran wide.
The winner lapped me twice but the main field only lapped me once during the race. I was also able to keep many riders behind me but rode alone for almost all the race. I averaged over 17 km/h over 39 minutes and 42 seconds with a maximum speed of 44.6 km/h. My heart rate was back to normal values; I averaged 169 bpm with a maximum of 181.