cruiser revolution

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, famous for his admission that he used crack cocaine “in one of his drunken stupors, is also notoriously anti-bike.

Now it appears his anti-bike stance has extended to the construction of the BMX track being built as one of the venues for the upcoming Pan-Am Games in Toronto.

As part of an online video series, called Coffee Run, Rob Ford takes a ride with musician DeadMau5 to talk local politics, driving in Toronto and…the construction of the new Pan Am BMX track.

Here’s just part of the conversation (starting at about 17:30):

Ford: “There are some things that are just ridiculous. Like they’re building a BMX track.”

Deadmau5: “I saw that.”

Ford: “$4.5 million … They’re saying a professional BMX track, they got a quote, listen to this, for a million and a half bucks. A f–king track!”

Deadmau5: “I’ll do it for $500.”

Ford: I’ve got more calls coming in, and they said, ‘Hold on a second, no, the real cost is going to be $4.5 million.’ And I said, ‘Whoa partner.’ I said, ‘How can you get a quote for $1.5 million and then all of a sudden it triples in price?’ There’s a scam going on if you asked me. It’s ridiculous.”

Granted, $4.5 million does seem a little rich for a BMX track.  (That must be one heck of an announcer’s tower being built.)

Regardless of where you stand on the price tag of the Pan Am track, and Rob Ford in general, it’s still funny to hear him say, after all his past shenanigans, “I’m not a BMXer” in an interview.

That, and to think of how much caffeine is in his coffee order…five espresso shots(!) in a single cup.

Wow.