Snowy Splendor

Christmas Eve in the backyard

Fat, happy snowflakes on the local rinks

Fat tires carry me through the dark

The way is clear, my heart joyful

I hope your wheels carry you 

Joyfully through the season

Merry Christmas!

Warm Feet With Lake Winter MTB Boots

I've got several seasons in with my Lake Winter MTB Boots and they have to rank near the top of my favorite equipment of all time list. I've once again been wearing them on my commutes and find them to be as comfortable as they are warm. Temps have dropped into the single digits Fahrenheit (a dozen or so below Celsius) and I have been plenty warm every day. My commute is currently just over 16 miles or 26 kilometers for those using the more rational measuring system, which takes me just over an hour with the extra gear and studded tires. These boots also have reflective markings front and rear so they also help me show up in traffic.

Now as good as the boots are, I do use chemical heater for longer rides when the temps are 30 degrees (f) or lower. I also put on neoprene shoe covers for zero and below but they keep my toes warm. Warm toes are good for everyone but for someone like me that experiences Raynaud's Phenomenon,

 

warmth is both difficult and critical to maintain. My toes can go numb sitting around the house in the summer if the air conditioning is set a bit too high. OK, the Wikipedia pictures are overly dramatic (where did they find orange and bright red people?) for how it affects me mostly due to my aerobic fitness level as that helps greatly.

The bottom line, however, is that even though I have had some issues with them, the Lake Winter Boots have opened the winter season to me for riding and I can't imagine winter riding without them. Oh and they are clipless so along with the warmth I can still maintain my full power-stroke which is sometimes all that keeps me upright in the deeper snow.

I don't Get It

We got a dusting of snow

less than an inch

and as I sit here

I hear the sound

of a snowblower

clearing the top 1/4 inch

followed by the

sound of a shovel

getting the last 1/2 inch.

Petroleum independence might be further away than I think...

This is Winter!

When I leave the house I see this

I look up the alley

and down the alley

and I saddle up and head out

with a big smile on my face.

In the middle of my commute

 I hop the train for a while.

This is my commuter hanging

in the commuter train,

a convenient option

that splits my riding into

two six mile legs

which is great.

However

This isn't so great

see the footsteps

next to the bike track?

It's the Mendota Bridge

The bike path is filled

with what was plowed

off

the road and

onto

the bike path,

frosted with several

inches of fresh powder.

Without snow it looks like this.

Notice how far the

highway sign is

from where I stand

 in each of the pictures.

It's a looooooooooong bridge.

The good thing is that it overlooks

the Minnesota River Valley

I just missed two

Eagles cavorting in

the chilly air in this shot.

Nearly a mile of hike-a-bike

made me a little slow

pulling out the camera.

Now I just have to figure out

how to determine when

the bike path on the bridge

gets cleared

so that I can ride

rather than trudge.

After all, I can drive some days...

Winter's here!

My commute's not gonna look like this again for a long time

Let's hear it for the winter commute!

Missing, presumed having a good time...

Having too much fun to post.

Hoped to put up some pics from the muddy mountain biking last weekend but I managed to shoot all my photos in macro mode. It makes them look like this:




Which is its' own flavor of cool but doesn't show the massive mud spattering on everyone.

Equal Time!

It was a cold wet commute coming home tonight. The sun had long set so it was night-dark even though it was still in the thick of rush hour. I take to the left lane to make a left turn, lit up like a christmas tree as I always am for my darkness commutes. Traffic is slow so I just merge into the left lane but I miss the light so I am stopped waiting in the rain for the light to change when a guy in a pick up rolls his window down and and says, "Be safe!" while giving me a thumbs up.

(thanks PhotoBucket!)

There are two sides to every coin and this guy totally made my Friday commute and restored my faith in human kindness and set my weekend off on a pretty good note. I had almost ten miles yet to go in the steadily increasing rain but I smiled with every turn of the cranks. It's easy to whine about the morons but isn't it really the random acts of kindness that keep the whole thing stitched together?

Bucolic Parkway

I have, as part of my commute, a bucolic little parkway that many moron drivers use as a high speed shortcut from the Hiawatha corridor.

I've

screamed and been screamed at,

flipped off and been flipped off,

banged on windows,

doors,

fenders

(and anything else I could reach)

been driven off the road by

people passing way too close,

people driving up onto the grass

(one guy telling me he won't be that nice next time)

people swerving over at me from the oncoming lane

(generally telling me to get the $%^&* off the road)

So

After too many morons drivers have put my life at risk, I have surrendered to the bike path for this section.

It has a 10 mph speed limit and during warmer weather is filled with

dogs stretching their leashes across the bike path,

meandering baby stroller pushers,

squeaky cruisers wobbling from side to side,

occasional punk clusters practicing their rudeness skills

(they're already rude enough and don't need more practice)

As annoying as these all are, none of them are as likely to kill me as the pea-brained cagers who seem confused between the terms Parkway and Raceway.

The good part is that all the fair-weather path users have abandoned the path so I generally have it to myself except for the occasional fellow commuter refugees who all nod knowingly.

Who has time for this?

I face this sign every day in the locker room at work.

 

I don't leave things in the locker room but damn if you've gotta spend two whole weeks contacting Facilities to get your stuff back.

Tomorrow will be a good day

I'm pretty sure about it since all the suckageness that I can imagine landed on today. It started with forgetting my badge and having the regular security guard out and his replacement didn't quite get the routine so I spent ten minutes just trying to start on what would be 11 hours of contorted effort into which I needed to pack about 40 hours of productive time. Needless to say, I left some work undone and will have to get in early tomorrow to have any hope of not repeating todays carnage.

When I get home I can count on some serious quality time since I have the honor of living with the sweetest lady on the face of the earth. I contemplated, fantasized about the relaxing evening waiting for me. Cocktail in one hand and nothing to do but kick back until sleep overwhelmed me, something I suspected wouldn't take long.

However...I have this wonderful dog.



Really, he's a great pooch. Well trained, sensible, predicable and pretty much lives his life with the most optimism of any creature I have ever known. Lovely to come home to after fighting the corporate fight since every day for him is a great day. But he is still a dog and today he demonstrated in exemplary style what the statement 'sicker than a dog' really means.

I used to train dogs with the same vigor I turn the cranks and had a house full of them. I know what can go wrong and what a sick dog is like to come home to but today that was totally redefined even though he is the only dog in the house. I'll spare you the details but let's just say that if I had hired a painter to paint the basement floor, I would have been quite please with how thoroughly he had covered the floor down to every single nook and cranny. Places, in fact, that I didn't know existed.

I just wanted to come home to my nothing box. Instead, it was several hours of something I never want to do.

SO, with all the action packed into today, I just know tomorrow will be a good day.