Reflecting on reflection

So last night we took two pictures. One of me on the bike with no flash and one with the flash to see what I look like when highlights hit the reflectors.  Since I never see the bike save from one perspective I wonder whether I have been wasting my time with an exacto knife.

I feel better now.

It was a bit chilly

Apparently the air temp got a bit low last night on my way home.  I froze to my Balaclava.  Well, my beard did.  No frostbite that I am aware of yet (nothing is purple).  I didn't get home till a few minutes after 8 so my commute took an hour and a half again.  But the trails through Eagan were complete shite.  After 4 miles of zigzagging through muck I took to the streets and the going improved.  

I wasn't surprised to see snow on the Mendota bridge... I was surprised by the ice on the Bloomington side.  Twice.

I would like to say the teenage drivers on Highland Parkway are much more polite than the old fogies in their minivans.  Do they feel threatened by a cyclist? Do they think following closer will make me move over into the mushy snow?  I know my rights. [/rant]

I need to get Shannon grips for her bike.  I don't know how we forgot to get them before...  I don't know what I'm going to do, usually when I get to Hiawatha it is just moments before close...  I'll have time to...browse...dun Dun DUUN

Joe Soucheray can eat my socks

Up yours ass hole.

(I will provide no context for this outburst.  I don't want anyone to send him letters.  I don't want anyone to look up his article in the tuesday paper.  I don't want him to profit from increased exposure from excited readers, regardless of their opinion.)

Guy Woodhouse

Some folks are curious what Guy Woodhouse looks like.  I'd say: the ugliest bike in our stable, Shannon says the greater metro.

I think it's worth five dollars.

The handsome Cannondale in the background is Shannon's winter bike.

What I like about Guy is the simplicity of his parts.  There is very little that can go wrong mechanically.  With the cube prism reflective tape on the fork and rack it glows like a christmas tree.  And with the patches of dirt and rust and overall crappy appearance an otherwise sound bike will never ever be stolen.  I hope.

and then I found five dollars

Back in college this was the classic end too a lame story that took too long to tell and the audience became bored from.

Last week, I was going to bike home and Shannon called me to say it was too cold.  So we agreed to meet at a nearby Starbucks.  But I got there first, so I rode up and down the street and through a bunch of fresh snow.  

So I'm riding around in circles having a ball.  Light snow is flying all over, the bike felt like it was floating. And then the wind went right through me.  So I decided to stand next to the building out of the wind.  Crossing the powdery snow, aiming for the parking lot, imagining exploding out onto the pavement. 

Whump

I got stuck in the compressed snow from the plow.  As I haul the bike out of the snow an SUV stopped and the people inside insisted I take five dollars.

With a high degree of awesome.

Biking in the winter has always been fun. But having better traction has vastly improved the comfort over distances.

But then last night I found myself stuck on the Mendota bridge. Eagan seems to have forgotten to plow their sidewalks. And then Mendota stopped too.

So I called for backup and did power slides in the church parking lot till Shannon picked me up.

To all those who thought the price of beer in Canada meant nothing.

Because with enough funding, research can be found for damned near anything.

Guy Woodhouse

So after this morning's ride I think I've dubbed the Miyata.

Guy Woodhouse.  

because that traction was something

Finally some god damned snow

Since I put the studded tires on the Miyata a few weeks ago, the weather has been mind bogglingly nice.  So this morning, since it has finally snowed an inch,  I tested out the studly tires on ice for the first time.

It was like I'd made a pact with the devil.  When the bike should have flipped out from under me it was sure footed (can a bike that has no feet have footing?).

Anyway, it was awesome.  I rode down the river road and back without loosing control, even when the back wheel tried to escape in a frozen rut.

What I will need to do is add a layer of sock; my toes were freeezing.