Tires

When I purchase tires for my bikes, I painstakingly read reviews and use my own experiential information to make a well informed decision, as tires matter. Traction, rolling resistance, price, durability and appearance are all variables I consider.

So when my Toyota needs tires I run to the local Costco and focus mainly on price and brand. I've had good luck in the past with Michelin tires so I get them again.

I'm sure tires differ greatly but have little experience from which to judge tread patterns. Too bad that it isn't possible to "try on" a few different tires on before choosing. Since this is not an option, I simply rely on printed literature from the manufacturer. My new tires are described as follows:

Features & Benefits

* 80,000-Mile Limited Warranty*
X® Radial DT tires feature MaxTouch Construction™, a unique contact patch shape and design that allows for long-lasting, even treadwear. The tread life of the X Radial DT tires last up to 15,000 more miles versus the leading competitor.†
* Quiet, Comfortable Ride
Michelin Comfort Control Technology™ uses computer-optimized design and precision manufacturing to offer greatly reduced vibrations and road noise.
* Sure Grip in Wet and Snow
An all-weather tread pattern includes full-depth sipes for exceptional traction in rain or snow that lasts throughout the entire life of the tire.

In the end my new tires are great. $314 well spent. The car drives like new, but I can't help wonder if it could have been even better.

Artcrank 09

Here is the poster I purchased. It is the 22nd copy of a set of 25.

Here is a complete selection of the posters for sail. Many good ones.

Click on the images to make them bigger.

Fargo/Moorhead Flood

Friday morning Jared and I drove to Moorhead to help our mother with the flood. She lives on a river lot turned to lake property. We left the Twin Cities at about 7:30 am and arrived in Moorhead just before noon. We helped a couple of neighbors add sand bags to their dikes and assessed the needs at mom's. The only volunteers in the neighborhood were fire fighters and national guard troops. Seeing national guard troops in full gear and Kevlar helmets driving by in a Hummer highlighted the gravity of the situation. A crest of 43 ft as predicted would not be something we could have withstood. The Red was at 40.8ft and rising. We assessed needs and watched what would happen next. Being offered a ham sandwich by disaster service workers also let me know this was an extraordinary event.

Our plan for Saturday was to add height to one part of the dike and to move essential items from the basement in case of a worst case collapse. With the help of several volunteer fire fighters from small towns around the state we made quick work of our levy reinforcement. We also checked back-up pumps and their frozen discharge hoses. I felt our main job was to anticipate problems and take steps to solve them before they became disasters. The swimming pool in the dike protected ring started to rise as hydraulic pressure forced ground water down and under the dike. This never caused more than a trickle. Another potential problem is a huge pump to pull storm sewer water out and pump it over and next to our dike. We feared vibrations and erosion would cause a collapse. After expressing our concerns the city decided to wait til Sunday when they could do the job properly.

Sunday we waited until the huge pump was placed. 40 fire fighters including 4 in the water with dry suits did what looks like a quality job. With the water dropping, pumps in place and the dike reinforced we felt good about heading home. Still 3 Coast Guard rescue helicopters flew over head as we were loading up the truck to return.

This picture would be titled "Hope"

Chinese Acrobats in Red Wing

We drove to Red Wing to the historic Sheldon Theatre to see the Golden Dragon Acrobats of China.

Amazing feats of strength, balance and flexibility were the hallmarks of each performance. Yao Ming and Circus de Soleil have nothing on these athletic artists.

Spring's Here Family Ride

This chimney rises from the ruins of an old WPA work camp site. Workers in the 30's lived at this site while doing infrastructure improvement projects to stimulate the economy

Cool ice falls behind the kids.


Claire and Harris are searching for Ordovician fossils. We found one not so great brachiopod.

Rite of Passage

Claire helped Harris move to a new phase in his life. One tooth loosening kick to the face led to the boy's first date with the Tooth Fairy. He couldn't wait to show me the resulting gap.

My Day and The 18th Annual Traditional 3D Shoot

A bit of a dull day. Spent time being dad in the morning and cleaned winter grit out of the basement. I was hoping to get a bike ride in, but I'm still sick. I think I need a new drug.

I did do a little ride around the neighborhood in the Sidis and new pedals. The shoes are amazing; they have an out of the box custom fit. Like Jared says, "I want a couch made of Lorica." The pedals work well too, but I'm not sure I like a cleat with float. The old Fuji felt a bit like "the stranger" after riding the Trek exclusively this winter.

For dinner I grilled up some ribs to take advantage of today's weather. 50 is welcome. Pulled out the bow and shot a few arrows with confidence at my small target without a backstop. It's funny how I can shoot well after not releasing an arrow for months. Of course, sucking comes easily too at times.

The day led me to think of the traditional shoot. I looked it up. The 18th Annual Traditional 3D Shoot is on June 20 and 21, 2009. It is an event that I look forward each year.

Cereal Killer

Who planted the Freakies tree? Where did these go? Are they still made.

My Favorite Molecule

I'm still f-ing sick. Turns out my common cold was a pilot fish for the man eating shark that's got me down. (See previous post if confused) I went to the doctor on Monday where I was bled, asked to pay heaps of money and was exposed to x-rays. The doctor concluded from this time and expense that I'm sick, but he isn't sure why.

Finally, today, after being sick for two more days, I am prescribed Zithromax, pictured above in molecular form, to treat pneumonia. I needed to be sick long enough to prove what the costly tests couldn't. I did better treating myself in Taiwan with Web MD in English and my local pharmacy in Chinese. As for antibiotic resistance, much of the world buys these meds without a prescription while we are forced to wait.

Where's our health care reform? Something like Canada's system can't be worse. Bad care would be cheaper under their system anyway. $1,600 per month plus co-pays for this?

Sick

I'm down with a chest cold this weekend. Sucks! It makes me appreciate the times when I'm not sick.

Last summer, I got a similar cold; it turned out to be pneumonia. I'm not anticipating such a development with this case.

I found this poster on the web. It was printed through a W.P.A art project, I'd guess in the early thirties. Makes me think of the current stimulus package and health-care reform work that is going on.

In the John

Thank Q

Change is good but changing sucks

One of my life’s themes entails meshing old stuff with new stuff. I appreciate new things, and value upgraded convenience. However, I have come to loath trying to retrofit things.

Case in point, last week the old dishwasher died. No problem, I have the cash to just go buy a new one. Removing the old one entailed about 6 screws, a water line and two wire nuts. Easy.

The new dishwasher is quite similar to the old. I didn’t even upgrade to the stainless front, because it’s a 100 dollar splash of make-up. I learned from my reading that even a stainless tub is largely cosmetic as plastic tubs fails years after the motors quit working. I was told dishwashers had a life span of 7-10 years regardless of price. I digress.

The new stuff causing me problems was a braided stainless, bendy, fill hose I picked up to replace the old “flexible” copper fill line. The old fill line was hard to work with, as it didn’t seem to want to bend where required.

After picking up the new hose, I needed to return to the hardware store for a new elbow to go from the dishwasher to the hose, trip two. Then I needed an adapter to go from the hose to the feed valve, trip three. Damn! I Picked up pipe thread instead of compression thread, trip three. Returned to get proper thread, trip four. Still didn’t fit cursed a lot. I learned there is not a fitting that goes from my old shut off valve to the right size. I purchased a new valve, trip five. Once the valve was installed the new hose was easy as promised. But, what did it take to benefit from the new hose’s flexibility.

Hardware upgrades at home become metaphor for epistemological, behavioral, relational and ideological change. I value the improvement, but sometimes procrastinate because change is a pain in the ass.

Handmade Bicycle Show Feb. 27th

The Handmade Bicycle Show is a favorite. I would love to go. I went to the International Bike show in Taipei, but it was full of plebian components and bikes. I imagine the handmade show to be nonstop pedal powered patricians.

A copule of pugslyesque, endomorphic stompers for Jared.

Fast bike in Battle Mountain Nevada

During the Christmas of 1981, while on a family trip our motorhome burst into flames in Battle Mountain Nevada just after filling both gas and propane. We thought it was going to blow! Troy, my older brother, had to bail-out quickly. I still laugh when I remember seeing him stand watching the action in his underwear. Just minutes before the fire started my mother told him to put some pants on in case of an emergency.

Anyway my last post about a fast bike sent me searching for video on the subject. I stumbled on this. It seems to contradict my speedy Schwinn post?

108.92 MPH on a Schwinn

I saw this bike at the Bicycle Museum of America's site.

It has wooden rims and weighed 26.5lbs. No information on the gear ratio.

Pirates

Claire performed in a school play called Pirates over the weekend. I didn't know until I watched the show that she had the lead. She even sang solos. It was one of those proud parent moments.

Video of kids from Norway messing with a train.

I found other versions of this video that I could share, but this one has the best image quality. As, Q said, I'll give you your time back in you're not satisfied.

Kids Messing With Train

Warmer Days

The warmer weather has me thinking of sunny family bike rides. We rode from Sibley House to Fort Snelling. Also enjoyed a tour and picnic.

Nordic Ski jumping

Jared and I went out for a Nordic ski today. Here is some of the video that we didn't shoot. Jared, however, did dig an edge in and fly 15 feet snow print to snow print.

They Call Me Coach

These picture shows a little about how I spend my afternoons from Nov. until Feb. This is from a Jan. 22nd classic ski meet I held on my school's campus. Great weather and fast snow.

My team is young. We were in the middle of the pack for our high school race, but took 1st with both boys and girls in the middle school race.

Kids on My Ski Course

Claire skied and Harris played. I gave the boy a shoulder ride while I skied around, so he didn't feel too left out.

Yesterday and Tomorrow

This inaugural eve has me excited about the future. Likewise, my middle school students from other language backgrounds hum with optimism about Obama.

In a belief based nation where our currency, banks, stock markets and government have value solely because people believe they have value, a positive outlook is essential.

Thus, it is fitting that the vision giving leadership of Barak Obama follows a day dedicated to the legacy of MLK whose "I have a Dream Speech" still inspires children.

Obama spoke the following words at a pre-inauguration speech.

As I stand here tonight, what gives me the greatest hope of all is not the stone and marble that surrounds us today, but what fills the spaces in between. It is you - Americans of every race and region and station who came here because you believe in what this country can be and because you want to help us get there.

It is the same thing that gave me hope from the day we began this campaign for the presidency nearly two years ago; a belief that if we could just recognize ourselves in one another and bring everyone together - Democrats, Republicans, and Independents; Latino, Asian, and Native American; black and white, gay and straight, disabled and not - then not only would we restore hope and opportunity in places that yearned for both, but maybe, just maybe, we might perfect our union in the process.


MLK's famous words,
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

Happy Feet Show and Tell

I have had problems with sore feet on long rides for years. I had numb toes for a month after my ride to Fargo a couple of years ago. Even with platform pedals and cushioned running shoes I have to stop every 30 miles or so to take the pressure of my feet.

With foot pain in mind, I borrowed Jared's Sidi Genius 5 shoes last year when I did the Ironman century. They were outstanding. I never had to think about my feet. I am signing up for the Ironman again this year, so I just put an order in for these shoes. $170 from Performance. Cheapest I've found in my size. Comfortable feet are worth alot.

Noodle Making with Uncle Jared & Maya with a Croc

New BC Skis

After a long wait, I'm hooked up with new skis. These are made for on and off groomed trails. Jared has the same skis, older model. I used his on my trip to Itasca with a loaded pack. They are big boy tested and approved. I mounted the bindings last night and look forward to using them tomorrow. Hoped to use them today, but decided to let the glue cure fully. I'll go set a track for my ski kids.

The sales pitch for these skis goes as follows: "Face the downhill with confidence when you’re on the Fischer E99 Crown Ski. Full-length metal edges grab like mad so you can gracefully link tele turns down the hill. Mountain Crown scales bite into the snow on the flats and uphills, giving you unmatched traction on long tours, and air channels in the body minimize weight to help you conserve energy for a long day in the backcountry."

Xtreem Minimalism/Rideable?

Wheeeeeeee!

Totem Pole

A Night At Q's and the Octagon.

Skull Beneath The Skin

This picture is by artist Chitra Ganesh. While I'm not a fan of his art, I lifted the image from Boing Boing because it reminded me of the following lines from T.S. Eliot's Whispers of Immortality. A poem expressing that some beauty is temporal, and, thus to be appreciated more.

WEBSTER was much possessed by death
And saw the skull beneath the skin;
And breastless creatures under ground
Leaned backward with a lipless grin.

Daffodil bulbs instead of balls
Stared from the sockets of the eyes!
He knew that thought clings round dead limbs
Tightening its lusts and luxuries.