Why I Ride a Bike

Am I in the United States?

My president speaks complete sentences, and is of mixed race. There are orders coming out of said president's office closing down prisons that hold people without trial and check the wages of the highest earners on his staff. Word on the street is the war in Iraq is ready to enter a new phase: the beginning of the end. Pinch me, I am dreaming. For this is unreal.

My front tire went flat yesterday riding home - right as I rode up to Hennepin Ave station. I don't want to sully my road bike and have been rather lazy to walk over to the bike store by my house to buy a new tube so I have been using my car to get around. I hate the thing. Ice builds up on the inside of my winshield so that I have to use the scraper to get it off. And that barely works.

I signed up for a photography newletter that assigns a weekly homework assignment and offers tips, tricks and other ideas. I figure if I read about it and am reminded by it, perhaps I can keep up with my resolution. I was walking through downtown during lunch today through one particular building and realised I have to come back and shoot some photos - it has a rather unique interior (Butler Sq. Building). I remember walking through it with my dad as a kid getting to the Target Center via the skyways. It still looks impressive!

Here are some cool things I found on the interwebs today:
Obameter: Tracking Obamas promises.
Zip (de) Code fun!

Things to do this week: get my library card. I've been stalling on that for 2 months after not having on since junior high.

Wolf Creek Waterfall at Banning State Park, MN.

Snow plow

Not quite sure what I was thinking today when I woke up and looked at the forecast. I knew it was going to be windy -gusts up to 40 MPH- I knew it was going to snow -4 inches- I knew the windchill was going to drop -down to 30F below or more- yet I still hopped on my bike and made the easy ride to the station and then to work. I watched the snow fall and wondered why I did rode in. I knew it was going to be tricky getting home. I left work at 5 and had an ok time getting back to the station downtown. Nothing had been plowed obviously and my front tire was sucked into the mush created by car tires driving over fresh snow. My rear tire spun with any pedaling. I tried to find the shallowed parts to get traction and any sort of solid connection. I had to walk over the narrower bridges by the new Twins stadium. When I arrived at 28th st. station I made it a couple blocks before I was unable to go any further. I had to walk about a mile along American Blvd. as there was no way I was riding in the street with moronic drivers. I plowed through the snow with it eventually reaching the bottom of my fork (middle of the wheel!) and snow up to my shins. Riding past the airport plains the snow tends to drift and pile up. It just so happened to pile up on the sidewalk where I was walking. The last couple streets I take were OK to ride on without fear of death by auto. I was biking along Old Cedar Ave through the snow moving faster than people going south on HWY 77. It was a parking lot. That's my favorite part of the ride. In the end, my commute took about 15 minutes longer than usual because of the on and off walking.

Cullen and I at our start of the Superior Hiking Trail outside Two Harbors, MN. September, 2008.