Urbanus Magnus

As the title of this post implies, I've gone and gotten myself a pair of studded tyres on the cheap - by fabricating them. Those old Chen Shins I had on the bike's rims came off without a single stud, but went back on with a ice-grippin' 104 studs per tyre. Total cost: $12.78 for 250 1/2 in. 8-size screws, compared to $100 + tax for the cheapest pair I could find elsewhere (including the interweb).  My time is valueless, so I won't put a dollar value on the 2 1/2 hours I spent on the endeavor.   Drilling, and a lot of screwing-in  On the road, they are really grippy on ice - like being glued  to it, even while riding on an outdoor skating rink! But, since the tread pattern isn't that deep, it still has trouble in the slush or packed snow. On fresh snow, however, it performs quite superbly! One really can notice the clickity-clickity-clickity of the screws on the pavement, and feel the drag also. Tyre #1, finished - look at that! 1/4 in of spike show...

Happy New Years everyone! A bit late, yes, but better late than never. Now school is getting busy - exams come in a month, and many final project on the way. But, before all this business started, I managed a few more ice-capades during the last bit of the holidays.  Woke up, and made the best darn breakfast you could hope for - eggs a la over-easy, a few strips of my special cheese-filled pork strips, and an improvised hash-brown-like-thing (involving a few fried onions, potatoes, carrots, and a mushroom or two for good measure). Mmm. It tasted much better than it looks I needed a good load of carbs for the day, if I was to be out, so I complemented the protein from the eggs, cheese and meat with a few slices of toast. Can't be the smell of toast and fried eggs in the morning. Met up with my pal and we biked out to the lake, finding a bay partly frozen. Knowing it wasn't (too) deep, we ventured out on the ice-floes to see what it was like. Not deep enough to make it ove...