Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Winter has Arrived...





Around six inches of snow has fallen in the last week. There's enough (barely enough) so that I did a little snowshoeing at the park on Monday. The cross country skiers have been out too, although, a bit more snow would really improve things for them. The photo above is almost from the same location as the photo from January 13th. North winds and cold temperatures have resulted in lake ice. There's still plenty of open water away from shore which means we could still get significant lake-effect snow if the wind is out of the North. The beach is frozen and snow free. A wonderful place for a morning run!

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Oh yeah, we got some snow...



January 17, 2007-Trail #7 at the Dunes State Park

Trail Running Series

I've been on the fringe of the planning for a little trail running series in dune country. The XYZ Race Series will join some existing races with a couple of new races throughout the year. It should be a good time.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Calm Before the Storm?


The weather-people are promising snow, sleet and freezing rain for this weekend so I put the serious looking snow tires (Nokian Extreme 120's) I picked up awhile back on the commuter bike. I've got this good deal from the running shoe store where I work a few hours a week so I didn't have to pay retail. Now I may actually get a chance to try them out! The lake had those slow low-roar waves breaking on the beach this morning when I was out there for a run. With no lake ice, any storm has the potential to seriously erode the beach. I saw water marks within feet of the dune grass and the wind was not really blowing that hard yet. The last predicted storm was a dud. There's only been a trace of snow at the park all winter so far. Oh, if you look real closely you can make out some of the Chicago skyline in the distance.

Monday, January 01, 2007

Bike Commuting #5

I have had 13 more round trips to work since I lasted posted. That's another 325 miles. My total for the year is 1650 miles. I haven't figured the cost savings for the last 600 miles. Using the cost per gallon of gas as $2.25 (it's been right around this price since I last figured cost savings), that's another $54.00 in savings. My total for the year is $160.30. Of course I've spent more than this for bike stuff!