[Ray's Indoor Mountain Bike Park, b]uilt in the shell of a defunct 110,000-square-foot Menards home and lumber store [in Milwaukee], ... is a facsimile of the original Ray’s in Cleveland, which occupies the hulk of a World War II-era rayon and parachute factory.
Also at the link, the other winter biking option: fat bike:
“It’s like snowshoes for your bike,” [said Greg Smith of Milwaukee], explaining how the giant tires spread out over snow, sand and marshland. Until last winter, when Surly and Salsa, two Minnesota companies, began offering ready-to-ride fat bikes, the only option for true snow biking was to cobble together expensive parts.
Posts
16 comments:
Oh.
I thought this would be another OK Go video.
Still kinda cool, though.
Studded tires deal with ice, first studded tire going on the front wheel; a second on the rear if you're into a serious ice spell.
Which makes roads rideable.
Except for granularized snow, which slides free over any surface whether gripped by tire or not. Heavy traffic over untreated snow eventually granularizes the snow, if it doesn't turn to ice in the meantime.
Repurposing once-profitable factories is good, but highlights how far the economy has fallen, in which we are all living off a more golden era rather than building our own.
"...in which we are all living off a more golden era rather than building our own."
Yep.
It's now *much* more important to build the golden era of big government to hand out unearned goodies, at the extreme risk of cannibalizing the future, than it is to, you know, unleash the private, wealth-creating economy for the 21st century.
The Madison REI has had one all winter. It's very strange looking thing, but I get the appeal.
For all the imagination that went into designing the bike course, could not a little be spared and put into designing a helmet that does not make its wearer look like a dork. There's a fortune to be made by the first person do develop a cool looking helmet.
Would you want the US to employ 80% of its population in agriculture?
Nowadays a guy with a combine comes out once a year for three days and works hundreds of acres by himself, and then is gone until next year.
The small motor caused most of that change. Now we feed the world.
Factories in the US produce more than they ever did. It just doesn't employ many people.
If you want to employ more people in manufacturing, reduce the unnecessary cost of employing people in the US, and there will be more people and fewer machines.
For the first few, this is good. It isn't good though if it goes past the optimum allocation. We just know that we're short of the optimum allocation because the regulations necessarily give you a suboptional use of resources.
Used to work with a guy who would love something like that - and the original is in Cleveland, huh?
Wonder if he knows.
We just know that we're short of the optimum allocation because the regulations necessarily give you a suboptional use of resources.
John Menard is quite the guy. He was caught taking plastic bags of chromium and arsenic laden wood ash to him home to be picked up with his regular home garbage pickup. And this, among other things:
• In 2005, Menards agreed to a $2 million fine after Wisconsin DNR officials found a floor drain in a company shop that they believed was used to dump paint, solvents, oil and other waste into a lagoon that fed into a tributary of the Chippewa River. The sanction broke the previous record fine of $1.7 million set by Menard in 1997.
Link
As I was watching the video, I was remembering how in the animal kingdom, males show off their physical prowess with various kinds of displays in order to gain coital favor with females.. and how that might translate to us humans.. my experience has been however that we dont admit to that kind of thing.. we are more evolved.. I cant start riding a bike in my 40s.. and then at the end of the video all my depressing and threatening fears over these clauses were put to rest with one magical phrase..
Its all about fun and one heck of a work out.. Rolling over Walker is fun.
Rhhardin
I believe you missed my point, or rather that I stated it poorly.
I was not lamenting the disappearance of giant factories or warehouses, but rather noting how we are living off of our heritage, rather than continuously achieving.
It's like we have all become Detroit. Empty shells for kids to play in.
That course wouldn't challenge an experienced mountain biker like Meade, but it could help WI bikers keep their skills from atrophying during the long winter off-season.
Best thing about that clip was "The Grooveline" - haven't heard that song in almost 30 yrs!
That park is to mountain biking what a windowbox garden is to farming.
Gotta keep those city kids in touch with their environment.
Oh yeah? We have an indoor tropical island here.
garage mahal said...
We just know that we're short of the optimum allocation because the regulations necessarily give you a suboptional use of resources.
John Menard is quite the guy. He was caught taking plastic bags of chromium and arsenic laden wood ash to him home to be picked up with his regular home garbage pickup. And this, among other things:
• In 2005, Menards agreed to a $2 million fine after Wisconsin DNR officials found a floor drain in a company shop that they believed was used to dump paint, solvents, oil and other waste into a lagoon that fed into a tributary of the Chippewa River. The sanction broke the previous record fine of $1.7 million set by Menard in 1997
Dude.
Your life sucks.
So it's not enough that people run and walk inside, now they have to bike inside? I'm so glad I got out of Wisconsin before you people completely melted the fuck down.
Post a Comment