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Showing posts from January, 2025

Rail: a gift to the future

Dear Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure The Free Press reports that extra lanes will be added to Hwy 8 to address the dangerous highway. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2025/01/22/incredibly-dangerous-highway-8-to-gimli-to-get-passing-lanes The thing is, if you have cars, you have danger. Especially on the open prairie where folks can't help but speed through the windswept openness.  Here's a better idea -- both given the climate crisis and growing income inequality: Instead of widening the highway, bring back the train. Give folks an alternative to driving. The road will remain of course and will serve the folks travelling from points in between But a significant amount of Winnipeg to Gimli traffic is doing exactly that. The train would take a huge traffic burden off the road and would provide a way to the beach for those who for whatever reason -- whether affordability or climate principle or medical restriction on driving or even age (...

New bars

I love my fatbike for its sturdiness, but it's not a comfortable bike. My omafiets has spoiled me with its upright riding posture; I find myself pushing back from my handlebars, hanging on with my fingertips. It took several years before I noticed the trend: every November or December, I'd start to experience shoulder pain. There would be massage appointments, even physiotherapy if it were bad enough.  In spring, suddenly, the pain would evaporate.  It was the year I had extreme shoulder pain after two days spent hammering up floor tiles in a bathroom that I finally put the pieces together: the straight bars on my bike -- that give me wrist discomfort from the first rotation and pull my tense, cold shoulders down -- are hurting my shoulders.  The nearly $100 price tag on the Salsa bars nearly dissuaded me, but when I compare it with the cost of allied health care appointments, it made sense.  After one happy winter with my bent bars, my bike was stolen unbeknowst to ...