I’ve heard this winter in the Upper Midwest described as “your father’s winter” - meaning it’s like a winter in days of yore. Or perhaps, to be gender-neutral, we should say this winter is “your parents’ winter.”

We’ve had a handful of days here in southern Minnesota, including this morning, that have begun with temperatures around 16 below zero - thankfully no colder than that. That’s cold enough. Currently we’re reaching the nadir of a cold spell that is supposed to moderate in a couple of days.

Making things worse, I’m having some circulation problems in my hands and feet - a numb tingling that follows exposure to cold. Is it the result of some allergy medication that I’m taking? Some of the medical literature leads me to think that, and I will see a doctor today. Is it Raynaud’s disease, a condition my father has had, in which the body has an exaggerated response to cold temperatures? Is it the result of biking in twenty-degree temperatures? Is it because I haven’t been exercising enough? Or am I just getting old? Time will tell, and I can only hope that I’ll be able to resume a reasonably active life outdoors in winter.

Our son is 1 month old today. Our Christmas baby, who could not lift his head, who seemed feather-light, can now hold his head up and scan his surroundings, can now weigh down our shoulders. The child who did not seem to focus his eyes can now gather us in with his gaze. The little one who could only flail unfamiliar limbs can now grasp with his hands. And most remarkable of all, the face that before was only able to grimace or register a lack of affect can now express a smile.

We are still short of sleep much of the time, particularly my wife, who must handle the nighttime nursing, while I do the graveyard diaper changes. But then we didn’t have children to make life easier, I’ve thought to myself. We did it because of the rewards they bring, despite the heavy demands.

Those demands include lots of laundry–one, two, or even three loads a day! Unwilling to pile up our landfills with disposable diapers, we use cloth diapers, as we did with our daughter, and they are the first load of laundry every day.

During the first couple of weeks after the birth, I did more housework and child care in order to let my wife rest and heal. She is stronger now and taking up most of the child care duties, since she has taken the semester off from her teaching job, while I need to earn some income doing my test development work.

We’ve experienced a somewhat isolated existence since the baby’s arrival. That is partly a function of the baby, but also a function of the cold weather we’ve been having lately. Yesterday morning the thermometer read 16 below, and we’ve had two other mornings that were just as cold in this long cold snap.

We look forward to warmer weather and more smiles from this wonderful baby.

Last Thursday, January 10, Eric Johnson and I met with Sean Virnig of Rawland Cycles, the new Northfield, Minnesota bike company (see my Jan. 3 post for more on the company). That’s Eric in the foreground above and Sean behind him. We met Sean in downtown Northfield and got to see and test ride Rawland’s two bikes, the Olaf and the Sogn. (The Olaf frame is for fixed-gear or single-speed bikes, and the Sogn is for geared bikes; both use size 650B wheels and tires.) We also sat down at Goodbye Blue Monday, a local coffee shop, and conversed with Sean. Because he is deaf, we did so by typing on Eric’s laptop computer.

Sean and Eric both have a lot of technical knowledge about bikes, so it was a treat for me to learn from them. Below is the transcript of our conversation, including more pictures. I’ve re-ordered a few of the pieces of the conversation to better group topics together. One note to help you follow the conversation: Rawland is derived from the English translation of Sean’s mother’s last name.

Eric: Thanks for the test ride!

Bill: [to Sean] You lived in California?

Sean: I went to high school in Fremont in the early 90s. I grew up at the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf in Faribault where my siblings and parents went as well. We all lived in Mendota Heights. My dad designed and built my childhood home there, [a] Colonial Williamsburg [style].

Next month I will be in California on business, so I will bring the Sogn so as to ride up Mount Diablo in Walnut Creek, 3500 or so feet. That’s Rivendell’s backyard. I know Grant Petersen personally, so perhaps he’ll ride with me.

Bill: I drove up Mt. Diablo! Davis, [California,] where we lived from 2002 to 2004, is not too far from there. If you have time, you might want to check out the [bike] infrastructure there.

Eric: How did you decide to build bikes?

Sean: I’ve been riding for all but the first five years of my life. I’ve worked at bike shops, etc. I just don’t like where the industry is heading with all the high-tech stuff. I decided to start Rawland so as to show how it should be done.

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Today the Northfield News published my response to a December 12 column on transportation by former Northfield Chamber of Commerce president David Ludescher. In his column Mr. Ludescher argued for providing pedestrian and cyclist facilities only in limited parts of the road system. I had originally submitted it as a letter just before Christmas, but I’m grateful that the News has elevated it to a guest column.

An excellent article in the January/February issue of MIT’s Technology Review magazine looks at the contributions of University of Minnesota researchers to biofuels research. Writer David Rotman interviewed Vernon Eidman, Stephen Polasky, C. Ford Runge, and David Tilman, U of M faculty members who have examined the economics and ecology of biofuels. “There may be no better place to get a realistic appraisal of biofuels than the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota,” Rotman writes (p. 2).

The article expands beyond this Minnesota connection to look at the work of other researchers and venture capitalists such as Vinod Khosla. It examines future biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol and novel hydrocarbons. The latter would most likely be created by “superbugs,” yet-to-be-discovered or -engineered microbes that would break down feedstocks into hydrocarbons. These hydrocarbons would have more energy per unit than ethanol.

Reading about such genetic engineering, my mind always wanders to uncomfortable thoughts about superbugs that have unintended consequences. Should I be so worried?

Local cyclist Eric Johnson informed me of this exciting news for my hometown: Northfield, Minnesota, resident Sean Virnig has established Rawland Cycles, a new bicycle company. Rawland offers two different steel frames, the Olaf and the Sogn, the former for fixed-gear or single-speed bikes and the latter for geared bikes. Both frames are designed to use 650B wheels, a newer size that is supposed to be more versatile. Information on complete bikes is available by request.

Like Virnig, I am of Norwegian descent, so I appreciate the Viking motif designed into one of the bikes: the decorative allusion to the sea serpent on the rear dropouts (the spot where the rear wheel attaches to the frame).

Judging by the News and Updates section of the Rawland web site, there has already been a lot of coverage of Rawland in the cycling world since the company debuted at the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas last September. Strangely enough, I haven’t heard anything about the company in the local and regional media.

I hope to find out more about Rawland, and I wish Mr. Virnig good fortune with his new company.