The Midwest is currently under a Level 2 Snow Emergency, downgraded form Level 1 just moments ago. This blizzard is the latest, and worst, of several winter storm systems that have rolled through the region. The Twittersphere is affectionately calling the storm "Snowpocolypse" and "Snowzilla". 

My Continental Extreme Contact DWS tires have been absolutely fantastic through it all. Traction has been fantastic in light and deep snow, giving me a ton of confidence — maybe too much. This morning I drove through unplowed or under-plowed streets and did just fine. I've never had an all-season tire work so well in the snow.

So, having driven these tires in the snow, my recommendation stands. If you're going to get only one tire for all four seasons, then this is the one. If it were a bike, it would be a cyclocross bike.

I bought some new tires this weekend — for both of my cars. I usually try to space out my tire purchases for the cars so I don't get such a sticker shock all at once, but with winter on its way and tires worn down to the bars on both cars, I had to do it. I chose Continental's highly praised all-season performance tire, the ExtremeContact DWS. (DWS is an acronymic nod to the all-season nature of the tire: Dry, Wet, Snow) With the same tires on two different cars, and purchased at the same time, I'm looking forward to comparing the lifespan and performance.

My car: 2004 VW GTI 1.8T. Tire size: 225/45 r17

My wife's car: 2004 Mazda6 Wagon, V6 AT. Tires size: 235/50 17

Yeah, I know, I'm a geek, but new tires on a car really revs my motor. (And you have to admit, these tires have a really sexy tread pattern.) After all, tires have a huge impact on how a car handles and drives. In general, people don't realize how important a tire is to a car's driving characteristics. Even in the tuner and autocross world, as important sway bars, strut braces and coilovers are to handling, sometimes drivers overlook the simple fact that stickier rubber will give you better lap times.

Of course, the DWS aren't track tires; they are all-seasons with a nice sporty character. When I started researching new rubber, I was willing to sacrifice a little grip and handling for longevity. The last few sets of ultra-high performance all-season tires we've purchased have worn down fast, so I was looking at grand touring tires. And yet, all my research led me back to the DWS, a performance tire with the treadware of many touring tires. And it's gotten amazing reviews for snow traction — pretty much as good as it gets without buying snow tires. Amazingly they accomplish this traction without giving up dry and wet traction either, and they manage to rate high in tread ware (with a 50,000 mile tread ware warranty). 

Here's a cool litter feature I didn't know the tires had: the "DWS" imprinted on the tread is a built in wear indicator. When the "S" is worn away, you know the Snow traction is pretty much gone. When the "W" is worn off, Wet traction is no longer adequate. And if the "d" for Dry is gone, it's time to replace your tires because they are bald. It's a nifty feature, and easier to read and interpret than measuring tread depth and wear bars.

Well, I've had the tires on each car for only about 50 miles. There's not mcuh to say at this boint, but so far they are smooth and quiet. The little bit of highway off ramp driving I've done has yielded nice grip to the pavement, and when I had to jet into traffic today in the GTI, it was nice to accelerate without any wheel slippage.

I think I'll like these and am looking forward to plowing through the upcoming MidWest winter in some brand new tires. Every few thousand miles, I'll post some updates, with more detail about the characteristics of the vehicles and conditions.

At One Lucky Guitar, I recently designed a new logo for Arts United. Fantastic project and a really fun, creative client. Can't wait to roll out their new website and the rest of their printed materials. I posted a discussion of how the logo was developed on my OLG blog. Head on over and check it out.

Today I rode my Concorde for pretty much the first time. I've had this old bike for years, but between bad tires, misadjusted brakes and faulty derailers, I've never been able to take it for any real distance. Recently I've been investing in the parts I need to get it running again — most notably tires. But getting the gears working correctly would be costly and, frankly, probably not worth it. So the bike sat in the garage collecting dust.

Meanwhile, I've been seeing some beautiful single speed bikes in the shops. Simple, vintage look "hipster" frames. And then it hit me — convert the Concord to a single speed. After doing my research on the web, and consulting a few bike shops in town, I decided that I needed to have a pro do it for me. As it turns out, these older bikes have tricky components and nuances that make them tough to work on if you're not experience.

So I took the bike to RediBike, a newish bike shop on the southwest end of Fort Wayne. Great little shop. The guys were totally cool, completely confident and competent in their ability to conver the bike to a smooth running single speed. Their prices on service were very reasonable, too. If you're looking for a bike or need service on the one you have, check them out.

So today I got to ride the bike for the first time — an 18 mile round trip from my home to downtown Fort Wayne and back (commuting to work). indeed, it is a very smooth ride. The gear ration is the perfect mix between acceleration and top speed. I could get going fast in traffic, but also cruise along at a decent clip in the flats. Climbing moderate grades was a little tough when I was tired, but not unbearable.

Overall, I'm a total believer in this single speed revolution that's going on right now. They are soooo much fun. It's like being a kid again.

Here are some more photos of the Concord on my Flickr account.

And here's a link to Redibike.  

Well, I thought this was going to be the summer of Longboarding. And indeed it started out that way. But as the heat and humidity set in, cruising out for lunch on the longboard during the work day just got to be a little too much. Instead, my interest shifted to cycling — roadbikes, specifically.

I've been mountain biking for years, and got into it seriously in the last two (some Gnarly trails over at Franke Park). I felt the urge to ride more casually though, on fitness runs, on the streets, commuting to work, to lunch, to the grocery, to the coffee shop. That led me to start looking at road bikes, and I narrowed in the category of Cyclocross (CX), or touring, and then I happened up the Masi Speciale Randnneur and the Speciale CX.

Beautiful bikes. Modern components, comfortable geometry that can get aggressive if you want it to, moderately light weight, insane vintage style, and (bonus!) modestly priced. To keep my focus, I made myself a desktop at work and it may just be the best darn desktop I've ever had.

This summer I've been obsessed more than ever with cycling. I've mountain biked for years, but for 2010 my interests are turning to road bikes. I'm shopping around for a new road bike for commuting and fitness, but I have an old 70s garage sale bike collecting dust in the garage — this Concord Pacer road bike. It needs a lot of work to return it to smooth running condition, especially in gear changers, and I'd rather just buy a new bike than invest in getting this thing fixed.

And then it hit me, let's turn this baby into a single speed. The styling is spot on for a clean single speed conversion. I visited a few shops in town to purhcase the parts I need and find out the best way to go about converting the bike, but most seemed annoyed I was there. Then I went to RediBike, and they seemed pretty gung-ho about doing the work. Cool guys.

So stay tuned, next time you see this bike she'll be stripped down and streamlined — a perfect little runabout bike for cruising around downtown at lunch time.

The above photos, taken by Nate Utesch, show the first issue of Ferocious on press. She's a real beauty, too, full of tons of amazing artwork from awesome illustrators around the country. Nate's the founder of Ferocious, and it's been an intense couple of months of work for him to pull together all the contributors. Amazing to know that these books will be in hand and shipping next week!

Reserve your copy at fe.rocious.com. More photos of the book on press found on the Ferocious blog.

Friends, my coworker and friend Nate Utesch has been working feaverishly on collecting and curating an immense body of illustration, design and writing called Ferocious Quarterly. I've had the immense pleasure of seeing this process unfold, seeing the submissions from some of the world-class illustrators who've submitted...it's stunning. The final piece should be printed and delivered next week, and shipping shortly after.

Pick up your copy at fe.rocious.com. 

We're about halfway through 2010 (yikes!). Time for a quarterly update of my favorite new tunes. Below is the quarter 2 list of songs and the design I made for the mix CD I burned for a few friends. These may not have all been released during the second quarter (April 1 to June 30), but I didn't get around to buying and listening to them all until now. And for what it's worth, this list has been trimmed down already, too. Some new stuff from the past few months wasn't all that great (e.g. Gaslight Anthem's new disk).

Like the artwork? Download the iPhone /Pre / Droid wallpaper below. When I get the chance, I'll whip up a PC/MAc desktop, too. 

The Q2 List...

1 - Sorrow - The National

Here are a few more semi-abstract photos from midwest high school architecture.