Wheels on Ice: Slip-Sliding and Loving It

[gristy]

It was 35 years ago that I was pounding roofing nails through my Sting-Ray's tires every winter so I could get a grip on my paper route.

Wheels on Ice: Slip-Sliding and Loving It

THE mass perforation of Brownie Lake began at noon, when eight rolling tires, thousands of shiny screw tips and the fast-pumping legs of four bike riders were set in motion on a dizzying figure-eight track of ice.

The screw-studded tire, above, of an ice racing bike.

“Round and round we go,” said Jay Henderson, known as Hollywood, whizzing by on a plane of ice, jockeying for position on a tight turn in the course.

Pellets shot off spinning wheels. Four riders cranked and wrangled, a trail of tiny divots left in their wake. The track they rode, a double-loop path on the frozen surface of a lake in Minneapolis, glinted in the afternoon sun.

“Coming on the inside,” Mr. Henderson hollered, squeaking by a rider, his elbows out.

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http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/02/02/travel/escapes/02adventurer.html?8dpc