City Advent Calendar - Day 8

@Review said:
"The wheels look a bit awkward, but there are few options on a vehicle of this size."

Well....maybe some tires?

@WizardOfOss said:
" @Review said:
"The wheels look a bit awkward, but there are few options on a vehicle of this size."

Well....maybe some tires?"

Actually yes there is a tire size that fits with these wheels

An actual vertical plow blade would have worked better, I think. This looks like it's used to cut grainstalks or something

It is elf size, for the North Pole

I've got nothing, man. This just looks great to me, it brings me back to the impulse-sets from the '80s. I honestly love this.

@THart said:
"It is elf size, for the North Pole"

You don’t want to clear too much there, because you’re sitting on water if you cut too deep.

@PurpleDave said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @Review said:
"The wheels look a bit awkward, but there are few options on a vehicle of this size."

Well....maybe some tires?"

How low does the blade sit right now? Adding tires might leave two plates of uncleared snow."

Small tires obviously (has to be considering the lack of space between both axles), and then maybe mount the blade one plate lower, right ion top of that front axle?

And any remaining snow is cleared by pure imagination anyway!

OK, this is a bit better. I know we all love exclusive pieces but it's nice to have some normal bricks. I do think having no tires looks unfinished though (and a festive colours would have helped a lot)

@WizardOfOss said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @Review said:
"The wheels look a bit awkward, but there are few options on a vehicle of this size."

Well....maybe some tires?"

How low does the blade sit right now? Adding tires might leave two plates of uncleared snow."

Small tires obviously (has to be considering the lack of space between both axles), and then maybe mount the blade one plate lower, right ion top of that front axle?

And any remaining snow is cleared by pure imagination anyway!"

The interesting thing, which many people may not be aware of, is that there are places where they _do_ plow the snow on lakes. Once the ice gets thick enough on the northern shore of Lake Huron, they plow a path between Mackinac Island and the Upper Peninsula, and they do the same over tons of lakes in northern Canada. The reason they do this is the snow insulates the ice from the ambient temperature, and they want the ice to be _COLD_, so it will freeze solid and very thick. When it’s thick enough, it’s safe to drive over it during the winter. Mackinac Island goes a step further, as the residents put up live Christmas trees for the holidays, then strip them of all ornaments, and come January they line the safe path with the bare trees so permanent residents can identify where the safe path is. I think they have to mark the paths on the Canadian lakes, too, but I don’t know how they do it.

What an adorable snow tractor.

@PurpleDave said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
" @Review said:
"The wheels look a bit awkward, but there are few options on a vehicle of this size."

Well....maybe some tires?"

How low does the blade sit right now? Adding tires might leave two plates of uncleared snow."

Small tires obviously (has to be considering the lack of space between both axles), and then maybe mount the blade one plate lower, right ion top of that front axle?

And any remaining snow is cleared by pure imagination anyway!"

The interesting thing, which many people may not be aware of, is that there are places where they _do_ plow the snow on lakes. Once the ice gets thick enough on the northern shore of Lake Huron, they plow a path between Mackinac Island and the Upper Peninsula, and they do the same over tons of lakes in northern Canada. The reason they do this is the snow insulates the ice from the ambient temperature, and they want the ice to be _COLD_, so it will freeze solid and very thick. When it’s thick enough, it’s safe to drive over it during the winter. Mackinac Island goes a step further, as the residents put up live Christmas trees for the holidays, then strip them of all ornaments, and come January they line the safe path with the bare trees so permanent residents can identify where the safe path is. I think they have to mark the paths on the Canadian lakes, too, but I don’t know how they do it."

Yup, whenever it gets a bit cold and there's some ice on the lakes and canals in the northern part of the country, they will surely clean any snow on the ice. All in the hope for finally another Elfstedentocht. The last one was in 1997.....almost 3 decades ago. Even just a tiny bit of Elfsteden Fever has been a long time ago....

@WizardOfOss said:
"Yup, whenever it gets a bit cold and there's some ice on the lakes and canals in the northern part of the country, they will surely clean any snow on the ice. All in the hope for finally another Elfstedentocht. The last one was in 1997.....almost 3 decades ago. Even just a tiny bit of Elfsteden Fever has been a long time ago...."

I don’t even know what that is. But Mackinac Island has no bridge to the mainland, and ferry service shuts down during the winter. Snowmobiles or walking over the ice is the only way permanent residents can go buy groceries or get medical care. And Canada does a lot of mining in the north, where it’s not feasible to build roads. To get the mining equipment in, it either has to be driven over the ice (cheap…ish), be shipped by freighter (expensive), or be flown in by plane (extra expensive). So they try to get as much stuff shipped up there during the winter when it’s more affordable. On the flip side of that, the truck drivers make a fortune compared to what they could earn doing regular OTR loads. But there’s always that risk that you get greedy, take one too many loads, and the ice breaks up under your rig.

@PurpleDave said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"Yup, whenever it gets a bit cold and there's some ice on the lakes and canals in the northern part of the country, they will surely clean any snow on the ice. All in the hope for finally another Elfstedentocht. The last one was in 1997.....almost 3 decades ago. Even just a tiny bit of Elfsteden Fever has been a long time ago...."

I don’t even know what that is."
A 200 kilometer ice speed skating race over lakes and canals, along 11 towns and cities in the province of Friesland. Only held 15 times since 1909, since our winters tend to be kinda mild. And you obviously need some pretty thick ice with almost 17.000 contestants, as you don't want to turn it into a swimming contest. And when asked, about every professional ice speed skater (and not just the Dutch ones) would say they'd skip the Olympics if the Elfstedentocht would happen to be held at the same time. Stuff of legends.....

So everytime it gets a bit cold and the canals start to freeze over, everyone gets the Elfsteden Fever, getting excited about maybe finally another race. But like I said, hasn't happened for almost three decades....

@WizardOfOss said:
"A 200 kilometer ice speed skating race over lakes and canals, along 11 towns and cities in the province of Friesland. Only held 15 times since 1909, since our winters tend to be kinda mild. And you obviously need some pretty thick ice with almost 17.000 contestants, as you don't want to turn it into a swimming contest. And when asked, about every professional ice speed skater (and not just the Dutch ones) would say they'd skip the Olympics if the Elfstedentocht would happen to be held at the same time. Stuff of legends....."

Every long track speed skater, maybe, but I doubt it really plays into the strengths of a short track skater.

And now you’ve got me imagining the awkwardness of being the one guy who decides to take advantage of it and go to the Olympics anyways, only to end up with a DQ or DNF instead of a free gold medal.

@PurpleDave said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"A 200 kilometer ice speed skating race over lakes and canals, along 11 towns and cities in the province of Friesland. Only held 15 times since 1909, since our winters tend to be kinda mild. And you obviously need some pretty thick ice with almost 17.000 contestants, as you don't want to turn it into a swimming contest. And when asked, about every professional ice speed skater (and not just the Dutch ones) would say they'd skip the Olympics if the Elfstedentocht would happen to be held at the same time. Stuff of legends....."

Every long track speed skater, maybe, but I doubt it really plays into the strengths of a short track skater.

And now you’ve got me imagining the awkwardness of being the one guy who decides to take advantage of it and go to the Olympics anyways, only to end up with a DQ or DNF instead of a free gold medal."

Doubt whatever you like, doesn't change the fact that this is true. The Elfstedentocht-frenzy is real. You people obsess over guns, we obsess over water and natural ice.

@Crux said:
"Doubt whatever you like. The Elfstedentocht-frenzy is real. You people obsess over guns, we obsess over natural ice."

Do you guys even compete in short track? Ever since Apolo Anton Ohno retired, it seems like it’s mostly just Koreans, an incoming flood of state-funded Chinese, and the occasional Canadian in contention. It’s so different from long track that I’ve heard you can get special skates that have the blades mounted off-center since most of the race takes place in the turns, and they’re so tight that you can “boot out” if you lean over too much in that direction. It’d be hell trying to do a long straight section with skates like that.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Crux said:
"Doubt whatever you like. The Elfstedentocht-frenzy is real. You people obsess over guns, we obsess over natural ice."

Do you guys even compete in short track? Ever since Apolo Anton Ohno retired, it seems like it’s mostly just Koreans, an incoming flood of state-funded Chinese, and the occasional Canadian in contention. It’s so different from long track that I’ve heard you can get special skates that have the blades mounted off-center since most of the race takes place in the turns, and they’re so tight that you can “boot out” if you lean over too much in that direction. It’d be hell trying to do a long straight section with skates like that."

For the longest time only long track, but in recent years we've gotten pretty good in short track too. After all, if you already win the majority of long track medals, you better broaden your horizon ;-)

(granted, it's a bit in a decline. Back in 2014 we won 23 of the 36 long track medals (with 4 clean sweeps out of 10 individual events), in 2022 we only got 12 out of 42. We did get 4 short track medals though, sharing the 2nd place on the medal table with China)