Snow (And Cleveland) Is Crazy

OK, quick question before I get started on today’s post. Why is it I have no willpower in the winter? Winter, you know? The time where I get almost no exercise whatsoever because, again, I have almost no willpower. I ran the errand I had to at 5:30 Tuesday, came home and had a brunch. I had a 1:3 yolk to white ratio scrambled egg, with Tapatío. This was not the problem. Here, you tell me what the problem is.
Right! I also had a buttermilk biscuit with homemade sausage gravy! Mmmmm, pork fat is wonderful. Oh, sorry. Totally not cool when I’m trying to lose weight. I also had a Diet Coke®, hey at least it was diet, right? I needed the caffeine. Anyway…

I stopped in at my LBS (local bike shop, if you’re a newb), to say hi and catch up with the LBS crew. The crew are all pretty much fixtures, that’s to say I could tell you exactly who is working there everyday, mainly because it’s the same people every time I’m in there. Don is the one I ride with when we could get schedules to match up. If they’re open, he’s in there. Thom is another who, I swear, is there anytime the front door is unlocked. Then there are a few other part time evening and weekend guys.

OK, now for a quick back story… It is every bit January in Cleveland. By that, I mean it is cold as hell and snowing all the time lately. How snowy?
That snowy! Wednesday brought about a foot of snow in my neighborhood. Enough that I shoveled about eight or ten inches, I had about two inches to shovel a mere two hours after that,
and within a half hour after that, it looked as though I hadn’t even shoveled. Eh, it’s Cleveland.

Well, Thom was working and, apparently, I made a serious faux pas. You see Thom is ridiculously hardcore. Far more than I think I will ever stand a chance of being, but a level that I hope to be able to reach someday. Anyway, that’s when I made an INSANE blunder in our conversation. I looked dead at Thom and it just came out, “so you ride even in this crap?” Yeah, it was like I asked the Pope if he Prays, like asking Lance if he’s ever ridden a good hill, like asking Wah if he enjoys cross racing. You get the point, right? The “new kid”, I haven’t been formally introduced and I suck at being polite, actually snickered and said something to the effect of, you have to ask? It was awkward to say the least.

How about you? I’m just curious how many of you commute in the winter. I’m also curious what it would take for Thom to not ride in to work. I mean, it’s not “just around the corner”. He probably gets about fifteen or twenty miles one way. Does he do this in a foot of snow and a whiteout? Do you do commute in inclement weather like this?