Stubborn.

Every weekday morning, no matter what the weather looks like, I open the garage door and roll the bike out to the car. I hoist the bike up on the roof rack and ratchet it down. I throw my bag of cycling kit in the passenger seat and place the bottle in the cup holder.

Every morning.

My office has no windows, so I ask the smokers in the office who trudge outside every hour like clockwork what the weather is like. Usually they give me vague descriptions like "it's alright" or "not as bad as you'd expect", which lead me to go and see for myself. More often than not, it's as bad as I expect and nowhere near alright.

Cold and rainy.

It's not that I don't ride in the rain or the cold. I just know that riding in conditions like this usually end up with me catching whatever bug is rolling through my son's daycare at the moment, putting me out of commission for several days. I've been there a whole lot, and it's not fun.

The bike stays on top of the car. The rain soaks it, probably seizing components for me to discover later. After work, I drive home. I take the bike off of the car, bounce it a couple times to shake off some of the water, wipe it down, try to clean and lubricate the chain as best I can, then place it back on its bike stand. Then I kit up and ride the bike that's already mounted to the trainer and grind out an hour of so in virtual land.

The next day I'll do the same thing, on the off chance it will be dry enough to reduce the chances of catching the plague. Right now I'm averaging one ride outside and five indoor rides a week. Not great statistics when you look at the raw data.

Still, there's a chance that I'll get lucky and catch a great day on the road. That's what keeps me trying. Until the snow and ice puts an end to the foolishness, I'll keep trying.

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