Good Versus Evil. Or, How my Brain Works

Since I was a little guy (like maybe 8 years old), I've always thought of winter as "The Bad Guy" and summer as "The Good Guy." Think Lex Luther and Superman. Clubber Lang and Rocky. Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. Steve Dallas and Opus.  You get the picture. Winter has always kept me from living my best life. It's cold. It's dark. I like warmth, endless sunshine, and dry ground. 

In my early teens, snow would really put a damper on riding my BMX bike. I would gather the hearty and gullible souls that I called my friends and we'd meet at the Maplewood K-Mart.  It had a really musty underground parking garage and we'd fly around the cars and support posts, having mapped out race courses. That lasted until the cops kicked us out or my fingers froze.

At times I would wait to see that the snow plows had cleared a small sliver of pavement in front of my house so that I could jump on the bike and do sprints up and down the hill until my fingers froze. 

Once I got a little older and began to ride mountain bikes, I would go ride the snow covered trails. It's always so quiet in the woods, and the trails would be empty so I would have them to myself. There were drawbacks. Like ice forming on the derailleurs or my water bottle. And sliding out on black ice was a bit of a stunner, too. Of course, it wouldn't be long until my fingers froze and I'd pile my ice-encrusted bike into the car and go home.

As a full-on adult, "The Bad Guy" still kills my riding buzz, but there are SO many more ways it can ruin my day. Scraping ice off of windshields is very high on my buzz-kill meter. Shoveling walkways, driveways, and now the South Side parking lot. When does this madness end? And how quickly do you think my fingers freeze while I'm shoveling?

All I can think of when I see temps hovering in the teens is: "Where are the good guys? Where are you, Opus??"

At least these days there are better alternatives to indoor riding and training. Which is good, because the K-Mart parking garage was demolished a long, long time ago.