winter comes to hogtown

bad play on the title of an even worse movie - the point is, last week, the temperature was at -9, there was a blizzard thet i had to ride home in, and snow is still on the ground. it has warmed up considerably, and this week temps are supposed to hover around 3, mainly rainy. while we're definitely not in the grips of winter yet, it has shown it's face, and so have the bad drivers, who seem to forget how to drive in wet, snowy, icy conditions EVERY year. i now realize why - when you are in a car, the environment is always the same - the car feels the same, until you hit black ice and you're spinning out of control and have no idea what to do. however, on a bike, you are part of the environment, and any difference in rtoad conditions immediately affects the course of your ride. wet roads cause wet feet and, if you don't have fenders, a big dirty strip up your ass. snowy, icy roads immediately cause a cyclist to slow down, otherwise, you're going to go down.....hard. your bike responds immediately and often harshly to the weather conditions, and you as a PART of your bike, must react accordingly. and a good cyclist will anticipate rather than react. to make a long post even longer, i wanted to share this comic strip that was going through my head the whole ride home in the blizzard. i saw many drivers faces twisted and squinting, and a disturbingly larger amount completely complacent and blank, as if nothing outside had changed. and i noticed that the whole ride home i was smiling.
taken from Rick Smith's awesome daily strip yehuda moon & the kickstand cyclery. i highly recommend it, and there's almost a year's worth of archives to read on the cold days ahead. one of the first things i check every morning with my tea...