Bike neglect

I've been cheating. The last couple work days I have driven in to work; I always pass it off as being tired - driving in allows me to sleep in an extra half hour. Before I avoided buying the cheap parking passes ($6/a pass) because the $15/day parking charge that museum guests pay is a pretty big deterrent for me driving; now I have three sitting in my center console. Thing is, it's not the weather - it's actually been warmer here in the last couple of days than it has been in months - it's that extra half hour of sleep, burrowed under the blankets and spooning with Dan. Ahhh to hit the snooze a few extra times, and know I'll still be on time. I try to make myself feel better about it by acknowledging that I'm working out a lot more and eating much better, but I still miss my bike... just not enough it would seem.

The cards seem stacked against tomorrow's ride as well; the weather forecast tells me there will be snow all night, 50mph gusts, a pre-dawn wind chill of -23, and temps won't get above -3 until after noon. Now, it's not the wind or the cold that gets me, it's the snow accumulation. I can always bundle up, but I have this fear (not completely unfounded) that on one of the hills I have to go down either to or from work, I just won't be able to brake and will slide right into traffic at a red light. I have had trouble stopping my bike before when the streets have been too wet/snowy because my old bike is quite heavy and the brakes get choked with snow; luckily I've always managed to throw my feet down and force my bike to stop in time. Still, it's been a bit hair-raising now and then. Add to that the fact that even the best flashing lights in the world don't make me more visible to the people who don't clear the snow off their side windows, run the defroster to clear their front and back windows, or are just too preoccupied with the other cars in snowy conditions to expect, notice, or even care about a cyclist on the road. Still, I intend to get back to it. Hopefully the snow will subside early enough in the evening that the roads will have time to clear. No promises, but at least the desire is still there!