It's Not Bad Weather

I read with joy, this Bicyles and Icicles blog entry, about how weather isn't bad, unless it'll kill your house or similar (e.g. hurricane), it's just otherwise weather. Tim rides in nearly all weather, and was commenting on how folks will offer him rides, or say he's crazy, or just think weather is bad. I feel the same way though, I like all the different kinds of weather. I love the rain (otherwise I wouldn't have moved to Oregon) -- the sounds it makes, the way it cleans up the surrounding environment, kids splashing in puddles; love a wicked snow storm -- it creates a superb quiet that I love, as well as makes for great pow skiing. I'm not as big a fan of huge wind storms, but again, it's just weather. When I lived in Northern California, I rode in any kind of weather, and some friends often called me Aquaman, because I'd go out and do road bike rides in rainstorms, whereas most guys opted to not ride, or ride an indoor trainer. I hate exercising indoors, so to me, and riding in the rain has never bothered me. On the mountain bike, riding in the rain can be awesome - it creates new/different technical challenges. I don't like super sticky mud, but that's easy, I ride somewhere that doesn't have that :) Matt is experiencing some seriously cold temps lately in Silverton, CO, waking up to -13 degrees F this morning. I kind of wish I was there, it's just sort of interesting to me. Ok, so is there anything I don't like, well, of course! I hate the heat. I still ride in it, and live, but I left the area of Nor Cal where we were in part because of it. The funny thing is that I think there is almost nobody who thinks severe heat is "bad weather"! At least, if there are, I don't think I've met them. Maybe when temps are into the 100-teens, and people start dying, ok, maybe then they'll say it's bad, but 105 and they're out tanning. Yeesh. Ok, so I don't go out and tan anyway, but I likely won't ride in this either, since it could actually hurt me - but in that case, it's just what it is, and it means I need to ride early in the day or at night. Obviously, as you can tell, I actually love weather, weather changes, the seasons, etc. I grew up where there were no seasons (on the beach in Southern California) - you judged weather by waking up, looking outside, and if it looked cloudy or foggy, you added a sweatshirt to your likely shorts-and-t-shirt wardrobe. But now, I simply cannot live without seasons, it drives me crazy when it's essentially the same all year round. I do definitely *prefer* cooler weather, but like Tim said, most weather is simply that, weather, not bad weather. End of rant, move along now...