Winter riding

The wind burns faces, forcing your cheeks tight against your skull while chilling toes and fingers to the bone. The air is cold and dense, like cycling through cold molasses instead of the warm air of summer. Vigilant eyes scan the road constantly for the patches of ice and snow who would cause a serious tumble. Cars give extra leeway as you must be insane to be out in this cold. Bikes return from rides filthy, but cleaning a very dirty bike doesn't take much more time than cleaning just a dirty bike so you stay on the road for longer.

Still, coming back day after day despite the dangers, the cold, the snow and sleet feels rewarding and progress comes quickly after time off the bike, making it more addicting than normal. After the first few rides of coughing and wheezing, the lungs become accustomed to the cold and react with suspicious surprise on the few warm days of winter. Even in sub-freezing temperatures you return from a hard ride soaked in sweat, once soft gloves become hard with salt and snot from the endlessly dripping nose. Yet after all this, a hot cup of tea and a long warm shower is more than enough to return to your former state.

Soon spring will come, and I may actually miss this unique sort of suffering.