I just washed my bike

Whffffff.

That's the figurative dust being blown off this blog. I said I'd update this from time to time, so why not now?

It's cold and wet outside. At 40F with light rain, you'd have to be either nuts about cycling, or just plain stupid to ride in this stuff. Or both. Hello, let me reacquaint myself with my reader. My name is Brady. I have a passion for riding bikes, no matter the time or place or condition.

Anyway, Shim had asked me through a text if I was riding today.

I told him that I was, and that I had 1.5 hours of hill repeats that weren't going to ride themselves.

Shim replied, "it's all rainy and stuff."

I don't mind the riding in the rain from time to time. If it was everyday, I'd probably have to come up with some sort of coping mechanism besides shrugging my shoulders and acknowledging that it would be an uncomfortable ride. Thankfully, most of my rides aren't.

I answered that I was leaning towards riding in the afternoon when the chances of rain were less, but I'd go over lunch if he wanted to join me. Either way, I was going to ride no matter what.

He declined.

I don't blame him, nor do I hold it against him. Honestly. Riding in the rain, much less a cold rain, isn't very fun. My thoughts are that it's perfectly valid to simply decline the invitation.

"No thanks, have a good ride" is more than sufficient.

Kudos to Shim, because he did just that.

But then he shot me another message: "I don't want to catch a cold."

Now that -- the excuse of not wanting to catch a cold-- is what I have a problem with.

C'mon Shim. You have better excuses than that. Our (as in several of us who know Shim) -- our personal favorite excuse of his is, "I just washed my bike." Yes! We like that one because at least that's acknowledging something truthful: nobody likes a dirty road bike.

Saying, "I don't want to catch a cold" is a bunch of crap. And I told him so.

Being wet and cold doesn't produce a cold. That's been debunked. You have to catch a virus for that.

Shim replied, "Tell that to Bill Winke".

So I said, "Who is Bill Winke? If you give me his contacts, I will."

Bill Winke is apparently a college buddy of Shim's that is an avid outdoors man, and knows a thing or two about being prepared for the elements. In short order, Shim produced Bill Winke's website, which included an, "Ask Bill" feature.

So here's is what I submitted to Bill Winke:

Hi Bill,

My good buddy Greg Shimonek says that cold, wet weather can make one sick. I think that he's using that as an excuse to not join me on a one hour bike ride in the cold (40F) light rain. When he said, "I don't want to get sick," I countered that his thinking has been debunked, that one must get a virus to get sick. He replied, "tell that to Bill Winke".

So Bill, per Greg's request, I'm telling you that cold, wet weather doesn't make a person sick.

Sincerely,
Brady Murphy

PS: I like what you've done here. Nice website!
PPS: could you copy your reply to g...nek@aol.com Thanks!

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If Bill should reply, I may post it here.

Happy Friday. Thanks for reading.