I've been reading a couple of interesting web sites lately -- IceBike and Chicago Bike Winter, both of which deal with people who are nutty enough to ride their bikes in the dead of winter -- even when there's a few inches of snow on the ground. From what I'm reading, it's not as bad as you'd expect -- the exertion from cycling keeps you warm enough once you get moving, and when the roads are bad traffic is usually pretty docile.

I've been thinking about getting a decent "beater" mountain bike -- something that doesn't look so hot and is therefore thief-resistant, but mechnically sound -- to commute to work on anyway. It's only about 2 1/2 miles, so I'd definitely get some fitness benefit from it, and for light grocery shopping there's a Kroger that's kinda-sorta in between home and work anyway. With gas over $2 per gallon and most of my driving being to/from work-Kroger-home, it would save me some money every month, too. I don't plan on giving up my car, but using it more for longer distance/heavy traffic areas/larger grocery trips would probably be a more efficient use for it.

It's something that I guess I'll think about. I haven't decided yet if I like pain and suffering that much. ;)