Just how masochistic am I, really?

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.