Winter is definitely not my favorite season for many reasons, the main two being cold and less daylight. Both are preventing me from getting any decent outdoor activities in… usually I'll suck it up for the few months and continue riding, but now that I'm horseless, I've had to resort to other means of physical activity. Since my latest goal is to do the Bike MS: Beyond the Beltway ride in May, it's forced me to actually go to the gym after rather than head home and watch Comedy Central. Fortunately, my company is generous enough to provide its employees with a (somewhat small) gym to use, and 3-4 times a week I'm in there spinning and trying to tune out whatever crappy show is on the TV. (Lately it's been CNBC's "Mad Money," which to me is just a giant pitch for this investment guy's book. Better that than Fox News, I suppose.) But hey, it's free, so there's the tradeoff.

Anyway, it's weird for me to use the stationary bike, because it's really a spinning bike and thus has no means of calculating your distance, cadence, etc. What bugs me is the fact I feel like the only thing I'm really working on is my stamina, since pedaling along at the same rate for 40 minutes isn't a good way to gauge my fitness level. Not to mention the scenery (a bunch of sweaty, middle aged men and a few weight-lifting meatheads) kinda sucks.

So, I can't really compare the time spent sitting and spinning on that gym bike to biking outside. When I'm out on the road, 40 minutes is practically nothing, because 20 of those 40 minutes could have been spent sitting at stoplights or coasting downhill. (Or, in my case, pulling on my water bottle a little too hard and accidentally flinging it into the bushes, turning around, stopping, picking it up, then struggling to do a standing start and clipping in without falling over, etc.)

I suppose I could always jump on the treadmill, but I am the world's WORST runner and can't control my heart rate without having to stop and walk every 2 minutes because I'm about to collapse. No good.

Spring, hurry up and get here already, will ya?!

By the way, if you'd like to contribute to my Bike MS fundraising efforts (aiming for $300), click here. Any amount is appreciated - even if it's a dollar. Seriously.