I love this winter.
There's been an inordinate amount of whining this year about the cold and the snow. In fact, it's been sort of a polar vortex of complaining.
Well, I don't want to hear it, people.
Look: It's Wisconsin it's winter. It's supposed to be like this. Embrace it. Own it. Live with it. If you can't take it follow those of questionable character as they head south to ridiculous places like Florida and Arizona where the wimps migrate until it's safe to come back home. I'm staying put.
Seriously, I have never understood why so many Wisconsinites feel that what passes for "warm" in these parts in January and February is preferable to what passes for cold. After all, warm this time of year means about forty degrees. At that temperature the snow turns to slush before it turns black. It melts during the day and freezes at night making the sidewalks treacherous. You can't ski on it. Snowmen and other snow art is destroyed. And it's not warm enough to play golf. Forty degrees in winter is a no man's land of weather. Nothing good comes of it.
I love this winter. The ski trails at Blue Mounds State Park and at Indian Lake County Park and at the city of Madison golf courses have been in great shape. The consistent cold and light snowfalls every few days have saved us from the freeze-thaw-freeze that messes up the trails most years in southern Wisconsin.
And this Wednesday you can defy winter and show how tough you are by biking to work!
That's right, February 5 is Winter Bike to Work Day. There will be free coffee and stuff to eat (including bacon!) on the bike paths near Camp Randall and at Machinery Row. I'll be handing out stuff at the latter location. In the evening there will be a party, and then another get-together on Friday night. It's all a part of the Winter Bike Challenge Week, which includes events around the state, put on by the Wisconsin Bike Fed.
So stop complaining. Don't flee south like a wuss. Buck up, buckeroo and be the cold.
Dave Cieslewicz is the executive director of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin.
