My favorite network is The Weather Channel. It is on... muted, bien sūr... at least 23 1/2 hours a day at my house.

What made-for-TV-movie, what silly game show, what insipid sitcom, could compare to the Hitchcockian drama of watching that thick malevolent green mass advance on the radar, embedded with blobs of yellow and crimson?

Oh the anguish... which bike should I prep for tomorrow's ride? Will I be merely sprinkled upon, or drowned like a city sewer rat? Will the roads still be wet? If so, the roadbike is out of the question, with its 23mm slicks.

And it's not just a show about precipitation... Winter dawns can bring the horror of watching way-below-freezing temps and stiff headwinds... or the simple joy of mild spring-like 40+ degF rides. My heart takes wing when, every ten minutes or so, the screen flashes "61 degrees, 20% humidity, winds: calm." Ahhhh! La vie est belle!

Summers here bring an even more captivating drama... can I really ride twenty miles this afternoon, at 105 degF and 100% humidity?

Add in the odd hurricane series, and the sudden SEVERE WEATHER bulletins, and I can't imagine watching anything else...