I lived in Cuyahoga Valley(Akron) for about a year and a half. I spent most of January/Feb riding my MTB in the snow in the Sand Run trails. The park ranger OK'd me as long as I didn't destroy anything. I would try this out for fitness, its fun. You've also got Rays indoor park to stay in shape(sorta).

Training in the winter would suck hard. I would either hammer and do a short ride(under an hour) before I freeze to death or do a longish slow ride(endurance) over 2 hours. Honestly, I've tried all sorts of winter gear combinations and none of them really did the trick for me on a ride over an hour.

The only thing that really worked was hand warmers(those little packs) in my shoes to keep them warm.

I want nothing to do with snow or the cold.
PS: jstspinning lives next to you, he gets pretty fat and loses the weight pretty fast.