Or at least my brother wants me to. I came home today and both he and his girlfriend were excited to have a present for me, a nice reflective vest in the irritating neon green color with orange and white reflective stripes abound! Its really a cool vest, and unexpected to say the least.

So it looks like I have one less excuse to be riding when its dark out. I already have the headlight and rear blinky problems resolved, now I just need to get the motivation in the morning and I'll be raring to go. Really all I need to do is get up 20 minutes earlier and make coffee and also get me one of those fancy schmancy handlebar cup holder thing-a-ma-jigs.

Danged family, lookin' out for your health and well being. Either that, or its a way for him to target me when he sees me riding

How could they!!!

It's great though when the family backs you up!!

Don't ride because you're 'forced' to, ride because you want to. Some folks like to ride in the dark and cold winter (I do), and some don't.

I want to, I genuinely do. And days when I get to campus/work and its sunny out and I haven't ridden make me regret not riding. Other days I don't regret it because its still raining or sleeting. So we'll see.

Tip on the handlebar mug holder -- if you get the Soma one that holds a regular "commuter mug", it will splash droplets of coffee when you go over any bumps. Some other mugs splash less than the one provided with the kit. It helps to fill the mug only 2/3 full.

I do enjoy sipping coffee while I'm standing waiting for a red light to change -- makes the drivers smile.

I've gotta get my butt to a bike shop to check out some. I have a nice stainless steel mug that works very well and is spill proof (you wouldn't believe how many mugs claim to be but fail horribly at it and how many I had to return until I found one that truly was leak proof). My existing bottle cages don't work with it, but they may have something that works well.

Good to know though and something I will be looking out for since my route is rather bumpy.

See, here you self-righteous cyclists are again declaring that you've saved the planet and simultaneously griping about the snow and cycling in the winter. Guess what, my single-occupant SUV means business and it means global warming. I've been working for years to singlehandedly end this plague upon cyclists known as bone-chilling cold and snow. Do us a favor and at least burn the gas in your fireplace or something.

-The Campaign for Bikinis in Manitoba.

Just take your car once in a snowstorm and get it stuck and have to push it out or call a towtruck... :-)

For me, all it took was one freezing day waiting in the bus stop for a late bus to realise that I get to work quicker and warmer if I ride. I love coffee but hardly ever drink while riding - maybe it's that my commute is too short or I haven't found a decent cup yet. I just wait until I get to work or use that as an excuse to extend my commute and stop at a coffee shop.

Re: motivation and getting up, I find the thing to do is decide the day before that you're riding, get your stuff out etc, so when you wake up you just follow the "riding" routine rather than the "driving" one. If you're not convinced at night time that you want to ride the next day, you'll be even less so in the morning.

Steve