rumrunn6

Some are born tough, some achieve toughness, and some have toughness thrust upon them. :-)

Darth Lefty 

It helps if the caribou lead you to warmer latitudes

tsl

I'll have to take your word for it.

My genetic heritage is from Central Europe and Scotland. Both are notably caribou-free.

Darth Lefty 

Obligatory sheep joke

BikeAnon

The word "tough" has taken a huge hit if it is defined as "person who rides a bike even if it's not sunny".

That said... if you live in a large city, with bad weather... and you go to the places with the lowest incomes, you'll find a greater percentage of people who ride bikes in bad weather. Those people are likely "tougher" than us. And not because they ride bikes.

Want to define "tough on a bike"? How about riding a $2,000+ plus bike while wearing spandex through those neighborhoods I mentioned. Even in good weather. THAT is tougher than riding a commuter with fenders to work in the rain/snow.

tsl

What makes you think the sheep consider it an obligation?

cobrabyte

Does riding your bike in winter weather mean you are tough?

Sure. If you do it naked.

jwarner

Frame pump for grizz. Ha! That's for wuzzies and freds .


I only use the frame pump for big game.

tsl

Agreed. My library is in one of the tougher sections of town. I see a lot of folks who make me look candy-ass instead of bad-ass.

I do both. Lemme tell ya, my full Dura-Ace Litespeed is invisible. Not flashy enough. They recognize the brand on the Trek, and think the cobalt blue is nice on the Ribble. But the Litespeed just doesn't exist.

As for the hi-viz and lycra, it seems to send a signal that I'm just passing through--no threat. I'm clearly not a cop, and I'm not there to buy anything either--both of which would make me a target. And without a white shirt, tie and MTB, I'm clearly not a missionary either.

In fact the only comment I've ever had on my attire was just after the last winter Olympics when I was wearing my AmFib winter tights. Dude told me I looked bad-ass, just like those guys in the Olympics. And he didn't seem to looking for anything on the down-low, if you get my drift.

modernjess

Riding in winter is not tough, nor does it make me tough. It doesn't make me hard, it keeps me from becoming hardened. It's a choice to do something that is good for me.

Raising kids through college is tough.
Maintaining a marriage for 23 years is tough.
Starting a business and keeping people employed is tough.
Eldercare is tough.

Riding is not tough, it's my solace and my therapy and my mojo. The weather has nothing to do with it.

jwarner

Remarkably well said. My hat's off to you.

FenderTL5

temerity and resolve - yes
tough? not so much.

I'm just getting to work very day.

FenderTL5

Well said.
my hat's off.

Gresp15C

From the Marx Brothers film "Monkey Business":

Joe: You guys don't know it, but you just scared a pretty tough egg out of this room.

Chico: Sure, we're a couple of tough guys.

Joe: Do you want to make some money? - Money?

Chico: Money? Feel this muscle. Feel his muscle. All right. How much you pay?

Joe: Just how tough are you?

Chico: You pay little bit, we're little bit tough. You pay very much, very much tough. You pay too much, we're too much tough.- How much you pay?

Joe: I pay plenty.

Chico: Then we're plenty tough.

Hypno Toad

Funny thing to me about commuting in the cold (like Minneapolis), I think going out to a ice-cold car at the end of the day is a lot tougher than getting on a bike and working up a sweat.

Around my office, crazy is the more likely description over tough.

One last funny (well, I think it's funny) story from last year's Polar Vortex (vorties, vortexessss, or whatever the plural is). My long time friend that got me back into bike-commuting and then winter commuting - I got a hold of him one morning when the air temp was -25F and windchills made it feel -40F to ask if he'd biked to the office. He's response made me laugh - "Nope, I'm a fair-weather biker"

scroca

Regarding cycling in bad weather, I have been asked, "Are you crazy?", many times. I have never been asked, "Are you tough?".

So I suspect I am not tough...

Gresp15C

I'm not a tough guy. My first job was in a library.

For me, I don't ride because I'm tough, but getting out in all weather, doing anything -- cycling, skiing, walking, working -- makes me tougher, inasmuch as it re-fuels my brain, interrupts unproductive thought patterns, etc. It makes me more resilient to stress, helps me concentrate on hard problems, improves my confidence when dealing with people.

I'm not a strong or physically imposing person. I can move very heavy objects, using a long enough lever. A bike is a lever of sorts.

BikeAnon

Allow me to introduce you to this:


Turn those dials fully clockwise. In the time it takes to work up a sweat, you'll be just fine.

Hypno Toad

That won't do $*!# for you when it -10F. You'll wait until the engine has some heat to give, in sub-zero weather, the engine might warm up by the time you finish a 10 mile commute. So in the meantime, you shiver and freeze your a## off.

I'm guess you live somewhere warm and don't know about true winter. And that's OK, cause we all know your not that tough.

bconneraz

I live in a climate that makes riding year round pretty easy. What would be considered tough here in So Cal would be a cake walk in most of the country. Take today for instance; it was a mild morning in the 50's, with overnight drizzle so the streets were wet. On my 24 mile ride in, I saw only one other rider today. What?? It was a perfect morning for a ride! Bunch of softies! lol.....
I take more pride in my commuting accomplishments than anything else I do on a bike. I dress like a nerd. I ride a bike that looks like it belongs to your Grandma, and to top it all off, I have a Movember mustache....so I look like the old dude on a bike that I swore I'd never turn into......
That said, I don't consider myself tough, I consider myself fortunate to be in a situation that allows me to ride as much as I do. Plus, I simply love riding my bicycle.

StanSeven

What's worse than getting motivated for cycling in cold weather is swimming. You have to get out of a warm car, change in a chilly locker room, and get into chilly water. It's okay once you start going and your body stays warm afterwards but it tasked do much just to get out the door.

Hypno Toad

True story! I remember in my high school years being very competitive with swimming, our summer club used an outdoor pool at 6:00am. As if, 6 in the morning wasn't bad enough, the pool was un-heated. Early-June morning could be ROUGH! We'd take a running start to dive in and sprint the for few hundred yards to get some warmth built up. Nothing like those mornings when you'd seeing steam coming off your buddy's shoulders, when taking a break between sets.

spare_wheel

I think the fact that people never ask this kind of question about walking says something about the tendency of some cyclists to continue to view cycling as something "others" do (e.g. not natural or mainstream).

TransitBiker

Thems be fightin' words! -granite face-

- Andy

Hypno Toad

Not true in my office, one young woman walks about a mile to the office every day. She is asked all the time if she wants a ride in the rain or cold. She thanks them but declines 'cause she's all kinds of tough.