Effective today, I will no longer discuss Minnesota weather patterns.

To be blunt, Minnesotans (liberal use of the long “O” vowel sound here) allow the temperature, lack of sunshine, wind speed, and other weather-related factors to consume too many of their waking hours. For most, the weather is the first thing we want to hear about in the morning and the last thing we catch on TV at night. And thanks to some very cruel tricks played out by Mother Nature – we are official weather maniacs.

Will we sweat to 80 degrees in mid-April? Will it break 50 degrees in late April? Will it rain? Will it snow? For crying out loud, it’s pea-size hailing while the sun is shining!!! CALL PAUL DOUGLAS – the weather guy at local CBS affiliate WCCO-TV.

Let’s face it, Mother Nature puts the smackdown on Minnesota every year. It's a WWE-style weather death grip. We’re at her mercy – slap the mat three times and count me out.

No. Better yet, let’s band together and stand up to the weather. What’s more important, hiding in the basement as funnel clouds hover overhead, or enjoying a beer with your neighbors in the garage watching a wall cloud develop and dump five inches of rain on your lawn in an hour? Live life, I say.

When it comes to the weather you can do one of two things: A) watch from inside as Mother Nature turns your spring and summer upside down; or B) get on with planned activities and just deal with it.

I choose option B. After all, I'm a cyclist and I’ll be damned if I’ll let a little bad weather ruin my season.


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