She came up with an impressive array of questions and observations: Didn’t I get cold? Wasn’t it going to be difficult to leave the warmth of the office for the chilliness of the ride home?

What about the forecast — was I aware that there was a possibility of freezing rain, and what would I do if that transpired?

I told her I would evaluate the roads and make a judgment accordingly. I will ride in every weather condition except ice.

But in fact, here in Lexington, Ky., the road crews put down so much salt that you could easily preserve a side of beef by rolling it on any six square feet of pavement within the city limits. This, combined with the fact that I mostly take well-traveled roads on which friction from many cars’ tires helps melt the ice, makes it unusual that ice is ever an insurmountable obstacle. (It happens maybe twice a year.)

A friend who was in the office for a teeth-cleaning visited me while my mouth was numbing. The dental assistant told him that she couldn’t believe I had ridden my bike — I joshed that I couldn’t believe she had driven her car.

My favorite exchange came while I was suiting up for the ride home and showing her my trigger-finger mittens, balaclava and winterized Bell Metro helmet. She wondered whether I also wore long underwear. (Yes! — when it gets down into the lower teens.)

I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and appreciated the great job she did on my teeth.

Still, the entirety of the exchange illustrates yet again the absurdity that such a practical mode of transportation should be so widely considered impractical — when the real impracticality (in this circumstance) would be a healthy American man requiring a 4,000-pound hunk of combustion-engine-driven metal to transport him less than 2 miles round-trip. Talk about crushing an ant with a sledgehammer …

“I would offer you a ride, but I’m not sure your bike would fit in my trunk.”

RESPONSE: “I would offer you a ride, but I’m not sure you would be comfortable on my handlebars.”

Ba-dump. C’mon — it’s not THAT bad!

P.S., just in passing, let me mention the outfit for the ride. I was comfortable all the way there and all the way home (3 miles each way):

• Army surplus trigger-finger mittens with liners.
• O2 Rainwear jacket. More on this later. Hint: I like it a lot.
• Long-sleeve waffle-weave shirt over turtleneck.
• Jeans over longjohns.
• One pair of soccer socks.
• Cannondale Alpacor balaclava.
• Bell Metro helmet earmuffs.

RESPONSE: I have found drivers to be polite, overall. Occasionally someone will honk, or a driver will holler at me to get off the road, but even that is rare.

In 6-plus years of bicycle commuting I have had two serious incidents, and one that was scary and could have been serious. All three of them happened on the University of Kentucky campus.

The scary one happened on Shawneetown Drive. A Lextran bus nearly ran me down from behind — the driver just barely missed clipping the edge of my handlebar. I caught up with him at the stop sign at Shawneetown and Alumni Drive, and yelled at him to watch it. He yelled back something to the effect of YOU watch it. While I was writing down his bus number and route, he hollered something else at me. I wrote a letter to Lextran, then received a nice reply stating that the driver basically denied my version of events. I hope my letter is still in his file.

At least he missed me, and he might have thought he was giving me enough room. I think it was inattentiveness or incompetence, and not malice. I can’t say that about the next two events.

Once while riding on University Drive late at night, after finishing work on second shift, someone threw a box of bottles out a car window and hit me in the back. I knew the car was behind me but did not know something was being thrown. I did not go down.

Another time, in almost the exact same spot, someone leaned out the passenger’s-side window of a van and shoved me in the back, with two hands. I didn’t go down that time either. Having learned from the first experience, I got a partial license-plate number and called it in to campus police. I did not follow up to see what happened.

The fact that I have ridden late at night a lot, due to the second shift, probably has increased my odds of having a run-in with a jerk.

Still, even in broad daylight there have always been, and there will always be, jerks on the road. The only way to avoid them is to not ride (or drive). I refuse to let them run my life.

Response: This one usually comes from a well-meaning colleague at the end of a night shift. It’s really dark. Maybe it’s raining, or even snowing(!). They don’t want me to get wet, cold, or run over.

I appreciate the concern. But I have lights (a headlight and at least two taillights), an electric-yellow jacket, and all the gear I need to stay dry.

I can remember accepting a ride maybe five times over 6+ years of commuting — once or twice because it was raining cats and dogs and I had left the raingear at home; a time or two because of ice; and a couple of times to talk with the driver during the drive (plus he had a truck — it was very easy to toss the bike in the back).

Otherwise, the answer has been, and will continue to be: “No, thanks!”

RESPONSE: The short answer is No, but there’s a little more to it.

This tends to come up on days when the temperature drops below 35 degrees. The definition of “cold” here in Kentucky is different than what I’m used to.

When I was a boy, my family lived in northwest Nebraska, and I delivered papers on my bike every morning starting at about 6 a.m. You want to talk about COLD: I remember one week when it got down to minus 30 F for several days (NOT COUNTING windchill). Temperatures well below zero were common during winters there in the early 1980s. Once I forgot my facemask hat. By the time my route was over, the tip of my nose had turned white. We were getting into To Build a Fire territory.

It doesn’t get anywhere NEAR that cold in Kentucky.

But I digress. What was the question again?

Oh, yes. For one thing, you soon learn to dress for cold weather (more on this later — the key is to wear a hat or earband when it gets below 50 degrees or so — there’s nothing like cold ears to ruin a ride.) For another, it’s amazing how quickly body heat builds up inside even a light jacket on a cold day. Experts tell runners to dress as if it’s 20 degrees warmer outside when they run in the winter; I’d say that’s about right for cycling as well.

RESPONSE: None. Usually. I try not to argue with someone whose vehicle outweighs mine by 3,140 pounds. OK — I have gotten into a couple of shouting matches. One memorable one was with a guy who kept putting the F-word in between “the” and “sidewalk.” In fact, apparently that was the only sentence he could think of, because he kept repeating it. Loudly.

Generally, though, when I hear GET UP ON THE SIDEWALK, I keep these thoughts to myself: “What is the second syllable of that word? Well, that’s not what I’m doing. Genius.”