I have a black mini schnauzer that just peed on two of our pillows this morning, so lemme tell you - dogs are definitely NOT man's best friend, despite what you may have heard elsewhere.

A good indoor bicycle trainer on the other hand is a much better candidate, especially with sub-freezing weather right now in Oregon, and with ice still lingering on the bike lanes. It's a little too cold and treacherous for outdoor riding, but a trainer will keep the cardio pumping and the calories burning.

I own a Travel Trac Millennium V Fluid Plus from Performance Bike, and it's black as well. It has the wired remote tension adjuster that hooks onto your handle bars, which lets you crank up the tension for maximum leg burn.

I had to bring it in to my local Performance bike shop today because the latching mechanism quit racheting for some reason, making it impossible to secure the bike. I was given VIP treatment as usual. Even after explaining that I had received it as a gift and was just wondering if they could take a look at it, the manager offered me a brand new model to use while they looked it. Wow - that's awesome service... and I didn't even have a receipt.

I'll be back in the saddle tonight sweating away to my Spinervals 9.0 Have Mercy DVD. Thanks Performance!