Lift? What is this "lift" you speak of? That's part of the fun, first you climb the hills, then speed down the other side. I understand that somewhere out there some wimps actually ride some machine to the top of the hills, but I wouldn't know about that.

The thing is, though, cycling to work and back is around 80 min of exercise just going about life. Skiing is a lengthy drive, then a little skiing, then more driving, and so for all that time, not really that much exercise. The other difference being that I can ride a bicycle for a whole bunch of hours without anything hurting, but too much skiing or skating will abrade some portion of the feet, so it's never a six-hour extravaganza of motion.