What puts me off riding..

[shootingstar]

but out here in southern Arizona it sucks the life out of me. The sun is very intense here and the longer I live here, the harder it gets. I have to be out by 7am or I just start dreading the whole thing.

I noticed this in myself when we were in Hawai'i. Here in Alberta, although the temps. are not as humid/hot as Ontario, the sun is much brighter. One of the reasons that I'm not as enthusiastic with the prairies is the lack of trees when cycling for many km. ....and no shade here and there.

We have particular winds, where there is a name "chinook" that sweep in from the Rockies suddenly. It is a particular meteorological phenomena. And suddenly during a fine lovely cycle, the wind will switch suddenly to 40 km/hr. --as a headwind. And this wouldn't have been in any weather forecast for the day.

Methinks, there is an upside to all this after living in 3 different regions of Canada and cycling: it can make one a bit more flexible cycling wise. Now I can cycle in quite cold temp. @-20 C. as long as there is no ice/much snow. A bit of rain doesn't freak me out, but thunderstorms do. Meanwhile people here get equipped in rubber boots, etc. Overkill.

Yesterday, it rained a slow, rain for 5 hrs. I noticed hardly anyone on the paved bike-ped. path and this is a path close to services/most scenic.
In Vancouver, one would have at least a few cyclists/pedestrians every 15 min. or so. on that path.