Nope, still too cold

[Barb, USA]

I admire you girls who just do it in the cold. My husband calls me a tropical flower (that's code for wimp).

I'm sorry you caught a cold, LauraPaura. You are so far north. You must have a short but intense biking season. We were in the Chicago area last September. The mid-west is seductively beautiful when it's warm. But after reading what Lise and JanetsPlanet have to stay. I think we'll just visit.

[Nanci]

I am so happy I live in a place where I can ride/run/whatever year-'round. I hope I never have to move. It was very scary moving down here, a whole country away from all my friends and family, but I am much happier, even though I miss them.

Nanci

[Bad JuJu]

Umm, I don't remember being in Chicago yesterday, Nuthatch.

NW Florida can be miserable for a few weeks in the summer when the heat and the humidity combine to create near-tropical conditions and nothing moves except an occasional mosquito who works up the energy to whine a little bit. HOWEVER, there are also days like today when it's dry and sunny, mid-50s (if a bit windy), and the sky's so blue it could break your heart. Just on my way out the door for a ride....

[Geonz]

When it's really cold it helps me to warm up before I go outside, or jog for 5 minutes first, because about 10 minutes after starting I will get a lot warmer. (We might just be differently engineered, though, because at 41 degrees my fingers wlil not turn into popsicles if I've got any kind of gloves on; it takes below 35 for me to need the thicker gloves, and they are fine down to 3 or 4 for my 40 min. commute and when it's that cold, I don't go extra miles or minutes!)

[tulip]

This year was the first year that I commuted all winter--even in the snow and ice (there wasn't much) with studded tires. It has really paid off now that the weather has warmed up. Last year my best time for my very urban (i.e. stopsigns and stoplights and traffic) 14 mile commute (each way) was 1:10, and already this year I've been below 1:10 three times, the fastest being 1:04.

It's definitely worth a bit of cold! When you've ridden in 19F, 50F is downright balmy.

[Lise]

I think it was the wind + my mental state (new guy is AWOL. sigh.) I know that when I am upset about something, I can get deeply chilled on the warmest days.

Sue, you have a good point about the warming up. I wore the thin-ish gloves that I wear when running under my padded/fingerless biking gloves. All winter, I wore those thin gloves to run. I'd be cold for the first mile, and then comfortably warm, even in the '20s, after that.

Tulip--good for you about the commuting all winter. DC is one of my favorite cities, but I've never been there in the winter. 1:10 is a long time to be moving fast on a bike when it's cold out. You're going to love the spring! Are the cherry blossoms out? Enjoy!

[Surlygirl]

I had the same problem last week. The week before I did over a hundred miles and it was gorgeous and then last week it turned cold and raw again and hardley any sun. I just couldn't drag my butt out there. Its suppose to be nice again this week, so back to logging the miles. Hopefully everyone else will get out to ride this week too.