AZ, please enjoy your beautiful warm weather for all of us who are cold.

I did get out and ride tonight. I realized it was the first time I've ever done a post-work ride in December. It turns out there are lots of nice Christmas light displays on the houses along my route.

Conditions were really not great. Temps were in the high 40s. Since the clouds hung around all day and didn't start to break at sunset, the roads (and the leaves that have fallen on them) were still wet when I started. At one point I could feel my rear wheel slipping as I stood up to ride up a steep incline. The wind was kicking up, which helped to dry the roads and leaves, but also was a bit gusty at times, and it was cold. The good news was that I was comfortable the whole time, not over- or under-dressed. In all I rode 17 miles, and was just a bit slower than I would usually average on the same route during the summer.

When I left work, I really wanted to just go home, and I pretty much had to force myself to ride. I just kept thinking -- don't think about it, don't think about the cold and wind, just do it and see how it goes. And it went well. I don't know if I want to ride when it's much colder, because I've got more layers for my torso but I don't have any more for my feet, and there's only so much my lungs can take before the asthma kicks in. But mid-40s with a bit of a north wind, that I can handle, even in the dark.