Cold weather...really!

It isn't like I've never felt hypothermic riding around in the Bay Area before. I have. Cold, wet, sometimes near tears yet miserably happy pedaling away up highway 9 towards Skyline, or up a foggy and wet Kings Mountain, only to arrive at the top and have it be warm-ish and sunny and clear, above the fog line. Now I know though, that it might have been cold (that day or whatever day) for a bicycle ride, but it wasn't REALLY cold.

I now live in what can be defined as *really* cold. It warmed up to the low 40's (winds WSW 15-25MPH) on Sunday, and here's the funny part, I was excited about the temps! Imagine that? I had enough layers of clothes on for a weeks worth of cycling, but I was pedaling outside and in the sunny cold (cold is relative) for 3 hours. To be honest, 40-ish degrees here ain't bad...it's the wind (my nemesis) that does me in. When I left the house it was 39 degrees. I may have been commuting (by bike) all week in the snow and ice...but this was my first adventure ride for "no reason but to ride" in this cold of a temperature.

The early week snowfall had all but vanished out on the prairie---with a few patchy areas of snow here and there, but that was it. The slews and parts of the river were frozen in lots of places which was pretty cool to see. The lawns and many of the trees are unseasonably green, and everyone keeps telling me how "warm it is for this time of year". (Global Warming trauma!)

Sigh...I've seen alot of things, been to alot of places, and "lived a life off the beaten path" most of my life. At least I thought so. The older I get though, the more I realize how little I know about stuff and how much I really haven't done and experienced. And how I usually don't get myself into anything that I'm not "pretty sure I know about"---Even though it might look brave and daring on the surface, it's not outside of my quirky "comfort zone".

However, I can't put into words how completely clueless I feel now about what cold feels like. I have no idea. All I know is that this is some very COLD weather...really it is! Have a wonderfully warm day!