Coldest commute of the winter so far with temperature dropping to 18 F, appropriately on my birthday. We almost always have some of the coldest weather of winter right around my birthday and often snow and ice. My water bottle was frozen solid by the time I got to work, and my fingers and toes were starting to feel the nip. Fortunately, they finally fixed the broken hot-water heater at work, so I was able to take a nice hot shower.

Ironically, temperatures were the warmest ever for my annual birthday miles ride over the weekend. That was fortunate because it was a long ride (62 miles) and took more than 4 hours. Some friends and I rode on local greenways to a diner for brunch, and the trails were covered with mud, sand, leaves and branches as well as flooded in several spots -- which made for slow going.