Last year (2004), I think I rode in shorts and a jersey (no jacket or tights) for the first time on November 26th, when I cycled from Cairns to Mossman in Australia.

Starting in about August 2003, I've been COLD! I went to France in August ... and landed the day after the heat wave over there. I was chilly the entire 3 weeks I was in Europe. Got home in September 2003, to discover that the last warm day was the day before I arrived home. The temperature dropped after that and I haven't been really warm since. I did my November century at -12C/10F, and my December century in the aftermath of a blizzard - had to walk my bicycle through the drifts in many places.

2004 was a really horrible year in Manitoba. We had record cold and snow in January and February. I rode a century at the end of March where the starting temp was -8C/18F and it didn't get much warmer than that. My camelback leaked and I was literally frozen to my trunk bag. April's century was in a snowstorm. May, June, July and August individually set record for both coldest and wettest months, and collectively set a record for coldest and wettest summer on record. During the night on my 600K brevet, in JULY we rode in sleet. September wasn't much better.

When I got to Australia, it was cold, and often rainy for the first two months (October and November). We flew to Cairns, got off the plane and discovered that they were having unseasonable cold and wet weather too!! It wasn't till we were up there a couple days before it FINALLY got warm!!

A month of that, and I was back in Alberta where it has been cold ever since. It snowed about 6" here yesterday and the temperature has really dropped. Looking at the forecast, it appears that it will likely continue to snow for the next week at least, and the temperature isn't supposed to get much better.

Aside from that blissful month in Queensland, I can't remember what it is like to ride in a jersey and shorts without 1001 other layers over top.