SethAZ 

I'm sure my viking ancestors are rolling in their graves. I used to be a little better at tolerating the cold, having grown up in New England.

One interesting thing is that ever since I lost over 100 lbs from my all-time high my body has sucked at regulating its internal temperature compared to how it used to. Right after the marathon weight-loss that brought me from 380lbs down to like 245 or so I found myself sleeping outside doing some Army training, where it got down into the 40s at night, and I was seriously freezing my butt off. I just couldn't get and stay warm. My body had not adjusted to the extremely rapid weight loss, and the internal regulation was way, way out of whack.

It's improved a lot in the several years since then, and I'm not as light now as I was then, but it's still weird. I did do some rides last week at night at temperatures down to around 34 F, and I managed to do them with only three layers on top, none of which was a jacket. I could have ridden this morning down in the 40s, but I'd have had to wear heavier cycling garb than I wanted to. I just checked, and at 11:09 AM it's already up to 63, so I'm going to put on my lightweight but still long-sleeved cycling stuff and hit the road for a good 40-50 miles. It should be perfect riding weather.

ill.clyde

It's currently 7 degrees here ... and it's snowing ...

PdalPowr

I admire your fortitude.
I do in a week what you do in a day.

Where in New England were you?
I'm from Canada but used to go to the Saint Albans fair and ice fish in Kelly bay Vermont.

SethAZ 

I grew up in Massachusetts, and also lived in New Hampshire for a few years before moving out here to AZ.

I'll tell you a funny story about me and Canada that would never happen today with Google and other online stuff around. Many moons ago I decided to take my wife and daughter up to Quebec City to check it out. I thought it might be fun to hit Niagara Falls on the way up there. Cuz, you know, Niagara Falls (at least part of it) is in Canada, and Canada is up north, right? I never bothered to look at a map until the morning of the trip. I'm not kidding. I stopped by the local AAA office to get some maps (you remember those folded paper thingies that have sophisticated drawings of places on them). My jaw kind of hit the floor when I realized Niagara Falls was actually more or less due west of where we were at in New Hampshire.

Rather than do the smart thing and maybe do some math or whatever, we just hit the road and drove to Niagara Falls. It took us like a whole day. We showed up just before it was getting dark. We saw the falls. For a few minutes. Realizing we should probably hit the road, we took off, drove up through Toronto, and kept going for some time, till fairly late that night we decided we'd better stop and get some sleep. By this time I'm thinking holy crap, we're way up in the middle of Canada by now or something. We stopped in this one town, checked into a hotel, etc. I'm thinking we're so far up in there these folks probably haven't seen any Americans in a while, so if we just act normal maybe nobody will think we're tourists or something. I have no idea why I thought that, but I did. Next morning we get up, get ready to drive off, and I discover that there's a border crossing less than a mile away. We'd driven all the way around Lake Ontario and were back at the US border. To make matters worse, we could probably have cut two or three hours off the drive if we'd just turned around and driven around the lake through the US, since to get to Toronto we'd had to drive further west and then cut back.

So the next day we finally drive through Montreal, not stopping, and we get to Quebec City by nightfall, find out lodging, and check in for the night. We'd taken TWO WHOLE DAYS to get to Quebec City. We spent like two days in Quebec, then drove straight home to where we lived in New Hampshire. I think it took us under six hours...

That would never happen these days, btw. It shouldn't have happened back then either, since maps had in fact been invented prior to that trip.

Btw, I've got another good Canada story involving a business trip where I flew out of the Manchester (New Hampshire) airport to Ottowa for a week, and on the return trip the helpful gate folks directed me to a flight to Manchester (England), which I actually boarded. I was only saved the ignominy and two more wasted days of my life when, after the cabin staff helpfully advised people to double-check that they had their passports handy, I waved down a stewardess and told her I didn't have a passport. I only had my driver's license (this was before 9/11, and a driver's license was sufficient for Americans going in and out of Canada, which makes sense, 51st state and all... ). When she asked to see my boarding pass the, uh, mistake was caught and the situation rectified by my unassing that plane and finding the real one I was supposed to be on.

kevlar_heart 

Follow Me: https://www.strava.com/athletes/20367111

12/1 32.1 miles (Killer Elite - 2017 Specialized Roubaix SL4 Sport) Road bike fun in the cold.. Felt great climbing, but the descents were brrrrr. CatEye HRM still blows moose genitals
12/2 17.3 miles (Killer Elite) Zwift - Jon's Mix. Structured workout. I need to work on my sprints (Mom's Birthday -- 94 today)
12/3 16.1 miles (Killer Elite) Zwift - 4x 6min w/ surges- Bike Shed 3:00pm Interesting group ride based on FTP. Didn't really get pushed. Need to figure out how to pay for an interactive trainer...mine connects for data, but isn't controlled
12/5 27.9 Miles (Killer Elite) Zwift - SST (Med) Missed the race I wanted so I had a structured workout. Tough on the harbils...hour plus on trainer
12/6 18.0 miles (Killer Elite) Zwift - Watopia I finished the ride and my Internet connection DIED. The ride was hard as hell. I definitely need to learn to save some juice in the tank for the final 10 K...I was passed by people in virtual wheelchairs
12/7 25.9 miles (Killer Elite) Zwift - WBR 4 Flat Lap #pst D. World Bike Relief race. I finished 66th overall and 2nd in Class D.
12/9 17.5 miles (Killer Elite) Zwift - WBR 4 Lap Flat RACE #pst D London course. Took second in Category D....again
12/10 17.3 Miles (Killer Elite) Zwift - WBR 3 LAPS HILLY #PST D Watopia World Bicycle Relief Race. Once again...second place in my class.
12/11 12.7 miles (Killer Elite) Zwift - BRT Warriors Race D (Interrupted)
12/12 19.2 miles (Killer Elite) Zwift - KISS EUROPE RACE - D (DQ'd for w/kg)
12/13 18.9 miles (Killer Elite) Zwift - BRT Warriors Race D
12/14 26.0 miles (Killer Elite Zwift - CVR World Cup Training Race: ZTR (No ZPower eligibility ....now you tell me)
12/15 7.1 miles (Killer Elite) Noodling around with my new smart trainer. Thing makes me look dumb
12/16 19.6 Miles (Killer Elite) Two Zwift rides (One warm up, one race)
12/17 18.7 miles (Killer Elite) Zwift - Watopia Figure 8 Lap Test. Smart trainer is 100 watts lower than classic trainer.....effort felt the same but 155 w vs 255 w average
12/18 21.0 (Killer Elite) BKool - Ann Arbor - Dexter Ride
12/21 13.2 (Killer Elite) Zwift - Watopia Flat effing around
12/21 19.0 miles (Killer Elite) Bkool - Ann Arbor / Washtenaw County / Michigan / United States -- Route I used to ride 3X/week
12/23 3.6 Miles (Killer Elite) Zwift - London - Race warm up
12/23 17.6 Miles (Killer Elite) Zwift - WBR 4 Lap Flat RACE #pst D -- power numbers sure are different on smart trainer
12/25 11.1 miles (Killer Elite) Zwift - Race and warm up - WBR 1 FLAT LAP #PST D
12/26 21.0 miles (Killer Elite) Zwift - Race and warm up - TEAM ITALY SPECIALISSIMA D
12/28 12.9 Miles (Killer Elite) Zwift - London Frustration Ride My smart trainer died....back to ZPower until new unit arrives. No FTP test today.
12/29 17.6 Miles (Killer Elite) Zwift - London WBR 4 Lap Flat RACE #pst D
12/30 27.7 Miles (Killer Elite) Zwift - Race and Warm up - WBR 4 Flat Lap #pst D
12/31 26.0 Miles (Killer Elite) Zwift - WBR 4 Flat Lap #pst D


December 2017 Final 485.6 miles

Final 2017 Total: 3,125.5 Miles