My commute this morning is probably just a typical winter morning for you northerners but it was a record low for me. 26F with a wind chill in the teens. When I rode to pickup some lunch it had warmed up to 31F. My coworkers think I'm nuts but you people up north are really nuts!

-21 when I left for work yesterday. Had I had my act together and left 30 minutes earlier like I was supposed to, I could have rode at -23 which would have been a personal low temp for me. Ah well. ;)

I am somewhat surprised at the big deal being made out of this cold snap, - at least locally. It's been this cold here many times before and it will get this cold again. Seemed like it happened fairly regularly when I was in high school but lately triple digit temps are more common than the -20s. I think it's been 4 or 5 years.

I wimped out today and drove because last night my hands got really cold. I don't know what the temp was last night, but it didn't seem that low. I have ridden pretty far with the gloves I was using, and a previous pair of the same kind of glove got me to work in <-20F weather a batch of times. But the thumbs weren't working that well. I went and got some bar mitts for my road bike, I like to be comfortable.

This morning it was 8 with a wind chill of -1 when I hit the road. One of my leg warmers worked its way loose in my rain pants, which was a downer. Then I had to yank off the bandana I had over my mouth, as it was fogging up my glasses. After that, it wasn't much worse than riding in the 20's or 30's.

It was 28F here yesterday... 6F today.

Supposed to be 34F by the end of the week.

I drove in today because I couldn't leave with my family still snowed in. It took over an hour to dig out the driveway despite having spent 4 hours shoveling yesterday. By the time I finished that, screw it, I just drove. 75 minutes of shoveling before breakfast at -19*F was about all I wanted to do. Also, I'm really quite sore.

4 this morning, and only 11 on the way home. Good thing we have the subway. I didn't see anybody on bike today anywhere.

It's all relative. We see morning temps in the 20's infrequently here and I have never enjoyed commutes at that temp until today. My afternoon ride home at 24 F felt like a ride on a balmy Spring day compared to the single digit temp this morning.

You Hogtown folks don't see many freezes, but I do recall a few occasions of snow when I lived in G'ville.

Still too much ice on my street. I guess I could walk my bike out of my neighborhood.

I found myself biking home in the dark, with a -34F windchill last night. It wasn't so bad except on my thighs, plus the battery on my flashlight must not have liked the cold so much.

I rode to work yesterday at 7F, which breaks my previous record of 16F. I rode home at 9F. I rode in today (on my own bike, vs. bike share for the first time this year) at 10F, so things are improving. ;) Mind you, the commute is only about 15 mins., so not much of a challenge compared to some here. I managed to overdress a little, at least on my top half; I don't have adequate gear for my lower half, but coped for the short ride. The bigger challenge will probably come tonight, when I have to go 10 miles uptown, and then 13 miles home. It'll be a balmy 23F, but with much longer exposure. I've done the trip with temps in the 30s, but not yet in the low 20s. Truth be told, I can always bail out and take the train, but that would be a shande.

I thought of riding last night. I have rehearsals uptown on Tuesday night. It's about five miles each way. Temperature was 9ºF (-13ºC). I thought of all the ways I could get painfully cold. I wasn't sure I had the right clothing to do it safely. I decided it just wasn't wise to ride. I took the subway.