Machka 

For three days in a row now I've been able to ride in shorts and a jersey!! That's just shorts and a jersey and NO tights, jacket, mitts, headband, leg warmers, etc. etc. etc. It feels so good to be out there with the sun shining on my blindingly white skin.

One week ago today we had a huge dump of snow ... almost a foot of it. Now things are just starting to turn green and lovely out there ... finally.

I took this on my Saturday ride:


https://www.flickr.com/photos/1430288...7617519339243/

GP

Same here!!

What's snow?

patentcad

It never lasts.

Machka 

Last Monday, May 18th:

MrCjolsen

I've been riding to work at 6:30 in the morning in shorts and a jersey. I'm up to two water bottles for the ride home and have used my Camelbak already. We've already hit 105.

HarryStoddard

Yep. I've thought about bringing a third just to splash on my head and burning arms.

GP

Interesting that the snow falls on the cars and trees but not on the street.

Machka 

It does that for a while ... and eventually the road gets covered too. I think it's because the road is dark and is warmer than the grass and trees.

2manybikes

I really don't think you will miss the winters in Canada !

Quijibo187

those rich Alberta folk put heater coils in their roads so they don't have to plow them in the winter.

Flak

F Canada. Seems like a great country in every sense except for the unfortunate latitude.

Machka 

Canada is a great country ... it's one of my 3 favorite countries (so far, I haven't visited them all yet). But I am looking forward to moving to one of my other favorite countries, Australia. Soon very soon!! Unfortunately my timing for that move is kind of off ... it has just become spring here finally, and in 2.5 weeks I'll be in Australia just as the weather gets cold for winter. Oh well, winter there isn't as bad as winter in Alberta.




BTW - my third favorite country is France.

2manybikes

How cold is it at Rowans in the winter?

BarryJo

I'll bite - where does the US fall on your list?
The one thing about living in a colder climate (and it's all relative, New England winters are a lot less severe and shorter than those in Alberta) is it really makes you appreciate once the warmer weather rolls around.
Something those in California and the southwest will just never understand.

Machka 

It can get down to around 0C, give or take a bit. They get some heavy frosts and occasional flurries. He's in a valley in the mountains (on the edge of the Australian Alps) and there's a ski mountain just up the road from him, so they get quite a bit of snow at higher elevations. If I wanted to see heaps of snow in July, it would be just a short, uphill bicycle ride away.


Have you seen the photos of our "new" place? They are the 16 photos after the photos of the trailer ... that house was one of the few in the area which survived the fire, so Rowan has moved in, and I'll be there shortly.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/1430288...7611337191865/

Rutnick

and I thought the title implied something else.

2manybikes

Wow! I never knew it got that cold in any part of Austrailia.

I like the shack. It looks like a less complicated life style in a good way. We had a small fire not far from here in a wooded area. Two years later you would never know it.

Machka 

My coldest night on a cycling tour was in Australia not too far from where I'll be living. It got down to -6C that night.

Before the first time I went to Australia, everyone told me that it was hot and dry there. I spent the first two months in cold and wet conditions wondering when the hot and dry stuff would start. Melbourne is quite far south so they do get a winter there, comparable to a Vancouver-type winter. I won't be expecting hot and dry weather there till October/November.

I'm really looking forward to living in the little house there. It's way out in the country, and the house itself is very rustic, but does have a few modern features I like.

Machka 

I don't think I'd want to live in the US, but there are some nice places to visit. The Zion Canyon area, for example is quite impressive.

But you're right about appreciating the warmer weather when it comes. I'm wondering how it will be once I get to Australia. I'm not used to the idea of being able to cycle year-round. I'm used to packing 10,000 km of cycling into a few months, and then backing off on my cycling for several months during which time I do other things like skiing, snowshoeing, walking, working out in the gym, spinning classes, yoga classes, etc. Very soon I will be able to cycle year round ... and I'm not sure how I'll handle that physically and mentally.

patentcad

When I start a thread in foo entitled 'Three Months in a Row' your vile and purient presumptions will be correct.

riff

Machka! Us canuks are not allowed to back off from cycling in winter!!

rubic

That is terrific, Machka, that you can ride 3 days in a row with shorts and a jersey. Here in Southern California we are spoiled with nearly year round shorts weather. However, what we lack is all that water and greenery.

Machka 

Well, of course we keep riding through the winter, and I've done the CAM (Century-A-Month) challenge in 2003, 2005, 2006, and 11 months of 2008, but I do cycle less once the snow falls than I do when it melts.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/1430288...7602332361641/

riff

I see you often in the winter cycling forum!

gerald_g 

I got out on Monday even with the snow....I had my first new clipless stuff to try out. Got em soaked on the trial run. Had to come in or risk frost bitten toes eventually.

This week IS MUCH better in AB.