The first week is nice, the second is like realizing you're dating your twin sister.
Last winter was bordering on ridiculous, as it was like a winter imagined by an Australian tourist watching a Michael Bay movie on snow monsters. November is still supposed to be Autumn, even here in Finland. But yesterday’s forecast for the next ten days wasn’t very cheerful.
The killer here regarding cycling is the wind chill. I spent my military service in a sea fort, where people had to stand on a pier during the winter and look at the sea through binoculars (yeah, it sounds dumb) and people were cold.
A chart of wind chill temperatures for given air temperatures and wind speeds | From Wikipedia
Say I’d go riding on Tuesday, November 23rd and in the morning it would be -15 degrees Celsius and the wind would get up to 25 kilometers per hour, thanks to the wind and me riding faster than a speeding bullet.
Looking at the chart (or the Celsius version here), this would add up to about -26 degrees Celsius temperature, which – if you’ve never felt it yourself, is already quite cold. Your average freezer is usually -18 degrees Celsius.
In comparison, it’s quite cold riding in -2 degrees already.
Brrr.
Now doesn't that look inviting? | Photo by Mari Hartemo
Update: It’s 7:50 AM now, and everything is covered in snow. We got 5 cm (2 inches) during the night, more to come later on. I think I left my lightsaber in my other Tauntaun.
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