Jestmi zimno!

I think I had the coldest bicycle commute in my life this morning. It was negative 30 degrees Celsius, which turns out to be minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit. As my bike's wheels crunched along the frozen, packed snow along the various roads to school, my moustache and the hair that was sticking out of my hat and scarf began to turn white and freeze solid, and then my right ear froze and felt like a rock. I'm glad I was wearing sun glasses, I'd hate to think what the water in my eyes would've done.

But, hey, it's a dry cold!

The last time I experienced temps like these was when I was over 16,000' on Denali (Mt. McKinley) in May of 2003. Then I was fighting with thinner air acclimatization and frostbite, and now I'm fighting with the latter here at nearly sea level. The sharp cold has surely reminded me that a few of my fingers, the end of my nose and I guess my ear did not escape Alaska without a longterm reminder of how brutal these conditions can be for the human body.

I hear that this is the coldest Warsaw's been in one hundred years...but I also here it's warming up a few degrees tomorrow.

So maybe my next ride won't be so frosty!

:)

Oh, and if you'd rather think about sunnier climes, Erden Eruc is about to set off to complete his main crossing solo of the Atlantic from the Canary Islands. Follow him or check out his previous adventures as he tries to circumnavigate the world all under human power...and climb 6 of the 7 continents' highest peaks in the world, too, at:
www.around-n-over.org

As they say in Poland, I'm holding my thumbs for you, Erden! Paddle hard, sleep hard and eat well!

Czesc!