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Not really. I live in Ottawa, which is fairly typical as far as Canadian climate goes. A warm year may start pleasantly enough, with serious bike rides possib

Not really. I live in Ottawa, which is fairly typical as far as Canadian climate goes. A warm year may start pleasantly enough, with serious bike rides possible in mid March and bike paths thawed out by early April. But then you spend July and August mostly inside with the AC on, because it's too hot for heavy exercise outside (except if you start your serious bike ride at 4am and get home by 8am or so) and breathe the very faint smoky haze from forest fires 1000km away to the northwest. A cool summer (if it's not also rainy) is on the whole more enjoyable. That being said, freakishly warm days in April where the beaches are packed full of sunbathers while there is still ice on the water offshore, or in November 2020 where it was possible to go cycling in shorts and t-shirt for the whole second week of that month, are lovely.

sasawpg 5y ago
Made me chuckle because that was mostly how last year went for me (Winnipeg). Only difference is that I still somehow plodded on in the obscene heat. One of the worst rides I had was started around 9 and I was completely cooked by the time I got back around 1-1:30. The season last year was unusually long - my first big outdoor ride was gravel century in mid-March (metric of course) and my last ride was a race Nov 7th that I did in short sleeves. We had enough snow for fat biking a week later. I can assure you, there has not been much walking around in short sleeves for the last month. We have barely seen temps warmer than -20C since Christmas. Reprieve arrives tomorrow with a balmy -2C (though hardly unusual).