Too hot, too cold - where are the three bears?

This is a story about not trusting technology too much.

I have recently had terrible trouble deciding what gear to wear for the ride home. Going into work is easy - it's always cold, so I wear the gloves, the boot covers, the leggings and the jacket - and if I owned a beanie that fitted under my helmet, I'd wear that too (in order to stop my ears from falling off).

The ride home is different. On some days, it is a balmy 20 degrees, and wearing all that stuff leads to sauna-like conditions inside my clothing. I frequently have to stop about 1/4 of the way home and strip off a layer, which means carrying my large backpack in order to hold all my discarded clothes. I hate carrying the large backpack - I want to wear just enough clothes to be warm, have no requirement to take any off, so I can ride with my small backpack.

On Thursday, I decided to dispense with the strip partway and left work with my jacket in my back pack. All I had on up top was a lightweight jersey. It seemed a bit chilly when I left the office, but the thermometer on my bike said the air temp was 20 degrees. It didn't feel like 20 degrees, but if that's what the electronic doo-dad said, then that's what it must have been.

By the time I got home, I was frozen. I practically fell off my bike like a bright yellow popsicle. But the thermometer insisted it was still 20 degrees. Just as I was about to thwap it over the fence with a cricket bat, it came to life and decided that it was actually 12 degrees. The separate outdoor temperature guage that I have in the backyard thought that it was 10.

All I know is that I was unable to even blog about how cold I was. I spent the night wrapped up in two jumpers, standing over the heater in an attempt to warm up.

Stupid bloody technology.