Funny weather we're having...

"May you live to ride in interesting weather"

(Ancient Chinese proverb, kind of)

We here in the northern hemisphere are in the throes of winter now, the southern hemisphere is scorching and wilting in the summer heat. How does the weather affect your driving? Do you pack your bike away? How do you decide it's ready to pull it out of hibernation? How hot is too hot to ride? Does lightning freak you out?

Photo is courtesy of +Richard Jones.  who took it from his bike in Italy. Yikes.

I recently (3 weeks ago) got my first bigger bike (a 1986 BMW K75C), and it even has OXFORD heated grips. But since I live in Spain and we're having a pretty mild winter, I haven't actually gotten the chance to use them yet, but I've been told they're good to have on a long chilly ride. In the summer, I tend to bow out of rides at over 38ºC or so, unless we're heading up into the mountains where I can stop near a river and dive in to cool off.

Any extreme biking weather story you have? Let's hear it, as we wait for the better weather to come!