Where have you been recently on your Proflex?

[fyrstormer]

I guess I'm lucky in that I live on the outskirts of the city so it's about a 30 minute ride and I'm in proper forestry. Once there you can ride for miles without crossing any major roads.  If you drive you can get to a number of bike centres with graded routes for different skill levels. I tend to just ride into the forestry and explore. I just wish we had the warm weather you get in USA.

I'll take cool and humid vs. hot and humid any day. Unfortunately where I live the summer days are often 30°C or higher with 70% humidity or higher. It's not uncommon to start sweating within seconds of stepping outside.

I'll admit I'm somewhat less likely to hang myself (exaggeration, I promise) since I don't have to deal with super-long nights in the winter like you do, though. But things have improved on that front since I built some RC trucks designed specifically for running in sub-freezing weather. It gives me an excuse to go outside for reasons other than defrosting the cars and getting the mail, without making me endure the wind chill of biking.

Having anything resembling a functioning social safety net would also ease my worries. There were weeks at a time over the past 3 years when I would get goosebumps and my pupils would go wide just at the thought of having to go into the office the next day -- not because my job is bad, but because my brain was malfunctioning and I couldn't handle even mild stress. What would I do if my mental health takes a nosedive again, and I have to take a few months off work? I buy long-term-disability insurance from my company, but even if I got an official diagnosis that I couldn't work for whatever reason *and* the insurance company accepted it, it wouldn't pay a cent until 6 months later. Where I live, I'd need $15,000 dollars in savings just to pay rent, utility, and grocery bills for that length of time -- and I'd feel terrible about bleeding money every day of it, which wouldn't help.

I guess what I'm saying is, the cool and cloudy weather you have to deal with in the UK has several silver linings.