Cycling to school

You're mad! That's crazy! You're what...!?
These are the usual responses from people at school when they hear or see that I am riding to school. The reason? Well the temperature has dropped a little over the past month and there was a cold snap the other week which subtracted a few more degrees from the daily temperature. More on that later, but for now let me describe my cycling attire. The picture below begins to give you some idea.

My riding kit BEFORE it got cold.

As you can see, riding conditions here don't lend themselves to t-shirts and short cycling knicks. The hat is windproof, (I usually wear ski goggles instead of sunglasses), the headphones keep my ears warm and I wear a face wrap and the dominatrix style mask over it. To keep my upper body warm I wear a thermal shirt under my long sleeve cycling top, under a windproof, lined outer layer. On my legs I wear both winter long legged cycling knix and 3/4 length cycling shorts. My hands are encased in two sets of  mittens, and my feet in two pairs of woolen socks inside goretex shoes (but still freeze by the time I get to school).
So why all the rig? For the better part of a week the temperatures were about -15C to -25C air temperature, but add in wind chill and the that drops about another 10C.
My current record riding temperature has been - 26C and with wind chill it made - 35C. By the time I get to school after a half an hour of riding, my mask is frozen, the headphones have major ice build up and my toes are stinging like crazy. It is just great fun!