Conquering the cold is half the appeal, nature cannot defeat me as I have clothes to keep me warm! an extra 5 minutes to wrap up pre-ride is not too high a price to pay IMO…
I was out sunday in the late afternoon and while it was cold but it wasn’t terribly, freezing, cold (Berkshire/Oxon) but there was lots of standing water and mud about that was more of an issue than the cold…
My winter gloves were a shade too warm on long sloggy climbs but kept the wind chill off on flat and DH bits, base layer, top and jacket kept the worst cold off of my body, I did need to open up the neck on occasion and had the pit zips open for the whole ride…
It got a bit colder as the sun went down but TBH it’s not cold enough yet to really enjoy…
Like others have said, it’s less fun when its a muddy slog on an SS, far better for it to be rolling along of hard frozen ground that grinding through sludge. My chain was full of damp leaves and mud was piling up on the stays at the top of the hardest climb (making it harder still) and TBH That just made me wish for colder weather and less rain to make it a all bit easier and add that Crisp winter sensation…
Still better than being sat in front of the TV though…