Back on my bike again

After eight consecutive rest days I was finally back in the saddle today! I expected to be out of shape but it actually was a nice ride. When I got home I had been out for three hours and fifteen minutes with an average speed of 25 km/h and a average heart rate of 149. It was -10C at the start of the ride and -4C when I got home, but 30 kilometers north of Falun, where I live, it was as cold as -14.5C ( that is 5.9F ). We had to increase the intensity so that we wouldn't become ice scupltures and after a while we got to some climbes that lowered the speed and got our heart rates up a bit. When we got to the top it was only -10C and from then on it got warmer. Because of all the rest days I had planned to be wheel sucking all day long but after about an hour, when it got that cold, my legs where going numb so I had to go to the front to get that heart rate up.
If we ignore that it was so cold today, it actually was a beautiful day! I took some pictures for you:

I really love this proper Swedish winter, it's so beautiful. I feel really blessed to live in a place where we have  these seasons that differ so greatly.