RG you live in Calgary, claim you are motorcyclist but have no "epic" cold ride story to offer? hmmm........
Dealing with cold requires "Acclimation" the body can do amazing things but requires some "learning" to deal with it.
worked for years as a yard man in a small Wisconsin lumber yard. Know the drill well.
I've had "near frostbite" countless times, my foot circulation ain't great these days. Kinda wonder how low my core temp has gone.... Like Bob says at low body temps mind and muscle become very ineffective.
Last winter, full moon, Temp "about" zero F, About 8PM dressed warmly and hiked to the bluff tops at Devil's Lake State Park, the snow was stiff so much of the hike was just "through the woods" Gorgeous view looking down from the bluff top in the moonlight but my phone camera was not able to record it. About 3 hours round trip, not an issue with the cold.
Winter 1987-88 I was building a big ass log house and spent that "good old fashioned Wisconsin Winter" working outdoors framing it. Weeks of brutal cold. Every day dark to dark. It required a serious devotion to eating to keep up with the energy expended. The next summer I ballooned up to 190 before I shut my mouth.
Pics from that winter, on a hill top it was breezy up there.
the macho macho man pic, me, new years day 1988. I spent the day by myself getting that log behind me up in place.
wife brought lunch, soda froze solid before I could drink it.
Madison WI Friday, January 1, 1988
Temperature
Mean Temperature 0 °F
Max Temperature 7 °F
Min Temperature -6 °F
Log but with 2x6" framed walls, half logs inside and out, I don't think log walls alone are enough for a Wisconsin winter.
Wife has done the 35 miles Birkie ski race for ten years. She's "not fast" takes her about 7 hours. The worst year she slept in the van, sub zero temps outdoors, not much better in the van, then got up dressed and raced, There are about 8,000 skiers, She starts at 9AM,
high for the day was 7 F! and there was wind too. relatively thin clothes, cause she's skiing. Many quit, many were treated for frost bite. Those with "Guy parts" are at extreme risk in cross country skiing. She suffered but got r done. Guess my point is you CAN deal with extreme cold, but it is time limited and calorie intensive.
For motorcycling it's not the temp or even the windchill it's the lack of activity. Aside from shivering, "in place" calisthenics help a lot to use muscle energy to help keep extremities warm.
The Itditarod.....1,000 miles by dog sled over 11 days, It can be done.
How bad can it get out there? The coldest temperature ever recorded on the Iditarod trail during a race was in 1973 when the temp
with wind chill dipped to an unfathomable -130 degrees F. The 2015 race saw some of the coldest conditions of recent memory, as witnessed by the twins' thermometer... And remember, that won't include the frigid impact of wind chill.
OK enough "story telling"