Oh those Russians..

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

..well 'ard:

Hundreds of cyclists brave Moscow cold

Plunging temperatures in Moscow failed to dent the enthusiasm of hundreds of cyclists who took to the streets in a mass event.
The organisers ignored warnings to cancel and say some 500 took part in the ride, aimed at promoting cycling.
The participants, some dressed as Santa Claus or the Russian equivalent, braved temperatures of minus 27C .
"Not one of the participants... ended up going to the doctors after it finished," organisers said.

[SoreTween]

Count the bars and brake levers on the bike on the left in the last photo.  Talk about keeping your options open!

[Cudzoziemiec]

Minus 27? Tropical! I've been out in minus 30! Not cycling though. Too much ice.

[Tomsk]

Count the bars and brake levers on the bike on the left in the last photo.  Talk about keeping your options open!

Ideal set-up...for an octopus 

[ian]

Minus 27? Tropical! I've been out in minus 30! Not cycling though. Too much ice.

-30? Nothing!

I've done -42 degrees. I took some thawing. And I once went snowmobiling when it was in the middling -30s.

The weird thing was my tears freezing so every time I blinked it crackled. A lot of effort went into having no exposed flesh at all. I wouldn't have been able to cycle in that much clothing.

[hatler]

I've done a day's skiing at -40. Every run required a bar stop half way down. We had the slopes to ourselves !!

Snow was good though !

[Andrij]

You can do all sorts of stuff if you've taken enough vitamin Vodka.

[Moleman76]

if Putin was really tough, he would have been out there on his horse

[Mr Larrington]

if Putin was really tough, he would have been out there on his horse

With his shirt off...

[ian]

if Putin was really tough, he would have been out there on his horse

With his shirt off...

Carrying his damn horse because it just isn't tough enough.

[Rod Marton]

-27C is unusually cold for Moscow, but I've spent plenty of winters further east where it's just a cold day. I must admit I've never cycled in that temperature, but it doesn't sound particularly extreme. Because it's so dry, it doesn't feel any worse than, say, -10C in England.
I wouldn't want to try when it's much colder, though. Below -35C I found my nostrils started to freeze up, and that would be unpleasant on a bike.

[Andrij]

[translation/paraphrase]

Moscow hosted a velo-parade at a temperature of -27 degrees.

Excuse me, but why wasn't the velo-parade organised in the summer?

Summer is the ski race.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

It's so obvious.