Good to hear, I struggle with depression and cold plunges have been life changing for me also. I would love to find a community to do it with.

The way Finns do it they take a hot Sauna in the winter and when they get out of the hot-room they go lay naked in the snow. Or plunge into the frozen lake through a sawed-out hole. Then they go back to the sauna again to feel the warmth again. It does feel great and stops you from dwelling in miserable thoughts. That may be part of the reason why Finns are ranked happiest people for multiple years.

Yep, I’ve spent time in Finland and loved this… but for me it works better to skip the warm part and just do the cold.

However, the Finns in the winter did not seem to be happy at all, but mostly quite deep in seasonal depression.

I agree Finns don't usually look very happy. I think their suicide rates are quite high. They drink too much coffee and alcohol. But they do have a great democracy, society, education, healthcare, wealth equality, gender equality. So maybe these studies about happiness instead simply measure "Which people SHOULD be happiest in the world".

I have to mention the 300 club at Amundsen-Scott station. When the temp outside hits -100 (F) they crank up their sauna to 200, then run from the sauna to outside in their underwear.

As part of the 300 club, I have to say that there was no underwear involved in my cohort, just shoes (a requirement).

I am jealous -- can you expand on what I read about having to be careful about breathing as you ran outside for fear of freezing your lungs?

There’s something about cold plunges. My group started when some of us started meeting for drinks and a swim after work during the summer, and we just kept doing it every week through the winter. Some joined the group during the winter. Those people became my closest friends:

- We see each other every week, almost without fail

- I suspect the invitation to a cold plunge pre-selects for people with very high openness, and those people aren’t afraid of deep friendships

- Doing something hard and a little bit scary together strengthens the bond

> Doing something hard and a little bit scary together strengthens the bond

This can’t be underestimated. Most of my adult friends come from my trekking hobby. Everyone struggles during a trek, group dynamics form, you stay surprisingly close with the people you trekked with.

I used to do long distance cycling with a few friends. We have a ridiculously tight bond around that suffering. So many hours asking each other what the hell we were thinking, and so many hours planning the next trips. We'd do 300, 400, 600km in a go. I miss it, and I miss them.

600km?! at what pace? I've ridden 190km a couple times, but that was a. a long time ago b. took all day. In my defense, it was on a fully-loaded touring bike, but even on a high-spec racing bike I can't imagine cranking (heh) out more than maybe 300km in one go.

For those really long guys we'd manage just 18kph or so. On shorter ones like 200km, we'd average more like mid 20s. I think beyond 300km is where the big shift happened and our average dropped a ton. Though we rode with some guys who had averages in the high 20s, even on 600s or further.

We initially wanted to do a ride in France called Paris-Brest-Paris, but never got good enough. That's a 1200km ride. Then kids happened, careers, etc. I'm too bad at time management for that kind of riding, haha.

600/18 = 33+ hours(!!!)

Hats off to you!

I’ve done some long rides to be sure, but the longest I’ve ever ridden non-stop-ish is probably about 14 hours. I think riding through the night is a deal-breaker for me. I’ve never been on the road earlier than 6am, or later than 10pm.

14 hours is a solid trek! The 30 hour+ rides were relatively uncommon for us. I'd say the majority were closer to what you've done.

For sure, riding at night is awful. I'm too risk-averse to do it much these days. I've got kids who depend on me to be more careful than that.

We typically left around 4am, and on some rides would finish after midnight if not riding most of the night. Those dark hours were always pleasantly low-traffic, yet I always wondered if the ratio of drunk and/or tired drivers was far worse.

I think that's really the only part I don't miss, come to think of it. Headlights at night were always unsettling.

friendships are strengthed by shared hard and painful experiences. online friendships just don't feel the same