What is The Winter Cycling Federation?
Since its inception in 2014, The Winter Cycling Federation is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to “create opportunities for inspiration, research and collaboration. We help cities and countries around the world foster bicycle-focused transportation year-round.” The Federation aims to normalize winter cycling, everywhere, for everyone.
They tackle this vision on many fronts by:
Sharing stories, images and other examples of where cycling in winter is already normalized.
Hosting fun, meaningful and inspiring international events aimed at all ages.
Sharing the best design and techniques that currently exist.
Foster innovation where needed.
Measuring winter cycling rates and trends around the world.
Fostering a community of practitioners and interested experts.
Keeping everyone informed and excited while involving the public meaningfully.
Supporting our partners in business, art, health, and all other sectors.
Of the nine members on The Board of Directors at The Winter Cycling Federation, 3 are Canadian! (Impressive, eh?).
Anders Swanson
Anders is a multimedia artist and expert on transport policy and design who works in his hometown of Winnipeg and around the world. He is the current Chair of Canada's national transportation cycling organization Vélo Canada Bikes and works as the executive director for a dynamic multimodal nonprofit called Winnipeg Trails.
Isla Tenaka
Isla is a planner and urbanist who loves all things winter. She is the Winter City Planner for the City of Edmonton. She has given presentations on winter life and design in North America, Asia and Europe, and helped plan four international winter cities conferences.
Bartok Komorowski
Bartek is an urban planner who is currently leader of the Design Practices Team in the Sustainable Mobility Strategies Division at the City of Montreal. He has worked in the field of active mobility for 15 years. Prior to joining the City, Bartek was a Project Leader in the Research and Consulting department at Vélo Québec. He is a coauthor of Vélo Québec's 2020 design manual, Aménager pour les piétons et les cyclistes (Planning and Design for Pedestrians and Cyclists).
The Winter Cycling Congress is being held in Edmonton
Every February, The Winter Cycling Federation plays host to The Winter Cycling Congress. Canadian biking enthusiasts take note: this year’s Congress “A Bridge to a Healthy Future” will be held February 22nd - 24th, 2024 in Edmonton, Alberta! In recent years, Edmonton has adopted the moniker of “Winter City“ and residents are excited to welcome the world to this snowy, urban wonderland.
You can register online for the Conference, now, with special discount rates for students and non-profits. The schedule is packed with key-note sessions, active workshops and winter-riding explorations led by the world’s top experts through the city’s Cycling Infrastructure and along awesome wintry-trails. Topics range from : Ebike Commuting Year Round; Bixi’s (Montreal Bike Share) Expanded Winter Cycling Pilot; Climate Resilience and Channeling a Youth Cycling Culture.
Plan ahead; check out the complete schedule, with details of topics and featured participants.
So far this season, the moderating effects of El Niño has made winter cycle a breeze in places like Vancouver and Toronto. However, to keep our food delivery and commuter riders safe, warm and prepared, Zygg Ebikes has added studded “snow” tires, pogies / handlebar mitts, and winter helmets to our list of available accessories.
As part of its all-season cycling strategy, Edmonton is dedicated to top-notch maintenance and snow-clearing of the downtown bike lanes in tandem with its roadways and pedestrian routes. Montreal saw an 83% increase in winter cycling in 2020 than the previous year due to the addition of more and improved cycling bikeways. With the expansion of Bixi’s Bike and Ebike Rental into the winter season for the first time, this number should increase!
Winter Cycling Learnings
Although Canadian cities are making some great strides with winter cycling awareness strategies, there is definitely room for improvement. If you want to take a deeper dive into all things winter cycling, check out the best practices of Oulu, Finland, considered to be the “Winter Cycling Capital of the World”. Oulu has had a cycling master plan since 1971 with a cycling network of over 950 km of separate cycleways. These cycleways are groomed and maintained all year round to create excellent, safe routes for cyclists. Colourful, illuminating images are projected on the snow and ice paths to guide cyclists in the lengthy, dark days and nights of winter. Snow plows are designed just to groom the cycling bikeways, with “teeth” on the snow-blade to make non-slip conditions on the snow to aid riders.
In Oulu, 22% of all modal trips year round are biking trips. 77% of the population cycles. 52% of all trips to school and University are taken by bicycle. Why can’t this be the case in Canada?
“Not Just Bikes”, (who is originally from London, Ontario) created an informative, satirical video highlighting the differences in Finland’s and Canada’s approach to winter cycling: “Why Canadians Cannot Bike In The Winter, But The Finns Can”.
One of the video’s main takeaways: “Research reveals that temperature and weather conditions do not change how people cycle, even in winter, it is the maintenance of the cycling infrastructure”. Furthermore:
There is a need for a network of safe bicycle paths, like in Oulu with over 4m of bicycle path for every resident, also shortcuts that encourage people to cycle even more (300 overpasses that pedestrians and cyclists can use to avoid major roads without traffic lights forcing one to stop, for example).
Winter maintenance and snow removal is key: this is an issue with places in Canada like Toronto, whereby many bike paths are simply painted and snow is dumped in the lanes. Toronto is getting better with clearing paths…more work needs to happen. In Oulu, for example, bike paths are plowed within three hours of a 2 cm snowfall!
Canadians love to embrace wintry activities, like snowboarding, skating and cross-country skiing. If you are dressed properly and have the right gear, what’s not to love? Cycling in colder conditions is very invigorating! Give it a try: #getoutside #gobybike