{"id":75372,"date":"2024-03-17T20:52:24","date_gmt":"2024-03-18T02:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=75372"},"modified":"2024-03-17T20:52:24","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T02:52:24","slug":"overcoming-the-challenges-of-winter-biking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2024\/03\/17\/overcoming-the-challenges-of-winter-biking\/","title":{"rendered":"Overcoming the challenges of winter biking"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ose-youtube ose-uid-9a44f16c72e89af3dac870ce50ed4dbb ose-embedpress-responsive\" style=\"width:600px; height:550px; max-height:550px; max-width:100%; display:inline-block;\" data-embed-type=\"Youtube\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowFullScreen=\"true\" title=\"Overcoming the challenges of winter biking\" width=\"600\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iLVUOq0AbiM?feature=oembed&color=red&rel=0&controls=1&start=&end=&fs=0&iv_load_policy=0&autoplay=0&mute=0&modestbranding=0&cc_load_policy=1&playsinline=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; encrypted-media;accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;gyroscope;picture-in-picture clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"wpsdc-drop-cap\">C<\/span>algary often has six or more months of winter conditions which make biking throughout the city challenging and, at times, nearly impossible.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, many Calgarians brave the winter conditions and choose to bike year-round. Kim Bruce is one of them, often running errands while biking in temperatures as low as -27 C.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI started winter biking because I loved summer biking so much, I didn&#8217;t want it to end,\u201d says Bruce. \u201cIf you&#8217;re an outdoor person and you don&#8217;t mind the cold too much, I think it&#8217;s great.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cost, convenience, and work are the primary reasons for winter biking with several thousand Calgarians bike commuting in snowy weather, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/bikecalgary.org\/faqs\/#:~:text=140%2C000%20Calgarians%20ride%20bicycles%20for,Calgarians%20ride%20at%20least%20occasionally.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bike Calgary.<\/a><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_75394\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-75394\" style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-75394\" src=\"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305-Story-Package-4-DJ-0180-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1647\" srcset=\"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305-Story-Package-4-DJ-0180-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305-Story-Package-4-DJ-0180-1-300x193.jpg 300w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305-Story-Package-4-DJ-0180-1-1024x659.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305-Story-Package-4-DJ-0180-1-768x494.jpg 768w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305-Story-Package-4-DJ-0180-1-1536x988.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240305-Story-Package-4-DJ-0180-1-2048x1318.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-75394\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Braving the cold: <\/strong>Kim Bruce with her e-bike on the Peace Bridge. Bruce runs errands by bike in the winter in temperatures as low as -27 C (Photo by Daniel Janson\/The Press).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The temperatures in Calgary \u2014 dropping to average lows of -12 C to \u2013 14 C in the peak winter months \u2014 discourage many warm-weather bikers from continuing to bike in the winter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat I discovered was the way I had to drive didn&#8217;t take much longer than to ride my bike,\u201d says Ming Hon, a cyclist who used to regularly bike commute in the winter. \u201cI didn&#8217;t have the frustration of dealing with traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>General recommendations for dealing with lower temperatures while biking include wearing extra layers and making sure no exposed skin is showing. Additional winter biking gear can be purchased at many bike shops around Calgary including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bowcycle.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bowcycle<\/a>, a bike shop in Bowness.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost people when it comes to winter riding are going to have limitations in terms of blood flow to their extremities, fingers and toes,\u201d says Ty Cutforth, general manager of Bowcycle. \u201cI would say as long as you&#8217;re used to the cold and you\u2019ve got the gear to go outside, riding to and from work is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@Shifter_Cycling\/featured\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tom Babin<\/a> is another regular winter biker. He has written about his cycling experiences around the world for decades, including his experiences in the depth of harsh Alberta winters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just tried to push my season a little bit longer each time and I found it wasn&#8217;t as hard as I thought it was,\u201d Babin says. \u201cI find the cold really easy to deal with, because once you start riding, you generate your own heat and actually find it harder to stay cool than to stay warm.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another major challenge of winter biking is dealing with the ice and snow which can lead to hazardous and slippery conditions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMake sure you&#8217;re not braking on ice and that you try to roll over it and keep going,\u201d says Andreas Loewen, a regular winter bike commuter. \u201cDon&#8217;t try to turn quickly or brake.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many experts recommend riding with studded tires which creates extra grip and traction on slippery patches.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you&#8217;re trying to do it on a budget-friendly thing by buying one studded tire, putting that in the front of your bike is more important than the rear because the weight of the rider is going to push that tire down into the snow to create more traction,\u201d Cutforth says.<\/p>\n<p>Although Calgary has a vast <a href=\"https:\/\/www.calgary.ca\/bike-walk-roll\/maps.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">network of bike paths<\/a>, the city\u2019s urban sprawl creates difficulties navigating throughout the city by bike. Clearing the plethora of multi-use pathways after large snowfalls often takes longer in the communities further from downtown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe biggest challenge is when the pathways aren\u2019t cleared and you have to bike through deep snow. That can be hard because then you&#8217;re doing a hike-a-bike where you have to push your bike,\u201d says Bruce. \u201cSometimes you get ice and snow stuck in your chain and that can freeze up if it&#8217;s a little bit wetter, but usually we&#8217;re lucky here in Calgary with the dry snow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The city generally places a greater priority on clearing roads than clearing bike pathways which can lead to some difficulties with both cars and bikes sharing the road.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWherever cars have been, it&#8217;s usually cleared a bit better,\u201d says Loewen. \u201cThe one downside of winter bike commuting is definitely the interaction with vehicles. It can be unpredictable and stressful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite the challenges, Calgary\u2019s bike infrastructure is more extensive than most cities in Canada with more than 700 km of multi-use pathways according to Bike Calgary as well as seven km of downtown cycle tracks and extensive bike lanes on many roads.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would say most people don&#8217;t understand how good our bike scene is here,\u201d says Cutforth. \u201cWe have 150 km of inner-city bike paths.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo other city in Canada has that. You could go to Vancouver they don&#8217;t have that.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_75395\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-75395\" style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-75395\" src=\"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240227-Story-Package-4-DJ-0003-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1622\" srcset=\"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240227-Story-Package-4-DJ-0003-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240227-Story-Package-4-DJ-0003-300x190.jpg 300w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240227-Story-Package-4-DJ-0003-1024x649.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240227-Story-Package-4-DJ-0003-768x487.jpg 768w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240227-Story-Package-4-DJ-0003-1536x973.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/20240227-Story-Package-4-DJ-0003-2048x1298.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-75395\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>All seasons:<\/strong> Ty Cutforth, general manager of Bowcycle. (Photo by Daniel Janson\/The Press).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Calgary often has six or more months of winter conditions which make biking throughout the city challenging to impossible. <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2024\/03\/17\/overcoming-the-challenges-of-winter-biking\/\" title=\"Overcoming the challenges of winter biking\">[ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":871,"featured_media":75394,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S4 Winter Biking DJ","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1106,1586,1583],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-75372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-city","8":"category-physical-health-and-wellness","9":"category-recreational-sports","10":"category-seasonal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/871"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75372"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75706,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75372\/revisions\/75706"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}