
Winter cycling in other cities
- 1.Riding Through winter
- 2.Dress For Winter Riding
- 3.Winter cycling in other cities
- 4.Winter Riding Tips
Join us in watching a different perspective on winter bicycling. I apologize for all the references to the metric system; we have provided conversions to Freedom units below.
A bit of a caveat: These are not the opinions of Bike Colorado Springs but give an accurate and entertaining assessment of winter cycling. We think that this is an accurate description of winter cycling from both a European and North American (Canadian) Perspective.
Key take always:
“In cities with cold winters there is virutally no correlation between the winter temperatures and the amount of winter cycling”
For more information on the studies being referenced visit the city lab article – How to Keep Cyclists Riding Even in the Frigid Snowy Winter
Population Density and Land mass
Before you bring up density as the reason that Colorado Springs can’t be a winter bicycling hotspot (pardon the pun) take a look at the numbers below from Wikipedia. As the video mentions Oulu has much of the same suburban sprawl as North American cities.
Oulu
Area
Land 544.47 sq mi (1,410.17 km2)
Population
City 206,001
Density 378.3/sq mi (146.08/km2)
Colorado Springs
Area
Land 195.00 sq mi (505.05 km2)
Population
City 478,221
Density 2,452.42/sq mi (946.88/km2)
Why are so few people riding bicycles in North American Cities ?
Many of the questions to get to the root of this question are the the same for winter and summer: alternative modes of travel are prioritized.
Is there a network of safe bicycle paths?
Take a look below for a comparison of offstreet paths (the dark blue lines) Oulu vs Colorado Springs
Snow Removal?
In Colorado Springs we have a mixed bag. On one hand, if you’ve ridden through the winter you’ll have seen that, the major pieces of our urban trail network are cleared of snow almost immediately. Yet sidewalks and on street bike lanes are rarely if ever cleared of ice and snow. This makes winter riding more difficult as our off street trails rarely get people all the way to their destination.
Winter cycling Congress Online February 11th & 12th
Bike Colorado Springs has no affiliation with the Global winter cycling conference but plans to have some of our leadership team attend.
Virtual 2-day registration $25