My journey as a cycling advocate began when I started commuting on my bike in winter.
I was a bike commuter before then, but it’s easier to dismiss the inequities of road design priorities when you can take a detour to arrive at work using the more scenic routes.
The price of parking, gas and car insurance led me to try to keep riding my bike even after it snowed. As someone who grew up in a tropical country, and never adjusted to the long, cold winters, I never imagined that I could be someone who could ride a bike year-round.
For most of my Canadian life, I dressed as if I were embarking on an Arctic expedition just to get into my car, in a heated garage. My winters were depressing, as I retreated inside for the most part and waited for it to pass.
Tom Babin of Shifter
My usual summer route after a heavy overnight snowfall.
“Something shifted. I felt powerful, invincible and able to conquer anything.”
Old Patty dressed to walk two blocks to her car in winter.
But now, older, wiser, unwilling to keep paying into a car-centric lifestyle that was making me broke, and fully supported by a loving partner who believed in me more than I believed in myself, it was time to look into winter cycling.
You would see them on the snowy roads and think “What kind of people think this is a good idea?” So I set out to find those people.
I began researching on YouTube, looking for stories of women who rode bikes in winter, especially Canadian winters. I didn’t find a whole lot, but I did find one, very nice Canadian man who had a lot of videos about riding a bike in Canada, in winter. His name is Tom Babin and his approach was simple and casual and it made me feel like it was doable, even for me.
I also looked to my local Discord cycling group and was immediately welcomed by everyone, given tips, ideas for accessories, and offers to try their bikes.
At the first snowfall, I took my bike out for a 3 Km ride to the local mall, without any special tires or accessories and though it was cold, it wasn’t awful. On the next day, I took my bike to work, wearing too many layers, feeling cold and hot at the same time, but by the time I got there I knew it was too late: something had changed inside me and I could never go back. Something shifted. I felt powerful, invincible and able to conquer anything.
Every day as I was about to leave the house, I would say “We’ll see, I might turn back.” But I never did. There were days when the commute was easy, watching the sunrise on the snowy fields and there were days when the snow was so high, that I had to push my bike over the snowy mounds for up to 2 km and arrive at work so sweaty that I had to wash my hair in the bathroom sink.
My commute of 45 minutes in the summer turned to an hour and a half in winter. Was I crazy to keep going? Were there others in the world who were going through the same thing?
The only way to find out was to ask around the world’s biggest cycling community: Bike Twitter.
I didn’t have a lot of followers on “X” but I asked my partner to share these questions with his followers:
How long is your winter bike commute?
Where are you located?
What is your favourite accessory?
What's a tip you would give someone who’s just starting?
I received thousands of replies and gained as many followers overnight. There it was: the community that shrinks your world and expands your horizons.
The point of no return: after the first winter bike ride.
This pride in riding your bike in winter is hard to explain. It’s not that we feel we’re “better than” the ones who don’t, but that we are better than our former selves. We’re greater, stronger, and wiser than we ever dreamed we could be, and we can never go back to who we were.
The other, darker side of winter cycling is that it opens your eyes to the inequality of our infrastructure. Though we all pay taxes toward road repair and maintenance, people on bikes often get the lower priority on snow clearing on protected paths and, wait for it, less protected paths. All of a sudden, the routes you could take in the nice, warmer months, are not cleared and the extra 3 km in minus 20C temperatures aren’t as appealing.
At this point in my journey, I found Bike Winnipeg and joined the Board of Directors, becoming involved in advocacy work, volunteering on group rides, and writing the weekly newsletter.
Life has changed so much since. My partner and I have gained hundreds of new friends, sold one of our vehicles, and started a YouTube channel dedicated to all things to do with bikes.
We recently attended the Winter Cycling Congress in Edmonton where we met some of our heroes and had great conversations about how to normalize riding a bike for transportation. Whether it be to go to work, to shop for food, or to go out for ice cream, the bike should be a “no-brainer” choice. No one should choose the car because they feel unsafe on their bikes.
My mandate as Bicycle Mayor of Winnipeg is to normalize that choice and to make sure that we do have an option for anyone who doesn’t have the privilege of owning a car or simply wants to use a bike to get around, without having to make it into a political statement or an act of defiance.
