Bicycling in Winter

"Traffic systems should be evaluated by looking at the time you need for a journey itself, for buying the means of transport, for maintaining and cleaning it, and for earning the money you need for the trip. When you take all this into account, a car driver moves at the same speed as a cyclist.

His average speed is 17-22 km/h, depending on his model and salary."

Winfried Wolf, author of the book Eisenbahn und Autowahn ("Railways and Automania")

If you throw in the pollution from running and manufacturing cars, and all (or even one?) of the early deaths from accidents and lack of exercise, I guess you have to say the bike comes out way ahead. The book covers up to 1990, and car expenses have certainly outpaced inflation since then. Also, he does not take into account the amount a bicyclist would save in medical expenses from getting regular exercise, so I think the car driver moves at a substantially slower speed than the cyclist.

This really impressed me when I read it. I have been doing all my local traveling by bicycle for years, but this surprised me enough that I was even telling people I didn't know about it, especially waiting at a red light with another cyclist.

Of course if a person is going to just bicycle in the summer and bus or use a car in the winter, it really cuts down on the efficiency. Bicycling in winter was more common in the early days before there were cars to fall back on.

In a few years I expect they will discover that really the Arctic Circle runs through Calgary, probably along eleventh avenue in front of the house, but even in winter bicycling still works well. It is a little more dangerous and takes more effort and time, but I appreciate the exercise and you seem to get acclimatized to the cold.

The ice is more of a problem. Everything I've wanted to keep warm I've been able to without going to the latest high tech material, designer label type of stuff, but on the roads snow can hide the ice so you don't know you are on it until you start to slide. I average about a thump into the pavement a winter on my commutes, usually under difficult conditions at a slow speed. If I do see the ice I am surprised at how comfortable I am riding on it as long as it is not sloped, but that took awhile and won't happen for everyone. I am able to commute early enough or on a bike path, so a thump does not happen in traffic.

There are other problems riding in winter. Early one morning I was distracted as I first got up to speed and noticed too late that a cement truck ahead of me had stopped. I squeezed the brake levers but my wheel rims had been coated with frost overnight, which only happens about once a winter, and the brakes did almost nothing to slow me down. I slammed into the back of the truck at nearly full speed.

The mixing drum went flying off the truck. It rolled down an incline, smashed through the wall of a house and very fortunately wound up trapped in the basement, which stopped it from demolishing more of the city. There was concrete all over the street and a few yards, and the part of the truck that did manage to stay on the street was in rough shape.

Or maybe I stressed the back bumper of a Pinto enough to almost dent it. I can't remember which way it happened now, but I have had enough problems stopping in the winter that I do remember to keep extra distance available.

On the coldest commute so far this winter, -31 C (-24 F) when I started out for an early shift at 6 in the morning, I could only get up to half speed because of snow that hadn't been cleared and a tire that I didn't realize was a little flat, and the ride was surprisingly comfortable. There was just a little air movement in the direction I was going in, so almost no wind chill. I had started early because I was expecting it to be slow, so time wasn't a problem. I was dressed for the temperature and couldn't even call it unpleasant.

It was only because I was thinking about how much I appreciate something that you could hardly call entertainment that a morning when it wasn't happening stuck in my memory. On the first cold dark morning this winter with a stiff breeze blowing the wrong way, unlocking a padlock and chain cold enough to make just ice cold sound pleasant, I was mumbling "we're just too close to Saskatchewan" (it's a step down the thermometer from Calgary) and not feeling enthusiastic at all, but it took less than a minute of slow progress before I was glad to be out there again.

The most frequent question I get in winter is "Do you have chains for that?" and I like to say "No, but I have a really nice snow plow just 2 inches wide. Go anywhere." On the coldest day or during the worst storm of the winter, I'll often get asked: "Did you ride your bike in today too?" My answer last time was: "It was either that or give the bus company a buck." The guy added to the thought for me, "and that will never happen." It was said pleasantly, maybe even with appreciation, and there was enough truth to the comment that I enjoyed it.

I do complain once in awhile that I can't get the top up.

But I thoroughly enjoy it, appreciate the exercise, and even in winter when I'm starting out somewhere and it's sunny or pleasant, there are a lot of days that it strikes me: "What a beautiful day for a bike ride."

If bicycling did become the main form of transportation, it would have a nice impact on a lot of problems quickly, like obesity, the load on the health care system, pollution, the fuel supply, greenhouse gases and all those early deaths, but I hope all this doesn't make me sound like I'm an extremist about bicycles because I'm not. I do think that people should be allowed to drive cars, but of course only on their own property.