Want to try an E-bike? Book a Test Ride Here!

Winter Bike to Work Day 2018

Winter Bike to Work Day 2018

London, Ontario's first ever Winter Bike to Work Day!

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

The Babboe city sits along a snowy path in the dark next to a table with coffee and cups.

Winter Bike To Work Day always starts in the dark. Good lights are essential!

This past Friday, February 9, London celebrated its first-ever participation in International Winter Bike To Work Day! WBTWD is a collection of global events and individuals that celebrate people who ride bikes in the winter. If you can go skating in the park, or skiing at Boler, you can ride your bike to get you where you want to go, too. Tom Babin's Frostbike is a great read that emphasizes this, and shares his story of becoming a 4-season rider. Less of a "how to" guide, more of a historical and modern take on all season cycling, it contains a few really important ideas for city planners about being a winter city (which all of us in Canada are, except those lucky places like Victoria on the left coast where the cherries bloom in January). For people riding in the winter, we put together a little winter cycling guide a while ago which can be summed up as 1) get studded tires, and fenders, 2) dress in layers, and 3) go a bit slower than normal. Riding in the winter is easy, and we can help you get started!

WBTWD also coincides with the Winter Cycling Congress which was hosted by Moscow in 2018, and will be hosted by Calgary in 2019. WCC is a gathering of city professionals, people who ride bikes, and experts in transportation systems to discuss the best ways to adapt winter cities for people on bikes. Only when a city makes it easy to choose a bike on 95% of the days does it become a legitimate transportation option for people year-round. The formula to have more people riding in the winter in the city is simple: protected bike lanes + maintenance. From experiences around the world, nothing else matters.

Fortunately there are people in London are riding their bikes year-round in spite of the terrible infrastructure and lack of maintenance. They choose to ride because they'll be healthier, they choose to ride because it's more fun, and they choose to ride because unlike being stuck in a car, people on bikes are never late for work because of traffic issues. To celebrate these awesome trail-blazers in our city, we teamed up with Outspokin' Cycles and set up a free coffee station in Victoria Park to give out drinks and high fives to winter commuters. There was a lot of snow in the forecast, but people rode anyway, and it was great to meet up with everyone who was out on the streets.

Thanks to all who dropped by, or sent us photos, tweets, and messages of support! This is an event that will continue to grow year after year, and we're grateful for all of you who participated in the first WBTWD in London. Here are some of the people who ride all winter here in London:

Ben and Joy smile at the camera in their winter gear.
A winter clad cyclist smiles at the camera in front of the coffee station.
Another winter clad cyclist enjoys a coffee next to her bike.
A dog waits in front of the Babboe City bakfiets waiting for his human to finish coffee.
A winter cyclist checks to see if there's any coffee left in the carafe.
A winter cyclist kneels down in front of the coffee station, facing the camera, with a dog.
A cruiser bike in front of the shop with a "winter hours" sign in the window.
A frosty winter bicycle tire covered in ice.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Leave a comment
* Your email address will not be published

Book an Appointment

Shopping cart

Your cart is currently empty