I can't wrap my head around riding a bike in the winter here, but many brave souls do it!

Who rides a bike in winter? Study sheds light on thousands of urban winter cyclists in Calgary

The average winter cyclist in Calgary is a middle-aged man who rides almost every day, usually to work, and will brave temperatures down to -20 C and colder to do so.

That’s some of the initial findings of a project from the University of Calgary that is shedding light on heretofore enigmatic winter cyclists in Calgary, those sometimes misunderstood and maligned people who ride their bikes through Calgary’s long and ever-fluctuating dark season and have become a major part of the debate over cycling in Calgary.

The project is being spearheaded by Dr. Farnaz Sadeghpour in the Schulich School of Engineering and is designed to teach engineering students the importance of engaging with the community and users before designing solutions to real-life civic problems. The nice side-benefit to the project is that it gathers data on winter cycling in Calgary.
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Sadeghpour loves to speak about how the project gives her students a chance to tackle a pressing issue in the city — she has even involved planners at City Hall to help judge students’ final designs– but what grabbed me most was what the data revealed about winter cyclists in the city. These highlights were pulled from the 2013 data:

* Most of the winter cyclists were male (more than 70 per cent). Most were over 35 years old, and the biggest segment was those older than 44.

* More than 30 per cent said they ride when the temperature dips as low as -20 C, and nearly 25 per cent will ride no matter how cold it gets. That means about 55 per cent of them say they ride to -20 C or colder.(-4F)

* The most common distance travelled was 10 kilometres, but many cyclists travelled much farther distances. Nearly 30 per cent said their ride was longer than 10 kilometres, a distance Sadeghpour notes is farther than has been recorded in academic literature from any other city.

* Fifty six per cent of survey respondents said they were on their bikes as part of their commute. The second most common reason for riding in winter was recreation and exercise.

* The biggest safety concern of the 2,100 cyclists surveyed was ice and snow, which was cited by 30 per cent of respondents. Lane width (which also includes proximity to moving vehicles), poor pavement, and gravel were also areas of concern.

* When asked where bike routes should be expanded, 38 per cent said downtown, 36 per cent said routes into downtown, and 25 per cent said communities.

* A quarter of respondents said their bike trip was supplemented by another form of transportation. Among those, 44 per cent said their multimodal trip included a car, while 35 per cent said transit.

* More than 75 per cent of winter cyclists said they own a car.

http://blogs.calgaryherald.com/2014/02/ ... n-calgary/