Why Canadians Can't Bike in the Winter (but Finnish people can)

When talking about bicycle infrastructure in Canada, the number one excuse I hear is "winter." Many Canadians see the cold and snow as a fundamental barrier to year round cycling. But one city, Oulu in Finland, with winter weather worse than most Canadian cities, shows that winter cycling has nothing to do with the weather, and everything to do with safe cycling infrastructure.

NJB Live (my bicycle livestream channel):

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This video would not have been possible without contributions from:
* My Brother
* Wimpy snowflake Canadian who can't handle a little bit of cold
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Winter cycling study (in Finnish):
TALVIPYÖRÄILYLAAJUUSMOTIIVIT JA ESTEETTERVEYSVAIKUTUKSET

Map of bicycle underpasses in Oulu and the surrounding area:

BLUEGRYB | Rotating Icebreaker
GRYB (YouTube/CC BY)

How to Keep Cyclists Riding Even in the Frigid Snowy Winter
The two key lessons learned by Northern European cities.

Ice cycles: the northerly world cities leading the winter bicycle revolution

Music: "My Touque's Too Tight" by Drool Puddy

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Chapters:

0:00 Intro
0:05 You can't cycle in the winter
0:36 Introduction to Oulu
1:29 It's not the cold
2:21 First: safe cycle paths
4:20 Second: proper winter maintenance
6:08 Lessons from Oulu
6:39 My experiences with winter cycling
7:37 Gushing over how awesome Oulu is
8:00 It's not as cold as you think
9:40 Progress in Canada
10:48 Canadian excuses
11:29 Winter Cycling Congress
11:59 Conclusion
12:24 Patreon shout-out
12:37 Drool Puddy music video

[NotJustBikes]

The 2024 Winter Cycling Congress will be held in Edmonton (Canada) in February 2024. More information and registration can be found here:

[dannydrevo]

Here in Slovakia, we treat cyclists and drivers equally in the winter. We don't plow anything and it is safe for no one.

[Vednier]

Around 10 years ago in Saint-Petersburg (Russia) government representatives traveled to Helsinki, Finland to learn "secret" of Finnish clean streets at winter. That they got was bitter disappointment - there was no magic secret. It turned out that to keep streets clean and nice at winter you actually need to clean them...

[rafasoares]

And here I am... A Brazilian, in Sydney Australia, feeling weirdly invested in a video about winter snow-cycling in Canada's and Finland's winter.

[Bloodglas]

"people will ride a bicycle in the winter if the city is designed for it." I'm sure more people would ride a bicycle regardless of season if cities were designed for it.

[kristopherjojimiyakusu]

I had a friend from Iceland who would always say, "There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing"

[JohnPaquette]

THANK YOU for NOT using background music! Such a relief that I can pay attention to your excellent content!

[Michaelsmith]

9:03 I like how you used a French flag for NL and a Belgian flag for Germany at the same time.

[henrivanbemmel]

The secret is the plowing and NOT putting salt on the paths. I have had friends who winter cycle in Toronto and their bikes are eaten away by the road salt.

[Emmuzka]

Winter cycling, or as the Finns say, "Cycling".

[seqka]

In elementary school I tried to make a habit of biking to school everyday, but it was just IMPOSSIBLE. When I biked on the road, I got honked at and had to dodge all the cars, ESPECIALLY all the parked cars that made it impossible to just bike on the curb. When I biked on the sidewalk, I had pedestrians yell at me and tell me to go on the road. I WAS ELEVEN. Why can't Canada just get some dang bike paths in our towns and cities already??

[Effigyy]

as a year-round cyclist from Oulu I appreciate this video. I guess the ability to do that was something I had taken for granted and it's slightly surprising to hear that it's not common sense to do it the way we are doing.

[torchedphoenix]

I remember being pulled over for biking on the sidewalk in bc Canada during the winter. It was the most infuriating situation because there’s 3 feet of piled up snow in the bike lane so I don’t know what he expected me to do, other then bike in the middle of the road. He let me off with a warning ticket but even a warning ticket pissed me off because I’m being as safe as I can, while the city neglects the bike lane, intentionally pushing snow into it. Making it impossible to use 🤦‍♂️.

[DrTruckster]

As a person who has lived in Oulu all my life, I haven't realized how good we have it here. I have pretty much cycled 20 years of my life to everywhere 15 km north and south of the city centre. All of that time I assumed it was the norm and even had the audacity to complain about the cycling paths. I'd recommend everyone to try cycling to work and hobbies because it really helps with your overall mood and it's really healthy too. Thanks for the video! Really eye-opening!

[starry_lis]

As far as gear is concerned, I feel I need to add there points:
1. Make sure your gloves are proper, i.e., don't let the wind right through.
2. Don't wear cotton on your skin. It will soak up when you sweat and will drain the heat right out of you when you finish your commute or make a stop. Only wool, synthetics etc.
3. Underdress. You want to be a little cold when you leave the house, so that you don't sweat profusely when you warm up.

[IxWales]

"the Dutch and the Germans"
*shows French and Belgian flags*

[yakub]

As a Canadian i can confirm i have fell off my bike multiple times slipping on (literally) 1 inch thick dumping grounds of salt on sidewalks all over the city, and 0 times on ice. Not to mention gross brown slush everywhere, and every creek/river becoming saltier than the Dead sea

[Tapakapa]

Those slush-filled "cycle paths" give me so much anxiety 😨

[EvaristeWK]

As a Torontonian and an avid cyclist, this video is completely spot-on.

[tobiasfraser]

As someone who lives in the US and cycles year-round due to income, I can confirm that shity infrastructure makes it infinitely more difficult than the weather, I actually prefer colder weather because I don't overheat as easily