Is Cycling really a winter activity? | Matti Koistinen | TEDxTartu

Drawing on examples from around the world, Matti demonstrates that it is reasonable to ride bicycle all year round. The main challenges are not presented by the weather, but by antiquated attitudes and obstacles on the way of pushing through bicycle-friendly policies.

Quote: “But remember: the most important thing is to keep on cycling. The more there is cyclists on the streets, the more there is pressure for the city to offer the best for cyclists.”

Matti Koistinen is the head Finnish Cyclists’ Federation and avid promoter of cycling culture. For Matti, the bicycle is not only a part of environment-friendly and healthy lifestyle, but also a practical means of transportation.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Hi everybody I’m very honored to be here and thought TEDx maybe not everything in fennel is better as in Estonia at least the tap water here in Tartu is really good but let’s start with a little exercise I would like that all of you now close your eyes yes both of them Thanks

Yeah now it seems everybody eyes are closed imagine you’re now cycling the thing you really must like to do feel the wind in their hair the fresh air flowing into your lungs your legs are pedaling easily the bike moves forward smoothly you’re enjoying every moment of

It the only sound you hear is the wind fish bring into our ears is a beautiful scene around you Hills River trees suddenly you notice a familiar figure approaching you realize that’s your old friend you greet him today and you start to talk about how great whether it is

For cycling just perfect for it isn’t this image on your head really great well you can keep on the image and open your eyes now let’s make a little survey of this image you have an hour near of mind how many of you were thinking that image is something like this cycling in

The summer when the birds are seeing and butterflies are flying look please clap your hands and how many of you were thinking that the image on your mind is something like this when it’s freezing called -10 sun is shining the air is crispy and nice please cup your hands

So not very many of you were thinking of the winter it’s a bit odd because we’re in a city where you have snow ice and cold weather from all the way from November till April and it’s after year on the other hand it doesn’t surprise me

We’ve been told for the last 70 years that the car is the most comfortable way of getting around especially into winter we’ve been told that the bicycle is something to use on a pleasure rides and the summer weekends but on the other hand we haven’t been told how annoying

It’s the strip of the windows of your course after freezing cold night and notice that your fingers are getting really cold and freezing and once you get inside the car you realize that oh now the windows get free start to freeze from inside again and once you start

Your car you realize it’s already really cold in here and you get off on the street and then you have to start about worrying about traffic and the slipperiness and will I crash tonight today or not will I survive and hopefully I don’t kill anyone when I’m driving but when you’re cycling you

Don’t really not need to worry about most of these things bicycle is a perfect solution getting people from place to another place quickly easily and in fun way as well also in the winter and also in the cold cities like Tartu it’s up to the city its policies and the local culture

Well people cycle or not all year round now you ask why should the city encourage people cycling isn’t it dangerous when people hurt their heads and break their legs when they’re cycling on the ice and snow basin the research is made in Finland and Canada winter cycling is not any dangerous than

Cycling in the summer but the benefits of cycling are incredible it makes people healthier happier more efficient at work gets them faster to places that they need to go it decreased the consciousness and also saves huge amount of Society’s money the research made in city of Copenhagen tells that every

Kilometer cycle produces sixteen-year cents net gain for the society and when he compared that for the every kilometer driven a car produces nine cents loss for the society it’s pretty big difference a city of Helsinki has counted that every euro invested for good cycling facilities brings back eight years for the society

And when you compare this for the return what do you get from the core infrastructure investments the difference is huge as well we are all often told that winter is the reason why our cities here in the northern countries shouldn’t invest on cycling we can’t cycle in the winter it’s kind of

Stupid because about 3.9 billion people around the globe live in the areas where they experience snow and ice and winter conditions fortunately we have great examples of cities who have been successfully investing for a great infrastructure for great winter maintenance and the culture has became there people are cycling in the winter

We all know Copenhagen is a true cycling city it is also that in the winter Uma and Lynn chirping from Sweden have been showing the way how to make really good winter cycling conditions old and new and so in Finland have been two 4runners base regarding the Kazakh or hula from

The temporary University of Technology common for all these five cities is that they appreciate cyclists needs and prioritize those in their winter maintenance processes I’ll focus myself known to finish examples all one you and sue in both cities over 20% of trips all trips are made by bicycle

Even in winter about 60% of the cyclists 60% of the cyclists keep on cycling all winter long the citizens of these cities do not care that the average temperature in January is minus 10 degrees Celsius but it doesn’t just bubble that from nothing there has been a policy for

Decades in both cities to make safe comfortable smooth and quick bicycle infrastructure from the suburbs to the city center but this hasn’t been enough they have been also focusing on winter maintenance making it really good so the people of these cities when they wake up

In the morning and head out to work or to school or the university they note that the bicycle will take there easily effortless silly and fun way even though it would have been snowing last night bicycle tracks are usually taking care well so what’s good and what’s bad maintenance everything actually starts

From the beginning from the design and the construction of the cycle path here is a couple pictures from old you can see then picture above it looks like that there is a plenty of room in the summer but all the droom is actually needed in the winter time for storage of

The snow moving snow away is very expensive so it’s smart to reserve enough space around the cycle paths for the snow so you don’t need to move that far away so there’s plenty of room for snow that’s one of the key things to have enough space another thing is

Drainage you have to control the water when it melts otherwise it causes puddles which when it freezes again causes very dangerous conditions for cyclists also the maintenance procedures those must be taken care well and they always have been adjusted to the local conditions in all on the own so they

Have pretty steady winters like here in Tartu as well the temperature stays below zero for months at least four weeks during the winter but when you go to for example to Montreal Canada they might have 20 or 30 centimeters of snow and next day it’s plus 15 degrees these conditions are

Quite different from the ones we experienced here but the government for all cities is if they want to be really true cycling cities all year round is that they first clear up the cycle paths and then maybe focus for car lanes here is your priority map of un su cycle path network

So everything marked on the red are cleared first and there are a higher maintenance class you can see that from the suburbs there is going coming routes like for example here to the city centre where also the most of the routes are taking care really well this map can be

Also found online and also the actions taken on the streets can be found real time on online service so people know in the morning which routes are taking care and we turn out so they can check even from the internet that ok maybe I go that way finally we come to the

Maintenance practices those must be also adjusted for during during time of the year and now in the fall you have to focus on getting the ice off from the cycle tracks so maybe it’s a good idea just to brush off the little snow what

Do you get in in the fall and then put some salt or similar chemicals to dissolve the ice but when it gets colder and you get more snow it’s a good idea to just blow the snow away and leave some pack layer of snow on the top of

The cycle path this is really good to cycle on and it’s sometimes even better than asphalt but the important thing when you’re using this package snow technique is that you’re not supposed to use a salt at all you have to use gravel or sand for improving friction because

The salt would destroy the packed snow one thing where many cities in Finland fail is work with the removal of the back snow because in the springtime when it gets warmer the back snows of course smell melts and after that you get when it froze this next night you get the worst

Conditions for cyclist impossible here you see two pictures which are taken just 1.5 kilometer away from each other on the same day in between these pictures there is a border of municipality so another muncipality of multiple it appear color does a little bit better job than the municipality of thumb very

Unfortunate because I live in Tampa but one important thing besides these maintenance procedures and engineer things is the culture have people how people think about cycling do they see it’s an extreme sport where you need a special gear special clothing special attitude or do they see it’s a normal

Thing to do where people cycle in their normal clothing to work or to school so that even a mom can take her child to daycare even all year round with by bike this is very important in cities like all onion soup the tradition of cycling in the winter hat was never broken it

Has been there as long as the bike has been used by the people and you can see this still today in these cities so what can you do to make cycling more year-round thing first thing of course is to cycle enjoy the attention what do you get from your colleagues or from

Classmates that they’re saying well you’re crazy or you’re so healthy that you’re cycling everyday to work or what are you doing isn’t it dangerous kind of eventually it’s kind of fun but when promoting cycling to other people are saying but maybe you should try it don’t

Start to say that ok this is the list of clothing or gear what do you have to have it do the normal thing do it in your normal everyday clothing stories of people cycling forty kilometres one way back to work makes people think that’s crazy

Even I do think so one action what you can do is to ask from your local business owners to make a little better cycling parking facilities like here the good parking facilities which work in the winter they’re usually somehow covered also in the cities like that are

Not as good as the top Nordic cities into winter maintenance procedures you might need to take another action you have to ask for better from the city I told the benefits of cycling before healthier happier more hard-working people who need less doctor’s attention these are great reasons for the city to

Invest people remember also tell your own decision-makers that there is examples of cities where it being successfully done so that people can cycle year-round hola un Su Lin chirping and Copenhagen for example but the most important thing is keep on cycling the motorcyclists on the streets their motor

Is pressure for the cities and the multiplet is to make good winter cycling facilities for all of us so tomorrow when you head out do it on your bike and keep on cycling for the rest of the winter thank you