Bike Network in Regina - Winter Cycling
In the fall term of 2023 The REM partnered with the University of Regina’s Urban Geography class 246. The REM came into the classroom to teach the students the benefits of source documents in the form of archives and interviews. Here is the first student report we will highlight, “Bike Network in Regina” by Cheghan Tang and Runqi Wang. This report includes an interview with Bike Regina’s Angele Poirier.
We try to conduct original research on local sustainability in Regina through the history and current state of bike network in Regina. We focus on the aspect of winter cycling and used archival research method and interview research method.
The bike network is an important part in local sustainability. Bike is environmental friendly and economic. If a city has more people choose to ride bicycles, then this city is environmental friendlier and has sustainability. Winter cycling is a big problem in cycling. If a city have an improvement of winter cycling, then more people in this city are willing to choose cycling.
In archival research method, we search the articles and newspapers about winter cycling. Most archives about winter cycling are historical newspapers. We used Proquest database to search archives about winter cycling.
According to the search on the Proquest database, winter cycling was first mentioned in Regina in 1978 (It was mentioned in The Leader Post (1930-2010); Regina, Saskatchewan. 28 Jan 1978: 54.). The newspaper introduced winter cycling in a small section. It reported that an Ottawa engineering technician invented a tricycle for winter cycling. This is the first time that people in Regina pay attention to winter cycling. Although it does not mean that Regina citizens start cycle in winter, but it was a good beginning. It means people in Regina begin to know winter cycling.
Then in the 1989, The Leader Post mentioned winter cycling again. It is the third time that winter cycling was mentioned in Regina. The newspaper reported winter cycling in a bigger section with a title called “There’s no reason for cyclists to stop pedalling”. It reported a discussion about winter cycling. People discussed the safety of winter cycling and how to cycle safely in winter. It was an improvement of winter cycling in Regina again. But this report was written by an Ottawa citizen and still no one in this report is from Regina.
In the 1992, the Leader Post reported an winter cycling session called Galaxy Senior Cyclist. This is the first event about winter cycling in Regina. It is a big breakthrough. People in Regina began to cycle in winter.
There was a breakthrough again in 2000. The Leader Post set a small section called “Winter Cycling”. In this section, it reported that The Galaxy Senior Cyclists meet each week for an hour of winter cycling. Suitable bikes were supplied to the public. This means Regina had a regular event of winter cycling. Winter cycling was accepted by more people.
After that, Jennifer Keesmaat, who is the project led for the Office for Urbanism's Regina Downtown Plan, he wanted to explore the viability of moving about on a bike in Regina, so he chose to ride in Toronto as a comparison to Regina and shared his experiment in the Leader-Post in 2007, named Winter Biking Downtown----Better Than You Think. So during his long ride, he found that the riding time was less than he expected, but the cold weather still brought bad influence on cycling. What's more, he found that cycling requires a lot of space! Cycling on one-way streets in particular can cause difficulties for pedestrians and cyclists. Most importantly, he found that studded tires are more suitable for winter riding, and the tires combined with crunchy snow can make moving so fine. After that Regina had put more effort into bike events.
In 2013, the Leader-Post posted an article named Winter on two Wheels, which mentioned that a growing number are trying winter cycling, and the University of Regina would organized a workshop to offer tips for them.
In the January 2014, Emma Graney wrote on the Leader Post that he interviewed Fred Vandelinden, who mentioned that most people have a skeptical and negative attitude towards winter cycling. This is due to the fact that Regina has too cold weather and cold winds in winter, but in terms of the smoothness of the ground, it also has certain advantages. In the end, they concluded: Regina should pay special attention to winter cycle maintenance and put more effort into road planning and snow clearing. This report brought new insights and guidance to subsequent cycling event planning and improving in Regina.
What's more, the people in Regina who love cycling have held a club, named Bike Regina. It is a grassroots organization with around 400 members, has been promoting winter cycling events and pushing for a more cycle-friendly city.
In recent years, more and more people joined winter cycling and made efforts to its development. Like in October 2013, the Leader Post posted that the city cleared the path that was wide enough for cyclists and pedestrians alike last year. Also in January 2021, the Leader-post mentioned that a group of people who enjoyed winter cycling got a grant from the City of Regina to purchase the groomer to maintain winter cycling trails.
Searching newspapers and archives gave us some insight into the history and current state of winter cycling in Regina. Overall, winter cycling in Regina has a history of about 40 years. However, due to Regina’s cold weather, people’s acceptance of winter cycling is still low. To learn more about the situation, we interviewed members of the Bike Regina to gain a better understanding of winter cycling.
Interview
We interviewed Angèle Poirier, a member of Bike Regina. At first, she told some about the history of winter cycling for herself. She started biking in the winter when she was only 15. She rode a bike in other seasons and did not stop in winter. She kept cycling in winter just because she realized that she can cycle in winter. She cycle in the wheel tracks.
Is there any difficulties in winter cycling?
Yes, there are some difficulties in winter cycling. It’s extremely cold when people ride bikes in winter because of the chill wind. Besides, People don’t have any shelter because they are in the prairies. Therefore, cyclists need to bundle up themselves.
Why do you choose to cycle in winter?
I do it just because she likes it. There are a lot of reasons why I like it. I like biking for the health benefits. Also it takes the same amount of time as driving. What’s more, it let me mentally shift from work to personal life.
What are people’s reactions to winter cycling?
Most of people have a negative attitude. They thought I was crazy. People have some myths about winter cycling. One of them is that you need an expensive fat bike to ride in the winter. Actually, people only need one studded tire.
What is your attitude about the future of winter cycling?
I am not optimistic about the future of winter cycling in Regina. I do not think that more people will do it because the winter in Regina is too cold. Another reason is what children learn. Children don’t see their parents cycle in winter. Although they want to cycle in winter, their parents are against it. Therefore, children also give up cycling in winter. They learn it very young.
Do you think that the bike sharing is a promote to the winter cycling?
In theory, maybe. Unfortunately in Regina, there is no bike Sharing, and only one pilot project of a car and e-cargo bike share in Winnipeg as I konw. And even than, e-cargo bike share is a very different type of hiking than just everyday, and just realistics based on what I've lived and seen and I 've been biking around 20 years so I would have to assume that bike sharing have even less uptake, and I just have major doubts about this.
How many people in terms join the winter cycling in Regina?
That's 12 for the whole entire bike in Regina. It's a very small group. But there's gonna be more people that I don't know about. And maybe there is an organization in a branch, maybe 50 ro 60 people working. And the university which I think is another big amount choose the bike, especially in summer, but not so much in winter.
How long do you usually ride in winter?
My commute used to be about 30 minutes, and If go beyond that, it gets very cold. But you can see that the days of the year including weekends, the vast majority of the time are not cold. That would be like 5 days of the year at extremities with the severe minus 40. And when you ride, the fingers will not get cold, in fact, when cycling, the core temperature rises, so I can keep warm and toasty.
Can you talk about the advantages and disadvantages of winter cycling?
The first advantage is that cycling is cheaper than a bus or owning a vehicle or renting a vehicle, and faster than walking. Second, You're not contributing to traffic jams. At home, you do not have to store a vehicle, maintain a vehicle, or pay for a vehicle. So that's some financial benefits, even take up less space I guess, like you don't have enough parking in the place that you're living or whatever. Third, it's more physically demanding than walking, and not more physically demanding than jogging. Fourth, It familiarizes you with areas of the city that you probably would not experience. As for other advantages, of course, there are environmental protection physical health advantages, and so on. Then the disadvantages, sometimes you just don't have a choice only one lane and you are clogging up traffic, and there is a traffic line behind you. That really makes me bad and guilty, because I don't have a choice, there are only a few bike lanes in the whole of Regina. It is also an inconvenience to switch your steady tires. And the weather, on the one hand, it's so cold in Regina, on the other hand, when it's snowing, the so-called bike lanes become snow storage and mud and yuck storage in the wintertime, so it just forces you out into traffic which causes the roads to become congested.