What to Wear for Winter Cycling

Winter in Ottawa has made the slow inevatable turn to longer days and better weather. Still,the roads look like this:
Tempratures are warming, but still near or below zero. There is ice, slush and puddles every where, the roads are still narrowed and the edges are the sketchest parts. It is no wonder that many people park their bike in November and maybe think of it again in April, or May...
Add to this the "advice" that starts round September for what to wear. There is always one article in the local paper that seeks to demistify winter cycling. Usually they manage to make wintercyclists seem utterly and compleatly "other". There is all that expensive specallized clothing. The winter cycling shoes, waterproof pants and jackets. The layers of clothing required are in itself daunting. Wool or synthetic base layer cycling shorts, mid layer then a heavy sweater and finally a waterproof outer shell... No single piece costs under $100. Well, that's enough to limit my winter cycling to this:

Well, let me assure you, winter cycling is not that complicated. There is one bit of atire that is absolutly a requirment for winter cycling. in truth I'd recomend these for a commuting cyclist regardless of the season.

Yes the only important bit of winter clothing is mounted to your bike. Truthfully valuable in any season, fenders. Fenders will keep your clothes dry, in most conditions, limiting the requirement for water proof outer layers.Add a set of platform pedals and you can use your favourite hiking or winter boot, same ones you put on to walk to the bus or shovel the drive way. The rest of your cycling outfit, honestly it is nothing special. Dress as if you were going to walk the same time (not distance). Most often you will find you've over dressed for your ride, and you'll be opening zippers when you get the chance  The only caveat is your hands, I have warm hands a thin wind-blocker glove is all i need, most of the time. If you have cold hands mittens are a good idea, but a good pair of gloves are more flexible. That's it winter cycling demystified, wear what you would to walk the same amount of time. Use fenders/mudguards and platform pedals. You'll be fine.
The winter is long and dark, lights are a good idea. Getting outside and  keeping active is important to getting through this dark season.

Angry Cyclist

One day last week, a rainy morning, I got on my bike to pickup my oldest from school. We were then going to ride a few blocks to watch the the younger one's Christmas Concert or Spectac. This is amazing, December in Ottawa can be hard on cyclists. Sure it was raining, but it was not freezing rain, or blowing snow. It was cool, 6 degrees or so, but it should have been 6 below (Celsius). I was riding my bike and was going to see my kids in the middle of the day, how could I not be happy?
Still in my neighbourhood waiting to turn right at a red-light, the car behind me lurched to my left and moved to make the right turn. The road was clear so I made my right ahead of the car on a fairly busy street. The car made the turn and then tried to get beside me, with his window open the driver (who I couldn't see) was yelling something at me. Well, that was it: I became that ANGRY CYCLIST!!! I yelled back and gestured wildly, and asserted my place in the lane. I wasn't going to take being yelled at or honked at by some inconsiderate driver, I was just doing what I had to to keep safe. I require respect and space, if drivers don't like it they can suck-it. When the car finally passed me (safely); I realized the inconsiderate driver was a father of my kids friends, a cyclist and all round good guy. I instantly replayed the proceeding events, without the drivers hate me template. He was trying to be friendly, not aggressive. He was going to the same place I was he just wanted to say hi. I over reacted, I was wrong. The worst of it, he apologized to me; wouldn't accept my apology and has probably forgotten about the incident by now. Me, I'm writing a blog post about it...
I can't generalize for other cyclists, but I think maybe, just maybe, it is not that drivers are out to get me. Maybe. Riding my bike makes me more happy then angry. I can be a bit tetchy and aggressive, and on the road is no different, maybe that is the problem, not aggressive drivers. Of course there are aggressive drivers out there, so it will be a challenge to change my attitude. This video should help keep me in a good mood:
Junior Cyclocross Racers 2010-2011 from 53 x 11 on Vimeo.
Ottawa's cyclocross series is great for the kids, and a ton of fun for for adults too. Hopefully next season Ottawa's Parks will be available again.

Another Coroners Report, Waiting on the Shelf

In 1998 the chief Coroner of Toronto wrote a report "Recommendations for reducing cycling injuries and death". This report detailed cyclist deaths and injuries over an 11 year period with an aim to enhance cyclist safety going forward. The report made 15 recommendations in five broad areas:

• Better bicycle collision data collection and analysis
• Education programs and enforcement for both motorists and cyclists
• A review of the Highway Traffic Act sections affecting bicycles
• Roadway engineering design improvements for bicycles
• Investigation of design modifications for large vehicles to reduce injury severity

What happened when this report was released? Well, like most Coroners reports it looks like it was shelved. I can say for sure that in the last 15 years any review of the Highway Traffic Act has not produced any of the recommended changes. Design modifications for large vehicles to reduce injury severity? Moved forward in Europe, DOA here. It was revived as an issue in the federal Parliament by Opposition MP as a Private Members Bill, of course Private Members Bills never go anywhere in Canadian Parliament. Toronto's police may have acted upon the recommendations to improve collision data collection and analysis. Unfortunately, I can't judge as this is not open or available data. This leaves two recommendations that may have been acted upon: Education and Engineering.

Most serious cyclists know where the political effort and attention has been placed. Infrastructure, has been a political hot button. The rhetoric has been mighty, the results tepid. That leaves Education as the only area that may have been addressed. For cyclists the city of Toronto offers a large selection of Can-Bike courses. Online videos and tips, as well as other resources. Nothing for other road users...

Still the call is to educate cyclists before other road users, instead of other road improvements. Proven strategies are ignored and fantasies are indulged.

Cycling Education. Who could be against that?

Recently the Office of the Chief Coroner set about to conduct a review of cycling deaths across the province. This was in response to the deaths of two young women in the space of a couple of weeks. These deaths and a spat of other incidents, aroused public concern over the safety of cyclists. Corner's reports are long processes and the report will not be released before spring 2012, so I can't really talk to the report. Although, the Chief Coroner did allow for public input as part of the review and that has sparked a reoccurring debate in the cycling community; Infrastructure vs. Education.

The Education Activists are an interesting bunch, they don't like being called activists. They usually portray themselves as "Responsible Cyclists". They are scandalized by the behaviour of cyclists they see every day (or think they see) they know that cyclist safety is suffering because of this poor behaviour. They think Infrastructure Activists are irresponsible for advocating for policies that will attract more people to cycling. These new cyclists will, by definition, be "poorly trained and unskilled", and inevitably the victim of some horrible tragedy as they transition from protected cycle-track to regular streets. The solution to these problems is Cycling Education and if the there is no money left over for infrastructure, so much the better. Of course this is nonsense. Cycling fatalities and injuries have been on a bumpy downward trend for nearly 20 years. This is at the same time that cycling is increasing, so these poorly trained and unskilled (new) cyclists are not being killed off in number. Adult returning cyclists are most often licensed drivers, who should know the rules of the road. Convincing large numbers of them to take a Can-Bike course, devoting an entire weekend (or several) to being lectured about “cyclist inferiority complex”. Well, lets just say I wouldn't want that marketing job. Ah, what about the children? Surely there is value for Cycling Education in the schools? After all "cycling education has entirely disappeared from the public education system". Maybe, but probably not. This is a bit of a good news/bad news story. School age children are not being killed on bikes. This is most likely because school age children are not riding bikes. At least not to school, shops or even friends houses. I'm a parent of two elementary school kids, the bike racks are mighty bare. Besides, traffic safety is taught. Kindergartners know stop-signs, and red-lights.  They know to look both ways before crossing the road. Every year they get a school-bus safety refresher. These kids know safe, a specific cycling program, while maybe nice, is not necessary. 
Let's be clear calls for Cycling Education as a safety program, are really calls to not spend money on other programs or infrastructure. They ignore the real dangers of our streets and the real actions that can make cycling safer objectively and subjectively. Calls for Cycling Education are obstructionist strategies, and should be seen as such.
*Update 2011-12-16*
Kathleen Wilker's blog FamiliesonBikes has some relevant information on this issue. The City of Ottawa offers Can-Bike courses through City Wide Sports a division of Ottawa's Parks, Recreation and Culture Department. Not only is the city already delivering cycling education, they piloted a program that offered free cycling education to Ottawa schools: "All told, 2000 kids received some kind of free bike education at their schools in Ottawa last spring". Further according to Kathleen's blog Gord MacGregor, who leads the program is planning to expand the schools cycling education program for next spring. 
So the Cycling Education is there. Will this make the "Responsible Cyclists" happy? Probably not, and that is sad.