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Winter is subjective in Calgary. Snow can fall from the sky any month of the year (literally). And, there is always at least one real snowfall before Hallowe’en, without fail. Mother Nature usually waits until October, but sometimes it even happens in September! One such storm was so epic it was dubbed “Snowtember”. We have also had record-breaking snowfalls in early October.

Never fear, these are all superlatives. For eight or more months of the year, Calgary is dry, sunny sunny sunny, and an excellent climate to live in. For the other four, most of it is dry, usually with not much snow (because it’s so dry), and relatively mild for winter. Admittedly, we can get chilly snaps, but they are usually followed by a natural phenomenon known as a Chinook. Sometimes it can turn downright balmy depending on the Chinook. 20ºC on the 20th of December? It has happened.

In 2017, winter struck the day after Hallowe’en. Temperatures plummeted well below 0ºC and we had a good blanket of snow, everywhere. While winter solstice wasn’t set to happen for another six weeks or so, the studs went on.

The fall of 2019 proved to be one of the snowiest ever on record! When I was a kid, I remember that Calgary was mostly brown throughout winter; now, with climate change, this is changing and there doesn’t necessarily seem to be a ‘normal’ anymore.

How we roll

We keep on riding through the winter. Sometimes we opt to walk. The first fall we moved back to Calgary, my husband made a snowfall-related commuting rule about taking transit when it snowed; he applied the rule one morning and slipped and fell while walking to the bus stop, breaking his wrist. He no longer has a rule about snowfall (or it is a much higher threshold now), his bike with studded tires feels safer!

I hadn’t really had much reason to “commute” in the traditional sense since we moved back to Calgary in 2011. In Vancouver, I had been a committed any-and-all weather bike commuter; upon arriving back in Calgary I had a newborn baby and no paid work to get to every day. Starting in 2017 one of my two kids commenced full time school located a long enough distance away that biking is the preferred mode of transportation. We commute to school, mostly by bike.

So, that’s what we do. Rain, sleet, hail, or snow. It’s all good. It’s tricky after a fresh snowfall, but it’s a good challenge and totally doable even with two young kids along for the ride. (Although, I could really do without the sleet and hail.)

It’s been going on three years now and it’s pretty great most of the time.

Reflections from late 2017

It is now month three of school and my eldest has never had a ride to school… in the traditional sense of the expression “ride”. She has ridden herself to school and has been a passenger catching a ride on the back on my husband’s longtail cargo bike. But, she has not set foot in a car or bus to get to school. She has ridden, been a passenger in our bakfiets, or walked home for all but three occasions (when we needed to keep moving westward after school and biking didn’t work logistically-speaking because of bedtime).

This is something that I’m proud of. It also saves us a huge amount of money and keeps me relatively fit and sane.

When I started my new chapter of commuting actively — this time with kids, I had two small children in tow and my eldest was starting preschool. My rule was that I had to self-propel one way, at least. Three years later and now it is a rarity to take the car, if ever. I now mostly bike, but sometimes walk if I still need to squeeze in a dog walk. It’s a nice change of pace, too.

I suppose that I am lucky where I live. We are within spitting distance of a world class off-street pathway system that takes me to many of my (curated) destinations. I hint at “curated” because I tend to pick and choose the businesses that I frequent or the extra-curricular activities that I sign our kids up for based on their proximity to good to excellent cycling infrastructure. We took a hit for housing size and quality in return for excellent accessibility to this network so that at least one of us could actively transport ourselves to work. I am so glad that we did.

Shift into Winter

If you are in Calgary, watch out for the annual event “Shift into Winter”, usually held early November. Held by the City of Calgary and Two Wheel View, often in conjunction with another supportive local organization or two.

In November 2019 we recorded the third annual Shift into Winter event and you can listen to it on the Biketown Podcast:

Winter Ride

Keep riding all winter long because you can. Because it is a wonderful way to start the day. Because it is peaceful. Because we’re Canadian and we have a winter that we might as well embrace. Because YOLO.

• Special Equipment that Helps
• Keeping Kids Warm
• Snow snow snow
• Tips on How to Stay Vertical
• Winter Tires
• Canadian Weather Facts & Stats

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Lindsay Bliek

My name is Lindsay Bliek, B.Sc., B.Ed., I am a mom who uses a cargo bike to get around. I have been riding bikes for over 30 years, the last 9 of which I have been either pregnant or riding with a young kid or two. I am the recipient of the 2019 Commuter of the Year award from Bike Calgary. I seek out protected infrastructure, like pathways and cycle tracks, and I am confident enough to ride on some (but not all) roads (with my kids). I am here to answer your questions and help mobilize your family on bikes! Read more about my background and why I write, as well as my recent work outside of this blog.

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