Biking in winter doesn’t faze us
It doesn’t take much to convince Montreal cyclists to hit the streets in below-freezing temperatures, although better snow removal would make the decision even easier
People who cycle all winter in Montreal have a name for themselves: “hurlus,” short for “hurluberlus.” French for “weirdo.”
Winter biking may have been a weirdos-only pursuit a decade ago, but from the look of our streets, either the weirdos are proliferating or winter biking is going mainstream. With the Plante administration’s prioritization of “active transportation,” the trend is likely to continue.
The popularity of Bixi might explain part of the increased popularity of year-round cycling.
“Bixi has really changed the perception about who can ride a bike to work,” said Zvi Leve, a cycling activist with the organization RuePublique. “By using Bixi, more people realize how practical cycling is — it’s almost always the fastest way to get around.”
Many winter cyclists didn’t set out to become hurlus; it just happened. This is how François Démontagne began winter cycling a decade ago.
“I just extended my season day by day, and once it was spring I had been biking all winter,” he said. “Winter biking was a revelation.”
Démontagne’s commute takes him from the Plateau to Longueuil every day. It takes 50 minutes by public transit, but only 30 by bike — and that includes crossing the Jacques Cartier Bridge.
“Biking all winter, it makes a huge difference physically. Doing physical activity for half an hour twice a day — it’s hard to beat that.”
There’s also the matter of seeing a bit of that fleeting winter daylight. Démontagne’s previous office was at Victoria Square, and his métro commute enabled him to get to and from work with barely any contact with fresh air.
“I just never really saw it as different from summer cycling,” said Gabrielle Anctil, a spokesperson for Ghost Bike Montreal, an advocacy organization that memorializes cyclists killed in traffic with sculptural installations of white bikes.
Her only must-have for winter cycling is ski goggles to prevent her eyes from tearing up in the cold.
As far as outerwear goes, Anctil and Démontagne both insist there’s no need to overdo it.
“You get really warm really quickly. It’s better to dress down. You don’t need to wear as much as you would if you were waiting for the bus,” Anctil said.
Winter bikers might be blasé when it comes to the nerve required to suit up and get pedalling when it’s -15 C, but they aren’t when it comes to snow removal. In 2011, McGill civil engineering researchers Luis Miranda-Moreno and Christopher Kho conducted a study on the factors that most determined whether people cycle during cold weather. Was it precipitation? Humidity? Temperature? Wind? They found surface conditions made the most difference.
“You can’t change the weather, but you can change the surface conditions,” said Bartek Komorowski, a researcher at Vélo Québec.
The maintenance of cyclable surface conditions involves a complex web of factors: what type of bike paths are built, how snow is removed, what kind of de-icer is used.
There’s also the question of bike parking. On-street bike racks are removed in November, and most sidewalk bike-lock posts are buried in snow by sidewalk plows. Cyclists often have no choice but to shove their bike in a snowbank to access a locking post — and risk having their bike destroyed by passing plows.
“The expense of installing and removing those on-street racks is probably more than the racks themselves. Bicycles don’t disappear in the winter. We’re going to need to think about on-street bike parking if we want to improve conditions,” Leve said.
Meanwhile, not all bike lanes are created equal. The Coderre administration expanded the city’s onstreet bike lane network, consisting of painted lanes at the sides of streets, but advocates say this is of little use once winter comes.
Snow plowed from the main roadway ends up covering the bike paths at the streets’ margins. The painted paths are only accessible once the full snow removal operation has wrapped up — meaning only a handful of days per winter, depending on the snowfall.
Marianne Giguère is a Projet Montréal city councillor from Plateau-Mont-Royal and the associated councillor for active transportation and sustainable development on the city ’s executive committee. She says the Plante administration is hoping to build separated or protected bike lanes, such as the one on de Maisonneuve Blvd., which can be maintained separately.
“If we add bike lanes on the street, we want to make sure that there will be a space between the lane and the cars so that the snow can be moved and the bike lane can remain safe and accessible,” Giguère said.
Then there’s the question of deicing. Komorowski said the rock salt used on roadways isn’t ideal for bike paths because it requires the weight of car tires to activate its melting properties and spread it around.
“The newest thing is liquid melters — brines,” he said. “They’re usually salt diluted in water, and they’re sprayed on rather than spread. When you spray it, it immediately becomes active. And then when the snow falls, it prevents the snow from binding to the surface. So it acts as a protective layer.”
This enables the snow to be removed with a giant brush instead of a plow, which is less damaging to curbs and street surfaces. Last winter, Villeray–St-Michel–Parc-Extension experimented with brines and brushes, and neighbouring Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie was so impressed they began using them, too. Komorowski believes wider adoption of the brine-andbrush method could mean major improvements for cyclists.
On the Vélo d’hiver — Montréal Facebook page, which has more than 8,000 members and an entertaining feed all winter long, members were unimpressed with the Plante administration’s first three cycles of snow removal.
In the days following each major snowfall, frustrated members posted photos of unplowed paths on several major arteries.
Démontagne, an active member of the group, is taking the long view.
“I’m not among those decrying the Plante administration’s track record so far this winter,” he said.
“Bike path plowing is done borough by borough, and it’s only centralized for the paths on major arteries. This doesn’t really allow for a rapid response to snowfall. A few days after a storm, conditions improve, but the know-how in terms of methods for fast, centralized snow removal on bike paths just isn’t there.
“I think Marianne Giguère is on board with the vision of a fourseason biking network, but I’m not going to expect impeccable results this winter. There’s infrastructure that needs to be updated.” Leve concurs. “I’m obviously not satisfied with the results at this point, but I know enough about the challenges involved to appreciate the complexity of this task. But we need to make continuous, sustained effort on this. We need followup about what works and what doesn’t. Giguère is hopeful. “If we have to buy better machinery so that the work is done more easily, and with a more secure result for cyclists, we’re going to have to figure it out, and help the boroughs, since they are responsible for their own winter maintenance. Perhaps boroughs can share those machines. We have to work hand in hand with the boroughs, because they need to be part of the movement. We don’t want to feel that we’re rushing them or imposing our view — we need to convince them.” The hurlus will be out regardless. “We are a Nordic city,” Leve said. “We have a very active outdoor life year-round. We need to start recognizing that as normal.”
I think Marianne Giguère is on board with the vision of a four-season biking network, but I’m not going to expect impeccable results this winter. There’s infrastructure that needs to be updated. François Démontagne.