I will write a short post about World Bicycle Day. You can read more about it here.
But I was reflecting on this day. Two words come to mind when I think about a bicycle: Beauty and Grit.
The bicycle provides beauty on many different levels.
It’s a simplistic machine that uses the power of the human spirit to accelerate it.
It’s an environmentally, financially sustainable mode of transportation, allowing someone to get to point A to point B, cost-effectively without burning all those carbon emissions from an automobile.
It’s a physical and mental health prescription, increasing muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness. It also increases your creative thinking and calms a person down.
Its also economically empowering by leveraging transportation costs for lower-income households. I can personally attest to this, as its been the difference between a modest lifestyle and crushing debt if I had a car (which I don’t).
It’s also a toy, as a mode of escapism and bringing back childhood memories.
Its also glamorous as you can decorate your bike however you like, and ride with whatever clothes you want.
Meanwhile, the bicycle is also gritty.
It’s a gym, allowing someone to keep in shape without spending lots of money on fancy gyms.
Its also a tool in strengthening personal development and discipline. One can get up at 4 am and 5 am almost every morning, go for a quick 10 km ride, and then do the same thing at night to go along with your commute. David Goggins once said, “Mental toughness is a lifestyle .”It includes cycling in the dead of -30 winters, 30C summer heat, and heavy downpours. It helps callus the mind and strengthen it. Goggins said it best: “Never let people who choose the path of least resistance steer you away from your chosen path of most resistance.”
Regardless of what lens you look at, in the beautiful or gritty lens, no other machine can capture these two words than the bicycle.
After nearly five months since getting smacked by a car, I decided to commute to work by bike on March 14th.
And the first trip was breathtaking, frustrating, and baffling, reflecting the mood Winnipeg cyclists have faced this winter with the overabundance of snow and shotty removal services.
One of my two jobs involves commuting from home in Elmwood to way down Portage Avenue near Grace Hospital. Instead of taking Winnipeg Transit, it was time to run and gun on my fat bike.
First thing I noticed was how poor the side streets were. Rutty? Check. Slippery. Double-check. Mushy? Triple check. It seemed like it was either rutty or sheer ice where I went. Riding towards Waterfront Drive, on side streets including Herbert, and William Newton, were rutty. You especially have to have good skills down back lanes, where you have a mixture of deep ruts and ice. You have to be super skilled when there is nothing but ice. On my morning ride down Bruce Avenue as an alternative route to Yellow Ribbon Greenway (which is the alternative route to Portage Avenue, more on that in a few moments) was make no mistake skating on an NHL hockey rink. It was a mixture of adrenaline, slight anxiety, and composure to ensure that a) I made it in one piece riding down this street and b) and having the focus and mad skills to ride at a good pace. The afternoon commute was a little better as the snow was softer. Point to me, but lets just say, this was not for the faint of heart.
Cyclists need bike lanes and trails. City of Winnipeg response: Ahhh screw them. Note number two. Despite the City attempting to promote themselves as much more bike friendly than a few decades ago, Winnipeg continues to fall flat, report after report. This winter has been no exception, with many cyclists bombarding Twitter every day, with just poor snow-clearing efforts on our bicycle lanes and many of our trails.
With spring around the corner, I was not disappointed with the City of Winnipeg’s snow cleaning shenanigans. My usual two routes to my St. James job are going through the Forks, to Wellington Crescent, leading to Assiniboine Park, or Ellice, to St. Matthew’s, to Yellow Ribbon, leading to Ness then Bruce. I chose route number two. And, boy, I must wonder if it was a smart move. First off, unsurprisingly, the Maryland bike lane was buried under the snow. No sign of any life of a bike lane around. Finally, getting to St. Matthew’s, I would be rocking and rolling right? Dead wrong. Blooper number one: none, and I mean NONE of the St. Matthews bike lane ( aka known as sharrows, aka a sexy name for a driving lane cut in half slapped with paint made for cyclists) was correctly cleared.
Where in the World is the Maryland Bike Lane?
Although its marking did try to come out, the painted portion of the lane was not transparent. So you guessed it, I fought between traffic, going on the sidewalk. Ok, fine, I did that. I get to the final a straightforward protected bike lane after Century, right? Wrong again. St. Matthews westbound was a battle to try to ride my bike through it where you guessed it… went back on the normal road.
Here St Matthews protected bike lane……
Then I finally get to Ferry Road, leading to Silver Avenue, thinking I will pick up the pace once I get to the Yellow Ribbon Greenway. Three strikes, and I was out. It looked like it was not properly clean enough at the time, and I could be wrong I had to go down a side street from Silver Avenue to the ice rink known as Bruce Avenue.
What’s the point of bike lanes if they are covered in the winter?
Eventually, my 16 km journey, of start stops, partial walks, ended to my destination at the Courts of St. James. It took me about 110 minutes at 12.3 km/h. Not great. When all things are equal, a normal winter ride would be about 70-85 minutes. My ride back home was highlighted by nearly being side swiped on Ellice Avenue. Oh goody. Insanity at its best.
Regardless the positives from this ride, it got my blood flowing after a long hiatus from commuter cycling. I plan to ease into it slowly. Perhaps two days a week this week, 2-3 days, 4 days two or three weeks and five days in about a month. That is an important and modest success, compared to where I was a few months ago sitting in a hospital bed, with nothing to do that I am thankful for.
Now, if we can only coax our Winnipeg city council into supporting policies that accelerate active transportation 12 months of the year, not just spring and summer. After all, our city’s health, climate action plan, and finances depend on it. That would be great thanks.
The second of my Winnipeg trail review series looks at the scenic, beautiful Bunn’s Creek trail.
They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and Bunn’s Creek is no exception. This 3.0 km trail is a hidden gem in North Kildonan for cyclists, hikers, and nature lovers alike.
Founded in late 1970, after several years of the North Kildonan municipalities plan for Bunn’s Creek to become a provincial centennial project. Eventually, the City of Winnipeg took over the park in 1972, when North Kildonan amalgamated with the City of Winnipeg. Walking trails were eventually added in two years later.
Photo By Adam Johnston
Toboggan runs and skating rinks have added to the park upgrades over the years.
Located between Raleigh, and Henderson Highway, the trail meanders through various streets in North Kildonan adjacent to the Creek, including Rothesay Street and Bonner Avenue. Bunn’s Creek provides vivid memories of my childhood, with its scenery and accessibility.
Advantages
Natural and Scenic Beauty: If parks can sell themselves, Bunn’s Creek’s natural scenic beauty is worth the bike ride or hike any part of the year. From luscious blooming trees in the spring to colorful leaves in the fall and crisp snow in the winter, the urban trail offers you a chance to be in touch with nature without driving lots of kilometers away from Winnipeg. Analysts have said nature can be simplistic medicine in reducing the daily stresses we face. There is something for everyone. Start your adventures at Raliegh; your reward through the meandering trail is seeing the Red River, just past Henderson Highway. Regardless, what time, day, or season or go, seeing the birds chirping away along the bustling Creek on your bike or shoes is worth your time.
Photo By Adam Johnston
Accessibility: Besides its scenic beauty, the one thing I appreciate about Bunn’s Creek is its ease of accessibility to everyone. You can access the trail on Henderson, Raleigh, in adventuring the whole trail. When city dwellers need more green spaces, accessibility to them is critical for a person’s mental health. Bunn’s Creek is one of the better greenspaces within the North Eastern area of Winnipeg, where people can walk, cycle, have barbecues or enjoy other outdoor activities.
While there is plenty to take away from your time at Bunn’s Creek, I have some minor criticisms (and I mean very minor).
Issues
The trail is frequently busy: If there is one thing that provides the odd hiccup I have found when crossing paths, it is trendy, its often busy and can be crowded at specific points in the day (namely late morning afternoon) if you are going to go to the trail, its best to go very early in the morning or later in the evening when the trail is not as crowded.
Too Short: Bunn’s Creek is a beautiful trail if you walk or cycle. However, the trail can be short. Bing, bang boom if you are zooming through it by bicycle. If you want to get the most out of the trail, perhaps walking the 3.0 km plus trail may be your best bet to take in everything.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Bunn’s Creek is with a trip when you are not busy, thanks to its scenic beauty and accessibility to green space within North East Winnipeg. Minor problems, including high foot traffic and the trail, is too short if you are a cyclist, can put a slight damper on your visit—however, it’s still worth your time.
On a personal note, It’s been nice to reconnect with the trail since I have been commuting by bicycle everyone in recent years. I can recall often going on field trips during my elementary time at Polson School with the opportunity to run around in the park and go for picnics.
I first rode my bicycle back in October/November of 2020 to the trail and frequently traveled there most early Sunday mornings to get a few kilometers in (before my motor vehicle incident). I can always find something new personally to enjoy here. I have seen the Creek near-drought after a rainstorm, and its added my heightened sense of awareness about nature and the need to support urban parks.
Photos Taken by Adam Johnston
I look forward to doing my routine Sunday morning cycling adventures back to Bunn’s Creek this spring.
**** out of 5 bicycles.
What do you think of Bunn’s Creek Trail? Is it one of Winnipeg’s hidden gems? What don’t you like about it? Let me know what you think via Facebook, Twitter, or by email at adamjwpg@teksavvy.com.
We are less than eleven months away from what could be the most wide-open and most influential civic Winnipeg election in a generation. It’s too early to tell who is the mayoral favorite as there has only been one mayoral candidate declared with Shaun Loney. Even more so on the city council scene, as there has been the odd rumbling but no official announcements on who will run for any council seats.
So what will move people in less than eleven months? It’s not another property tax freeze, increasing the police budget, or calling insanity and fixing the same roads repeatedly. It’s not even rocket science, to be honest. But perhaps, real, long-lasting change will positively benefit this city long when I am long gone.
What am I talking about, real change? I am talking about turning the table of the status quo that has plagued our cities decision-making for years. I am talking about prioritizing tasks to help meet our climate change goals, reduce costs and make our city healthier.
Winnipeg, for far too long, has taken the cookie-cutter formulae of over-building roads. Consider the City of Winnipeg’s active transportation budget is a drop in the bucket compared to what roads are getting! We have a public transportation system struggling to recover from a pandemic, including another $10.6 million shortfall. In comparison, the police budget continues to balloon (taking up $320 million of the $1.195 billion Winnipeg operational budget). To make matters worse, At the same time, the only actual revenue streams we seem to only really find are either increasing bus fares $0.15 a year or modestly (and I mean a modest increase of 2.33%) of our cities property taxes. By the way, our property taxes will remain some of the lowest in Canada.
Add climate inaction and a police department facing a double whammy of low morale and distrust amongst many Winnipeggers, and you have some real problems that have been simmering to the top for a long time that could boil over soon.
As a tiny homeowner, I sincerely appreciate having a low property tax bill. However, I feel like we are cheating ourselves at addressing the real issues that will hit us like a tone of bricks within the next decade. We honestly can not keep the way we are going. We can’t keep building roads again and again. That would be the definition of insanity! We, as Winnipeggers, need to stop denying a falsehood that we can make our way out with roads in addressing real concerns. We can’t keep denying ourselves to freeze our property taxes without either essential cutting of services or new revenue streams. We can’t continue to say this city will battle climate change yet deny ourselves in supporting a rejuvenated Winnipeg Transit system backed by the Transportation Master Plan, along with a top-notch active transportation network for cyclists and pedestrians. Transportation makes up 50.5% of Winnipeg’s emissions. We need to prioritize what matters to us in this city. We cant keep denying the low morale of the Winnipeg Police force without acknowledging the racial and community concerns that faces Winnipegs finest.
A few good city councilors support these issues and believe in prioritizing to make our city healthier and livelier. However, we can always use more candidates who support putting people first and engage the electorate who may be afraid of change or cynical of past promises that never happened.
And guess what if you think running on such a platform that supports climate-ready infrastructure makes our police more community-oriented is not a winner? You’re mistaken.
In The Guardian, Janette Sadiq Khan and Seth Solomow recently said that supporting bike lanes is a winning issue at the ballot box. Ask mayoral candidates in Boston, Montreal, and Cincinnati. I can go on and on. I am sure that they can say that these issues helped get them elected with a resounding yes.
Winnipeg is known as being a stubborn city. However, I do believe given the pandemic, climate emergency, a demoralized police department, and looking for a clean slate of both Katz and Bowman, with good policy and candidates who can relate to voters, we may get the change we want.
It won’t be easy, as there will be resistance from some. The media has begun to mention possible “steady as they go candidates.” This is why it’s critical to get the vote out for councilors and mayoral candidates who push for real change. If the electorate does not get out to vote for changemaker candidates, then nothing will change. However, at the end of the day, if we want an efficient city that wants safe streets for all and addresses the climate emergency, we can not accept the status quo. An energetic electorate can rise above an apathetic electorate. After all, it’s not rocket science.
As I sit here on this World Car Free Day at work after making an approximately 17 km trek from Elmwood to St James, I reflect personally on this day on how we can move closer to a carless society.
For those who do not know, World Car Free Day has been around since September 22, 2000, thanks to Carbusters, coinciding with Europe’s Car Free Day. This day asks how we as citizens can get around without cars and use alternative methods, including cycling, walking, or public transportation.
For most, the idea of not moving around without an automobile is a no-go and a swear word, a sin. Well, you get the point. Car culture has seduced North Americans, and we and have accepted it as the status quo. At times, I have been considered an oddball by some I had met when I told them I commute all year round by bicycle. Others suggest I should get my driver’s license and get a small car. Good luck with that.
While they have good intentions for me, I believe they do not get the significance of the car-free movement and address some of the critical issues we face. I am now going to share my thoughts on why we should celebrate this day.
Most commutes can be done by getting around in sneakers or peddling
Let’s face it; most automotive trips are less than 10 km. Even nuttier is that 80% of Manitobans take their automobiles to work, while public transportation, cycling, and walking make up the rest of the transportation pie. There seems to be a growing movement for cycling in Winnipeg. However, I also believe there is still a lot of work to do in engaging Manitobans and Winnipeggers on the importance of choosing careless transportation methods. We often hear that it’s too cold and snowy to cycle to work and make necessary trips during winter. Yet, the increased popularity of fat bikes is slowly tearing this myth down, as fat bikes seem to be in hot demand. The best way to engage skeptical people in our city and province on the benefits of active transportation is by having those simple conversations related to its many benefits. For me, outside of environmental reasons, I appreciate going carless by cycling as my form of commuting. I get an efficient form of daily exercise while giving a reason to go somewhere. The reason to commute by bike 17km from St James to Elmwood in the evening provides excellent cardiovascular exercise to complement the resistance band training I do most days. If I can do 34 km of commuting many days, cycling 10km daily for basic tasks or even walking 5 km is a good start. So grab your bike or walking shoes and get a move on it.
We owe it to our children’s children and ourselves
I remember watching the 1992 animated movie Ferngully: The Last Rainforest. One of the lasting things that stuck out to me was the credits was “For our Children’s Children.” For some reason, this has stuck with me almost to this day, 30 years later. Fast forward to today, I believe this has even more significance to this day. Cycling, walking, or taking public transit is the most adult thing you can do if you have children (or even if you don’t have kids like me); as the IPCC recently said in their most recent report, the impacts of climate change continue to accelerate. We as humans need to draw down our carbon emissions use or face the worst effects as this century moves along. Even for myself, who does not plan to have kids, I owe it to myself to reduce my transportation emissions as much as I can by cycling, walking, and taking Winnipeg Transit when necessary for future generations and the developing world.
Going Carless Smashes Down Walls
One thing I have found by not driving a car is the freedom it can provide. When you don’t drive a car, you save money on gas which goes to the largest fossil fuel companies. You save money on car payments that go to the large banks. By going carless, you keep that money in your pocket that you can save for other things in your life, including planning house repairs or planning to go to a major sporting event. Car freedom can break down the walls to new possibilities.
You Own It
Often I hear those who don’t own automobiles or drive are a societal misfit, meandering into nowhere. As mentioned earlier, I get occasionally asked if I own a car or buy one. To many’s (non)surprise, I told them I already had a vehicle: My bicycle. I always get a bewildered look from my answer. I don’t know why. When I say that my bicycle is my vehicle, I am making a clear statement that I choose to go carless, and it’s part of my civic duty to ensure we have open spaces for everyone to enjoy. By going carless, you own the idea there can be better and efficient ways to get around to work and in life. Own this issue and feel empowered.
Stop Wasting Time in Automotive Traffic
Recently, I heard on Hot 100.5 FM’s morning show with Mark & Dilly that the most significant time waster not involving technology is being stuck in traffic. According to TomTom, we spend an extra six minutes each morning and an additional 9 minutes in the evening in hour traffic. Yearly we lose 62 hours due to Rush hour traffic here in Winnipeg. So stop wasting time in traffic. Get up, walk to the corner store, dust off the bike and ride to work. As the motivational speaker, Eric Thomas said you owe it to yourself to stop making excuses. Look at why you are stuck in traffic and start finding the most efficient use of your commuting time. Now is no better time than to start when possible active modes of transportation.
World Car Free Day may only be once a year, but you can make it more than once a year by just doing the little things daily that can make your world carless.
Adam M. Johnston, B.A. 
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