One Million Kilometers of Cycling:

A follow up on Lindsay Gault’s One Million Kilometer of Cycling Celebration on Saturday - with photos:

- Upwards of 100 cyclists & walkers showed up the Fork port to be there for Lindsay - Lindsay the Legend!

- There were bikes of every description on the river - fat tires / skinny tires / the yellow Velo banana bike cover and more!

Lindsay graciously accepted a plaque recognizing his millionth from Paul Jordan, COO of The Forks - - and spoke of preparing for his second Iditarod race http://iditarod.com/ coming up later in February. The legend continues! The wind-chill on the river trail was not as bad one would expect - and the huts were outstanding! A great day - Congratulations Lindsay!!

Mainstream Winter Cycling:

Do the words mainstream & winter cycling even belong in the same sentence? Add on ‘in Winnipeg’ and perhaps they do!

Are we seeing more folks winter cycling than in previous years? I am.

Who are these people ? Why do they cycle in the winter ? Is it easier than it looks ?

Why is it that in so many cities around the world with climates similar to Winnipeg’s - people of ALL AGES are cycling in the winter ?

Winnipeg has lots to learn about winter cycling - from trail maintenance to attitudes and more! And LEARN WE WILL !

The Forks, in partnership with partnership with the Winnipeg Trails Association, Bike to the Future, Green Action Centre, Natural Cycle Worker Co‐Op Limited submitted a paper to attend the first International Winter Cycling Congress occurring in Oulu, Finland (Feb 13 / 14) to share and learn. The paper was accepted and Anders Swanson, local cycling advocate - is flying off to Oulu (located just below the Arctic Circle). Anders will present “Winnipeg - Working towards becoming the Winter Cycling Capital of North America” and will learn about global best practices and the how and whys that work towards making winter cycling a mainstream activity. See conference schedule http://www.ibikeoulu.com/programme

Currently over 100 people from around the world are attending the Winter Cycling Congress, from 10 different countries and 32 different cities. We have many organizations supporting our local quest to learn more - Tourism Manitoba, Destination Winnipeg, Economic Development Winnipeg, Manitoba Cycling Association, Rivers West - Red River Corridor, The Forks and more to be announced soon!

The Forks communications team will be working with Anders to develop a couple ‘Lesson’s Learned’ presentations that will then be presented to various organizations - and to the general public - watch for dates and times.

Janice Lukes