Bike to Work Week educates riders and encourages winter biking

When most people hear the words “bike week,” cold and snowy February is not what comes to mind; but this week the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin and Madison Bike Winter are sponsoring the city’s first Winter Bike to Work Week to get bikers more excited about winter riding. 

Running from Sunday, February 12 through the 18, bike enthusiasts of Madison, Eau Claire, La Crosse and Milwaukee will be heading out for a week of biking and activities.

Madison Bike Winter’s founder Aaron Crandall said the goal of Madison Winter Bike Week is to encourage people to continue biking during the winter and to promote thinking about biking as something you can do all year round. 

During the winter months, Crandall said most people don’t consider using their bike, but could easily do so with the proper gear and riding strategies for biking in snowy conditions.

With a whole week of events and unseasonably warm weather this year, Amanda White of the BFW said event organizers are optimistic for a good turn out.

“A lot of people are scared off or deterred, rather, by the colder winter weather and harsh conditions in the Midwest and Madison,” she said. “But it definitely always helps getting people out and thinking about biking if you can make it fun and give them support.”

The week’s events begin on Sunday afternoon with a winter “how-to” workshop for bike riding at Machinery Row Bicycles.

Ben Scherer of Machinery Row said the workshop will show attendees the best ways to gear up for riding in winter and will include tips on using studded tires and layering clothing to be warm but not overheated when biking.

Madison Bike Winter member and bike enthusiast Kierstin Kloeckner will host the workshop, and plans on attending many of the other events. Kloeckner said in an e-mail that she has used her bike to commute year-round for over 20 years and hopes to encourage others to commute throughout the winter in a safe manner.

From there, the week will continue with multiple daily events, ranging from free coffee on Madison bike paths sponsored by B-cycle, Dream Bikes and Machinery Row, to yoga classes for cyclers. On Wednesday, in order to get more people to ride their bikes, Machinery Row is also offering half price tune-ups.   

The week of events will culminate with the Cyclo Frost Race at Madison’s Winter Festival at the Capitol Square next Sunday. Riders will navigate through a cross-country racecourse around the square by biking, running and jumping over obstacles.

Throughout the week bikers can also participate in BFW’s Winter Bike Week Challenge where they can go online and log the miles they bike each day. The online site will show a running total for everyone participating throughout the state.

This challenge helps prep bikers for the beginning of the statewide spring and summer challenge kicking off May 1, White said. Last summer's bike challenge ran from June to September with more than 4,000 participants logging over 1.2 million bike miles in the state.

For more information and a complete list of Bike to Work Week’s events, visit Madison Bike Winter’s facebook page or the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin.