Winnipeg celebrates successful 11th Annual Bike Week Amid calls for Safer Cycling Infrastructure

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This article was published 15/06/2024 (520 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bike advocates and Sunday cyclers alike gathered at the legislative grounds Saturday to wrap up Winnipeg’s 11th annual Bike Week.

Thousands of wheels were spun by thousands of cyclists throughout the week of activities, which ranged from a bike to work day to a scavenger hunt to a kid-centric ride to kick off Saturday’s get-together.

This year’s events brought cyclists back in pre-pandemic numbers, Bike Week Winnipeg chair Dave Elmore said Saturday.

“It was really, really good this year,” Elmore said. “I think we had great weather. I only know of one ride that got rained on, and it didn’t seem to bother them at all, because we’re not made of sugar.”

Whether you bike for sport, bike to work or bike for fun, Elmore said the goal of Bike Week is to create programming for everyone.

His dream for the future of Bike Week is to bring in more people from suburban areas and people who may not have considered becoming a regular bike-rider.

“In the bigger picture, we’re trying to reach those people who are interested, but concerned,” he said. “What we want to do is get them to make the cross-over to being more interested, and less concerned.”

Patty Wiens with Bike Winnipeg has helped set up local bike groups that hold small-scale neighbourhood-based rides that help teach new cyclists how to get around safely.

“We show people what exists in their neighbourhood, and we take them safely and say, ‘Hey, it’s kind of tricky crossing here, but we’re working with the city on providing a safer way for you to cross’ … it’s a very educational ride,” she said.

This year’s festivities were preceded by tragedy, after 61-year-old cyclist Rob Jenner was struck and killed by a driver in a hit-and-run on Wellington Crescent June 6.

Over 100 cyclists shut down the intersection where the collision occurred the next day in protest and mourning. Jenner’s family released a statement calling on the city to invest in safer cycling infrastructure and called cycling “something he loved to do.”

Beckham Keneth Severight, 19, has been charged with dangerous driving causing death and leaving the scene of a collision.

Jenner’s memory was front of mind Meghan Gallant, who had taken part in a child-friendly group ride organized by Bike Winnipeg that morning with her six-year-old twins.

Gallant’s husband was Jenner’s co-worker. A regular cyclist herself, she said coming out in celebration and support of cycling in Winnipeg Saturday while remembering Jenner was a meaningful, “conscious decision.”

“It’s hard. You come out to this, and you want to show your kids that joy and that excitement, but at the same time, you’re grieving and you’re mourning, and you’re feeling that loss,” she said.

“I think for us, doing this anyways has been about still showing that this is important, that we need to be out, we need to be out in numbers, people need to see that this is important to everybody, and we want our kids to know that they’re safe.”

She hopes her two young sons will be life-long cyclists — and that they’ll have more safe places to do it.

“It makes me feel like a better person, I’m happier when I’m biking, it’s better for our city, the environment, our kids,” she said. “It’s important to still do it.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca