What can cold cities, where people nonetheless bike year-round through snow and seemingly endless hours of darkness, tell us about what it takes to make better streets? In this episode, Sarah reports back from her trip to Finland and the the 8th annual Winter Cycling Conference, held in Joensuu and Helsinki in early February. How does active transportation figure into Helsinki’s goal to become the world “most functional city”? What’s the right way to prioritize transportation modes? And why are most fully grown Americans less rugged than the average Finnish 11-year-old? 

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SHOW NOTES: 

You can find all the presentations from the 2020 World Cycling Congress in Joensuu on the Congress website. Here’s a little movie that shows some of what it was like. See if you can spot Sarah! 

Coverage of the conference from Bicycle Dutch:

Cycling in the Finnish snow

Winter Cycling Congress 2020 in Joensuu

Coverage of the conference from The Guardian:

Winter wheelies: Finland blazes trail in keeping citizens cycling and healthy

Why Finland leads the field when it comes to winter cycling

Check out opportunities for winter adventure cycling in Eastern Finland with Karu Survival.

The end music for the episode, from the song “Cold Dead Eyes,” comes courtesy of Joensuu thrash metal band Killing Attack. You can find more of their music on Spotify.

Special thanks to Tony Desnick of Cycling Without Age, Oskari Kaupinmäki of the City of Helsinki, Matti Hirvonen of the Network of Finnish Cycling Municipalities, Timo Perälä of the Winter Cycling Federation, Markku Pyykkönen of the City of Joensuu, and Maria Halava-Napoles at the Finnish Consulate in New York.

Find us on Twitter: @TheWarOnCars, Aaron Naparstek @Naparstek, Doug Gordon @BrooklynSpoke, Sarah Goodyear @buttermilk1.

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