The prospect of year-round cycling in Manitoba may appear daunting, but for the acclaimed Bicycle Mayor of Winnipeg, all it took was one bike ride on one winter day. “When I decided that I wanted to [after] I took that one ride in winter... my partner Ian said, ‘You know, maybe you don’t have to stop. There [are] people who do this,’” says Patty Wiens. “And I said, ‘I’m Brazilian, I’m 50 years old, like, come on, I’m not going to start now.’ And then, I did one day, and I realized that it gave me a superpower that sort came from inside and I felt invincible.” “And then I thought, ‘OK, if I can do this, then why can’t everyone? Why can’t most people at least try?’” .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } Now, Wiens is advocating for year-round cycling and the infrastructure to support it in her new book That’ll Never Work Here, the latest in The City Project book series that explores a wide range of ideas on sustainable urban design and support. When it comes to winter cycling, one of the key things that Wiens sees as a deterrent for people to take that first ride is safe infrastructure. “They don’t say they don’t want to ride in winter because they’re cold,” she says. “They don’t feel safe. They feel like they’re going to slide, like drivers aren’t going to be respectful. And they are right. That is the number reason that you should feel like maybe it’s not for you. But that’s where our city comes in, and infrastructure can be built for winter cycling.” For Wiens, this infrastructure is tantamount to supporting social equity. She cites lower costs associated with biking, improved mental health, and access to different parts of the city that may be out of reach for those who do not own vehicles. In holding conversations with people from different communities in researching her new book and for her podcast That’s Her Problem!, Wiens also observes that having a robust active transportation network also increases social access for women. “Women don’t have a sort of linear trajectory on their everyday lives,” Wiens explains. “The truth is no matter how we improve society, we modernize it, it still falls on a woman to do a lot of the work of dropping off the kids, picking up the groceries. Women are... the caregivers of the kids and of their parents as well, so making that last mile friendly to women is really important.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Great Plains Press (@greatplainspub) Ultimately, Wiens hopes that That’ll Never Work Here inspires people to pick up the bicycle and try a ride in a wide range of seasons. “Just try it one time,” Wiens smiles. “Try for one block, two blocks. Go to the grocery store. Just give it a try. You don’t know, but it might change your life forever.” That’ll Never Work Here is officially available for pre-order here.