Too cold to cycle? Not in Montreal, where around 50,000 cyclists keep riding through winter in temperatures as low as -17c.
One Franco-Canadian photographer, Valerian Mazataud, has captured images of some of the 15% of Montreal’s cyclists who keep riding through winter, pictured in temperatures as low as -17c.
Titled Urluberlu, the series title is a clever play on the French word Hurluberlu, which can mean spinner, crank or oddball.
Mazataud says where once year-round cycling was a marginal activity, more and more of Montreal’s inhabitants are now cycling through the winter.
#mycyclingweekend – fill your boots with readers’ photos
He says: “Along with Moscow and Sapporo, Montreal is one of the coldest and snowiest city above 1 million inhabitants. Nevertheless, it's the only one which finds its way into the top 20 of the most bicycle-friendly cities, according to the Copenhagenize index.”
“During the winter, an estimated 15% of cyclists remain on their saddles, around 50000 of them.
If ten years ago the winter cyclist could be considered as a freak (hurluberlu in french), the phenomenon is now far from being marginal. These self-proclaimed huluberlus may well be the first represents of a urban population accepting its winterity. In other words, choosing to embrace winter rather than fight it.
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Riders – men and women – are pictured in snow boots and ski goggles, as well as some innovative layering of regular winter clothes. The style of the images of what Mazataud describes as a ‘semi-nomadic’ winter population, is inspired by the formal portraits of early ethnographers and anthropologists discovering unknown tribes in their natural environment – often amid huge snow piles left after the streets have been cleared of snow.
Whassat? Furriers?!...
They were not blocking the footway so not really sure where you are going with this....
The point of gears on a bicycle is that you can adjust the speed of the bike without adjusting your power at a given cadence, e.g. when I get to a...
Happens frequently here.
100%!
I've made the Nice List this year and Santa* is bringing me a Beeline Sat Nav. * or possibly my wife
I got this from AliExpress for £1.76 (although it seems to have gone up to £5.88). They are available in a range of colours.
You have it spot on, but expect a backlash from Grauniad readers
Veer makes drive belts that can be split: https://www.veercycle.com/products/split-belt-pro.
Russians??