Looking up from the narrow grip of her bicycle’s handlebar, Jennifer Dunlop struggles to see the stretch of paved road ahead of her. As she turns on the mounted head light installed between her hands, the visibility improves, but the brisk two-degree temperature remains bitter.
This mid-November morning, Dunlop has arrived at the end of her everyday route that leads her to Broadview Public School. Some commuters may think she’s out of her mind cycling in this weather, but Dunlop is more concerned with the parent-teacher interviews she will be hosting over the next three hours.
“Meh, I put lights on my bike and I was good to go,” shrugs Dunlop as she points to the front of her Norco VR3 Forma, a 27-speed hybrid bike that contrasts its surroundings with a light-blue paint job. “I find driving in traffic can be a major builder in stress. This way, I’m less stressed and have had a good start to my day.”
Since the prior evening, the parents of Dunlop’s fourth and fifth grade French-immersion students having been visiting her classroom, located within one of eight compact portables on Broadview’s playground. While they themselves didn’t bike to the interview, many of these parents, who live within Westboro’s close proximity to the school, reside in one of Ottawa’s most concentrated cycling commuter regions.
Please zoom and click the colour-coded regions to see their bike commuting concentrations.
Source: Statistics Canada: NHS Profile 2011
Dunlop, 33, has been managing on two wheels since April, the same month in which she and her husband sold their second car. During that time, she surveyed a personal list of reasons that could entail a possible transportation change, one of which included the near 30 children whose heads perk up when she talks about health and climate change.
“When teaching kids, you often realize what you’re doing wrong when you’re trying to teach them what to do right,” admits Dunlop. “It opens up your eyes about the consequences of your own actions and about how we need to do more in little ways.”
As her students often see, Dunlop’s commitment reflects that of the surrounding neighbourhoods. Every day around 3:30 p.m., as students exit the school doors, parents, young adults and post-secondary students pass by on their commute home. But with winter weather within sight, many of these cyclists will opt for a safer, warmer way of getting around.
Jamie Sauder, a co-worker of Dunlop’s who has chosen to cycle for nearly all of the past 26 years is one of these cyclists. He says that the tremendous upside of riding his bike is canceled out as soon as snowfall becomes consistent.
“I’ve had many winter-cycling accidents back in the day, none fatal, but it’s not something I’m looking to repeat,” explains Sauder, who will choose public transit for the five months if snowfall persists and recommends others to do the same. “The risk potential grows to an uncomfortable point.”
Sauder, a grade-five French-immersion teacher that cycles in from Aylmer, Que. every day, is an experienced leader among Broadview’s collective staff who travel by bike, a group that has steadily grown since Ottawa’s Bike to Work Month took place in May.
“It was good for people that needed that last push,” says Sauder, who admits to seeing more people like Dunlop make the commitment.
With a handful of snow-less days left, Dunlop says she isn’t quite ready to put away her bike and hopes to get as much out of it as possible.
“For me, my time, health and green footprint topped my list of reasons,” says Dunlop. “If it makes sense for other people, then there are plenty of reasons that they can care about and commit to.”
Source attribution: Information outside of interviews was primarily obtained from Statistics Canada’s 2011 Census and the City of Ottawa. Software from Google Maps, ArcGIS, QGIS and DocumentCloud were used to present the embedded visuals.