It is rather beautiful here in Oulu 🇫🇮, right now. Absolutely no filters needed at all 🤌
-20°C, wind chill -28°C.
This is one of our main cycling and walking routes (#8) and here we have a 5 km stretch with ZERO at-grade crossings with motor traffic. I repeat, it's physically impossible to meet any motor traffic here. So it is very peaceful, safe and comfortable to ride and walk completely uninterrupted. Just bliss.
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John Quentin Heywood
in reply to Pekka Tahkola • • •Pekka Tahkola
in reply to John Quentin Heywood • • •The Polish Dispatch
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The Polish Dispatch
in reply to Pekka Tahkola • • •Neotheta
in reply to Pekka Tahkola • • •Alexa Fontanilla
in reply to Neotheta • • •@Neotheta
#PostOfTheWeek (season 3):
Through a series of simple changes, the city of Oulu, bordering Lapland, encourages its residents to cycle through the long, dark, snowy winter. What can other cities learn from the pioneer of winter cycling?
It's a crisp winter morning in the Finnish coastal city of Oulu, the fourth most northerly city in the world, just 100km (60 miles) south of the Arctic Circle.
Alexa Fontanilla
in reply to Alexa Fontanilla • • •@Neotheta
Last night there was a snowstorm and today the temperature hovers around -5C (23F), but that is not deterring the city's hardy cyclists. Everywhere you go, people of all ages flurry by over the fresh snow, wrapped in winter clothes and seemingly enjoying the brief pale sunshine and bitingly cold air.
Oulu, which proudly calls itself "the winter cycling capital of the world" is blanketed in snow for five months of the year.
Alexa Fontanilla
in reply to Alexa Fontanilla • • •@Neotheta
During the depths of winter, temperatures can drop as low as -30C (-22F), with just four hours of daylight.
Despite these harsh conditions, 12% of winter journeys are made by bicycle in the city of Oulu. Compare that with the milder climate of England, where year-round the proportion of trips made by bike is just 2%.
CosmicCactus
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in reply to CosmicCactus • • •Ben ☀️shine
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xs4me2
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in reply to Thomas • • •Thomas
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contrasocial
in reply to Pekka Tahkola • • •Wandering Thinker
in reply to Pekka Tahkola • • •In our Belarus also are beautiful now. But here are warmer, -16, and the roads are worse. 😀
#winterbike #BY
Bastian Senst
in reply to Wandering Thinker • • •Wandering Thinker
in reply to Bastian Senst • • •gardengeek
in reply to Pekka Tahkola • • •inVinnieVeritas
in reply to Pekka Tahkola • • •This looks absolutely magical, like something straight out of a winter fairy tale. totally brings me back to growing up in Canada in this kind of deep‑freeze glow.
I love it, but I can’t stop thinking that biking on what looks like a frozen sugar glaze has to be way more dangerous than these calm photos suggest 😲
Pekka Tahkola
in reply to inVinnieVeritas • • •Wandering Thinker likes this.
inVinnieVeritas
in reply to Pekka Tahkola • • •Tried to navigate that frozen glaze on my bike last time it snowed here in Brussels going back home from work.
Slipped and fell 3 times before walking next to the bike 😅 Took this picture to remember what caused all those falls.
From memory nobody biked on the other side of the Atlantic back in the 80s to early/mid 90s.
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Wandering Thinker
in reply to inVinnieVeritas • • •Pekka Tahkola
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in reply to Wandering Thinker • • •Cary
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Cary
in reply to Pekka Tahkola • • •Bill Martin
in reply to Pekka Tahkola • • •Lehrerseele
in reply to Pekka Tahkola • • •Solar🌄Garden
in reply to Lehrerseele • • •@notjustbikes posted one recently: youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCB…
Why Canadians Can't Bike in the Winter (but Finnish people can)
Not Just Bikes (YouTube)Lehrerseele
in reply to Solar🌄Garden • • •@wavesculptor @notjustbikes
It's interesting, but it doesn't feature the sound of biking on snow. 🙁
Solar🌄Garden
in reply to Lehrerseele • • •@lehrerseele
a page of sound clips for you to check - both bikes and cruchy snow, but together ⬇️ ?
I suspect @notjustbikes will have some buried under his music if he feels like doing the "crunch-remix" on a bit of his video
ecosia.org/search?q=sound+of+c…
@pekkatahkola
Ecosia - the search engine that plants trees
www.ecosia.orgLehrerseele
in reply to Solar🌄Garden • • •That's why I was specifically asking for one, especially in that beautiful surrounding.
Vladka Marie
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in reply to Pekka Tahkola • • •Zimtfisch
in reply to Pekka Tahkola • • •Pekka Tahkola
in reply to Zimtfisch • • •@Zimtfisch I don't know about the crying ones, but screaming ones yes: huutajat.org/en/
Although I don't think "screaming" is a perfect translation either, but that's what they seem to go with themselves so whatever 😅
Mieskuoro Huutajat - Screaming Men’s Choir
Mieskuoro Huutajat - Screaming Men’s ChoirZimtfisch
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@kimlockhartga There’s a marathon reading of Tove Jansson stories on Finnish TV right now. mementomori.social/@saaste/115…
Saaste
2026-01-30 16:18:45
Kim Possible
in reply to Arratoon • • •DonCC
in reply to Pekka Tahkola • • •can I apply for asylum, the country I was born in is full nazi now...
Mo Ⓐ☭🇵🇸
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mike
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mike
in reply to Pekka Tahkola • • •Wind chill and the Wind Chill Index - Canada.ca
www.canada.caKen
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Corvus
in reply to Pekka Tahkola • • •Beautiful photos!
I often cite Oulu as an example when people argue that year-round bicycle infrastructure isn't viable in Thunder Bay.
There are some interesting parallels between our cities. We're not on the ocean but have an ocean-going port, often with 5-6 'salties' at anchor waiting to load wheat or potash mostly; we're a regional hub a long way from our provincial and national capitals; and, have similar temperatures and seasons.
I really hope to visit Oulu one day!
Pekka Tahkola
in reply to Corvus • • •Corvus
in reply to Pekka Tahkola • • •There is a large Finnish population in Thunder Bay, you would probably feel right at home (except for the terrible cycling infrastructure).
I've shared some of these pictures here before but thought I would post them again.
Pekka Tahkola
in reply to Corvus • • •Jürgen Hubert
in reply to Pekka Tahkola • • •Nice!
Cold, but nice!