That'll Never Work Here: Challenging the myths around biking in a winter city

The City Project #2

by Patty Wiens

104 pages, Paperback

Published October 28, 2025

Reviews

[Adam Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weins takes you through her whirlwind journey from fair-weather cyclist to finding herself the face of a grassroots movement to demand safer streets and dares you to join her. She deconstructs many of the common oppositions to de-prioritizing cars with simple facts and brings the receipts of what’s been done, not just in Amsterdam, but places like Edmonton.

Why can’t we have nice things? Political will.

“A true leader listens to their constituents, especially the vulnerable ones. Ultimately, it is up to us to pay attention to what our leaders stand for. We hire them and we can fire them - if we organize.”

[Rai · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good look at the bike activism happening in Winnipeg, as well as progressive strategies that have been implemented in various other places. The book is organized in a somewhat eclectic way between advice, anecdotes, and history. I would say it's more targeted toward people who already bike, or people who are curious about doing so. Some of the messages inside are aimed toward people skeptical/opposed to bike infrastructure, but I find it unlikely this book would reach them (or really speak to them if it did).
I consider myself more of a "casual" bike rider. I ride my bike for transportation because it's convenient and efficient. But I'm not really one to befriend other cyclists, or meet up with others to talk about bikes, etc. I think this book is aimed at people with more of an interest in that, and specifically around advocacy work. While it contains some good facts about the costs of bike infrastructure, how things have been implemented in other places, etc., I don't think it's aimed at the casual cyclist (despite being easy to read and digest).

[Richard L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded up.

This book covers a lot of ground in a fairly small number of pages.

To summarize:
1. If you don't ride a bike, you should start.
2. If you do ride a bike, you should ride it more.
3. Even if you're 100% committed to driving your (gas-powered) car, you will benefit from more people riding bikes more.
4. More people riding bikes more will improve the mental health and physical health of the entire community.
5. Everyone should be advocating for better - i.e., more and safer - infrastructure for cyclists.

The debate over the expansion and improvement of infrastructure for active (non-motorized) transportation has been excessively, incorrectly, and even maliciously polarized, often by people with insufficient knowledge and/or personal (financial) biases.

There is a preponderance of scientific evidence attesting to the individual and societal benefits of cycling.

There are countless examples of the feasibility - and financial sustainability - of active transportation in cities around the world with inclement if not extreme weather conditions.

This book touches on all of these points.

It relies heavily on the author's personal experiences spanning an impressively broad range of geographies, from Winnipeg (Canada) to Brazil to Europe.

One does wish the book had leaned more heavily into the data, though. While it may be the case that car junkies and other active transportation skeptics are unlikely to read this book to begin with, it could have afforded to be longer in order to hammer home the objective case for more and safer cycling infrastructure. If nothing else, its readers would thus feel armed to make the case more persuasively to their family, friends, social media circles, etc.

So, a good enough read and a valuable contribution to the ongoing conversation, but it's difficult to shake the feeling that it could have been even more.

[Ian Mccausland · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m kinda biased. ;-) but I love this book at its author

A wonderful gift for the cyclist in your circle

[Michael]

My conversation with Wiens discussing the book here:
https://umfm.com/programming/broadcas...