A program providing cyclists with equipment and support to cycle through the winter is back.
Bike Windsor Essex is bringing back the Winter Wheels program for the fourth year and will provide over 25 aspiring cold-weather riders with the equipment they need to ride in the winter.
Program participants will receive a free set of winter tires and six months of access to the Bike Kitchen's Do-It-Yourself Shop to prepare and maintain their bikes for winter riding.
A range of activities will also be held such as a launch party and workshops focusing on how to dress to ride in the winter, how to maintain your bike in snow or sleet, among more.
Bike Windsor Essex is also hosting a Winter Lights Glow Ride in December, and six other group rides throughout Windsor-Essex.
Zoe Beaulieu, Education Coordinator with Bike Windsor Essex, says it's a great program for winter cyclists.
"This program allows 25+ aspiring winter riders with free winter tires, and other supports, so we do lots of workshops, what you should be wearing in the winter, how do you keep your bike pressed and ready throughout the winter, how do you deal with salt, and snow, and slush, and all that sort of thing."
She says Bike Windsor Essex orders all of the tires.
"All the participants are going to get a free set of winter tires, those could be studded tires, or more knobby tires, whatever the participant feels they need to get around wherever they live, or that sort of thing. And so those are all provided by Bike Windsor Essex. You also get a free six-month membership to the Bike Kitchen."
Beaulieu says the last four years have been really great.
"We do approximately six or seven rides throughout Windsor-Essex, we stop at coffee shops along the way, we get to try different local businesses. Participants throughout the years have been super happy and like 'yeah, I'm going to come back for the ride because I had so much fun because I learned so much, and now I feel confident riding after this program'."
Applications for the Winter Wheels 2025 program are open from now until December 1, 2025.
Participants selected for the program will be notified on December 2.
A link to apply can be found by clicking here.