Cycling is part of urban culture
The Cycling Week will kick off in Helsinki on Saturday 9 May, 10-18, with a joint summer season opening celebration by the City and Teurastamo. The event will offer themed side events such as a bicycle flea market, bike decorating and other fun activities for all ages. The Palema sauna at Teurastamo will be warm from 12.00 to 16.00, and Pambikallio – a dream pop band that recently released its new album – will take to the stage as well as Jimi Tenor. Teurastamo services offer a great setting for enjoying urban culture.
–Our aim with this year's season opening is to show that cycling is an easy way to get around and reach not only your day-to-day destinations but also culture and art services. The cycling paths in the inner city have developed in leaps and bounds over the past few years, and cycling is the fastest way to cover distances of less than five kilometres in the city, says Oskari Kaupinmäki, Team Manager of the Helsinki Urban Environment Division’s Transport System Unit.
Double celebration in Espoo: New mountain bike trail in Oittaa and urban cycling in Otaniemi
In Espoo, the Cycling Week events will mostly take place in the Otaniemi and Oittaa areas. The events of the Cycling Week in Otaniemi are part of the Otaniemi kestävällä tiellä theme month of sustainable mobility, which will be celebrated throughout May.
In Otaniemi, the Cycling Week will be off to a running start already on 6–7 May, with students receiving free-of-charge help for bike maintenance. The aim of this is to make bike maintenance and safe bike use more accessible. On City Bike Day, Friday 8 May, personal guidance will be available at the city bike stations of Otaniemi. On Tuesday 12 May, Otaniemi will host an art tuning workshop for bikes, a traffic safety quiz by the Finnish Road Safety Council and bike maintenance training.
An opening of the new mountain bike trail at the Oittaa outdoor recreation area will take place on Saturday 9 May, 10.00–14.00. The event gives the whole family the chance to explore cycling as a hobby. The Espoo cycling club IK-32 will organise a mountain bike course for youngsters aged 10–13. You can try out the new route on beginner-friendly introductory tours guided by the HEKUMA MTB association. Oittaa yard also has a fun cycling track for the younger members of the family. Tunturi will bring a variety of new bikes for test rides, and guidance will also be available for various sports such as cyclocross, mountain bike orienteering and roller skiing.
Vantaa encourages biking with ready-made routes
In Vantaa, you can spend Cycling Week by riding on 12 different routes around Vantaa. They range from ten kilometres to 26 kilometres in length.
The route network can be viewed on the Helsinki Metropolitan Area service map, and each route also has its own map with a route description. The route descriptions indicate the natural and cultural sites of interest along the route. You can download the route location data to your phone's map apps or your sports watch.
City bike for a week at half price
To celebrate Cycling Week, HSL is offering half-price access to city bikes for the week from 8 to 17 May. You can use a city bike for a week for five euros by entering the code PYORAILYVIIKKO at hsl.fi/kaupunkipyorat/helsinki.
What is the Cycling Week?
Cycling Week is an annual event organised by municipalities to increase the proportion of cycling for all journeys, encourage people to consider their own mobility choices, raise awareness of the benefits of cycling and strengthen the role of cycling in urban development. This year's theme for the week is Cycling and Art. The theme helps highlight how cycling helps encounter art as part of the environment.