indyfabz

Took the bus to work this morning. When I left the house I decided to observe as many people riding bikes as I could. Only saw 9 people. Five men and four women. Six men if you count the guy I saw locking up his bike across the street from my building.


Looking forward to repeating the informal survey when it's not so early (had to be in the office earlier than usual this morning) and the wind chill isn't in the 20s like it was this morning.

Korina

Did you tell them what you wanted? They won't know what riders want if no one gives them feedback.

InOmaha

Every Thursday, during decent weather months, there is the TacoRide here in town. It's a 20 mile ride on a crushed gravel trail with a stop in the middle at a bar for margaritas and Tacos. Easily half or more of the hundreds of participants are women.


So I think margaritas are the key to success.

IamAlan

May be true in Boston, but my mother, who was born in 1926, was from the deep south, where women glisten!

CliffordK

@Machka was probably looking forward to a 200 km afternoon ride.

Machka 

Machka was busy training for a 300 km ride.


Gave the 20 km thing a glance and set off for my training ride.


I have enough rides on my schedule with my own club that I don't need any extra, but once in a while I look at what other clubs/organisations have on their schedules to see if there's anything interesting coming up.


My "concern" wasn't so much with the fact that this was just a 20 km ride ... it is more about the idea that that's all we women can do. It's kind of hard to explain, but it is something I've noticed in this area ... these sorts of rides come up periodically and I almost get the feeling that someone thinks that's all we're capable of ... or that they're just throwing some crumbs in the direction of "getting more women into cycling" without taking it seriously. I could be mistaken, but it really seems to me that this particular ride used to be longer or have a longer option, it seems to me I was actually toying with the idea of using a longer option on this particular ride as a training ride a couple years ago. But it seems like they've shortened it right down which, again, might be OK, but there doesn't appear to be any follow-up to gradually take the women who have successfully ridden 20 km and ease them into longer distances or other types of cycling.

This particular organisation knows, or should know, what's going on in cycling in this area ... they are the, or one of the, over-arching cycling organisations in this area. They are well aware of the club I'm involved in, and also all/most of the other clubs here. It shouldn't be a problem to produce a list of clubs and rides as a follow-up to the introductory 20 km ride ... although that does seem to be difficult for them to do for some reason.


And yet, I've recently started dabbling in running, and it would appear that running clubs are more than happy to take people from wherever they are all the way to running marathons and longer. But for some reason, there doesn't seem to be the same sort of thing in the cycling world.

CliffordK

I would have no problem with that. However, I wonder how many women will be racing at the elite professional level. And those that will be racing professional, will they be the team leaders that get all the spotlights, or some of the secondary team members, "domestiques"?

I'd love to see a "Team Pink" that would sign up for a grand tour right alongside of the men. I'd hope they'd get some spotlight even if they weren't winning every stage.

There are likely quite a few women that could compete at cat 2/3/4 level alongside the men, but are they handicapped, in the sense that a woman racing at Cat 3 men's level might well be racing Cat 1, or even pro women's level?

Are there M/F Tandem races?

I think there are TT Team events where the whole team, or most of the team is required to cross the finish line. In which case, one could mandate mixed teams. The Grand Tours have a few of the team TT events scattered into the mix, but most are not in that format.

First of all, I think pros are a good way to prototype new equipment. Why not hire someone to ride 20K miles or more a year to test the new developments before they hit the market.

The Specialized Ruby, Specialized Dolce, and Trek WSD bikes may still be a large, relatively untapped market. What better thing to do than to market to the half of the world that everyone else is ignoring. In fact, I think the bike companies are having troubles propping up the prices on their new Carbon Fiber wonderbikes with so many used ones flooding the market, and well built women's bikes have a solid market niche.

Somehow we seem to be caught up with marketing the "racing bikes" to men, and the "beach cruisers" to women.

Craptacular8

That sounds like a great time.

One of lbs has a variety of after work group rides. The only women specific ride is a mtb group ride. The others are mixed road separated by speed/length only. We’ve only attended a couple, but there was a nearly even mix of men and women.

Brooke1687

I’ve definitely had more #metoo moments on my bike than off and it’s usually when I’m alone. I had one guy follow me down a dark street yelling at me for a light, gotten cat called and yelled at from cars.

When I was younger I was a
over weight and didn’t worry about someone like physically trying to hurt me or take me but I’ve lost a lot of weight. I’m still tall, heavy, and muscular. I’m taller than my husband and i weigh more than him but he can pick me up fairly easily. It is scary out there, especially when I ride the trail near my house in the dark. Sometimes I joke the fear makes me go faster. When I first started doing it I’d keep my U lock with in reach. I also know every possible way to use my watch, headphones, and phone to call for help. I’ve relaxed some now, I live in a fairly safe area and people are generally nice and you get to be familiar with the regulars but it’ll always be in the back of my mind a bit.

Brooke1687

We have a Trek store that has been doing a Taco Trek on Tuesday’s since they opened a few years ago. It’s brilliant marketing. It’s truly a beginners ride, it’s only 30 minutes. There are tons of women, probably half of 200 participants, and lots of us have since purchased Trek bikes. It’s been a great way to get more people into riding, myself including. The other LBS in the area have some group rides but they’re not as appealing to true beginners and they’re not very well marketed or advertised. I’d really love for them to build up to a longer option. I usually ride from my house and back which gives me a few extra miles.

Korina

How about "Team Blue" or "Team Chartreuse"? I really dislike pink.

Anywho, thanks for that. I don't understand racing, but I gather you were saying good things about women racing. Also, yes, better marketing from the bike companies. Now, please pass the brain bleach.

irisemars

i think that if women try their best they can do it well. All is the effort they want to give for this.

fireaza

My Mum likes cycling and she says the number one reason why women don't like riding bikes is... Helmets. Kinda an unexpected answer, but I guess we men don't normally worry about things messing up our hair!

rumrunn6

pretty darn proud of my spouse. when she was a teen she biked the whole cape with her female cousin as part of a group & stayed at a youth hostel. she was also the driving force to get our kids biking at an early age, & to keep it going even when we traveled for summer vacations. even camping. I had to handle all the logistical stuff but it was all because of her. our adult kids still love to ride. so guys, if you meet a a bunch of women in your 20s, settle down with the biker chic. you won't regret it

Jim from Boston

I posted earlier on this thread:

khyricat

I am a woman getting back into cycling- if it wasn't for a health issue I never would have stopped. I grew up cycling... and running.. and love both. I can't wait to get my trike (hopefully within the next week- waiting for it to come in) and hit the roads again. I think there are a lot of factors. I won't be competing for any distances or speeds in the near future- I've ridden one week of the last 5 years and I'll be on an upright trike... but I also work a LOT of hours and go to grad school. I am figuring the 2 days a week I work close to home I'll bike commute starting in a month or 2 (it's 6 miles each way)... otherwise I'll be doing weekend rides with my husband and maybe very SHORT evening rides most of the time, unless I don't have much schoolwork that week. He hasn't ridden much the last 2 years either so we'll be building up together, but he goes much faster on his bike than I did on the trike I rented, not sure how that will play out with the better one I am buying... I have always trained for athletics and participated in races/rides/runs with men as well as women, but I also got to know the group a bit first. I know how to take care of myself and safety comes first but its not going to make me fear anything.

JohnDThompson 

My future wife met her Freshman-year college room mate in Rockford Il, and they rode their bikes from from there to Appleton WI to start college, carrying all their things with them. They're still good friends more than 40 years later. And it's amazing how much less "stuff" college students needed back then.

seafood

Seems it would be a lot easier to do something about gender disparity in organized events. But as far as cycling as a practical mode of transportation and an everyday, casual, and enjoyable activity that fits into people's lifestyles, perception of safety is probably the overriding factor. You don't see too many women out on their own late at night in most places. As much as we like to pay lip service to equality, women do receive a lot of unwanted attention. I suspect that the path to more women taking to practical bicycling is going to be a slow and winding one, paved by more men and a few adventurous women helping normalize it in society before it becomes safe enough and accepted enough for more women to join.

Korina

I'm curious. How many of you have bike safety classes available to adults? Who offers them?

Most of the classes around here are aimed at kids.

I can see where fear can keep people off bikes, and most of us women have been trained from birth to not be adventurous. Boys build forts and girls play with dolls, don't you know. My first bike ride to Eureka along Highway 101 was terrifying. But I didn't give up, and now it's no big deal. Not fun, but not scary. Fear of the unknown is the worst, and I wonder if more classes to teach adults how to ride on streets would help counteract that.

Maelochs

Make him tow you.

If everything works out as you guys hope ... way on down the road consider getting an electric-assist bike.

I was talking to a dealer who said a big part of the market was spouses who wanted to ride together but one couldn't keep up. With e-assist, both could ride at the same speed, but one would be doing the full (desired) workload while the other would doing less work, as desired.

Korina

I think you mean, 'women are seen as easy prey.' Because in general we're physically smaller, predators don't see us as a threat, and therefor as easy pickings. I described a ride I want to take to a guy who rides the same bus as I and volunteers at the local bike library. He thought it was a great idea and wants to come along. I'm 90% sure he's fine, but I won't do it because I can't trust him. I find it awful that half the species can't trust the other half of the species not to hurt them so they can feel powerful and manly.

billyymc

Wow. You must see the problem with that broad brush statement no?

seafood

I don't know you, nor Korina or her mindset or experiences, but neither do you. This kind of remark makes me think of what I've learned about fundamental attribution error, and how easy it is for us to avoid understanding one another for no good reason at all.

Brooke1687

In my experience I prefer to just my husband go on and he can let me catch up to him or circle back. On the roads we can stay at about the same pace but usually on a trail I’ll tell him to leave me behind. I don’t like feeling rushed or pushing myself to keep up with him, it makes it left fun for me. I’d prefer to just do my own thing.

Korina

I was an 18-year-old virgin when a man I knew tried to **** me. Most victims know their *******. In regards to my safety, I prefer guilty until proven innocent, because I don't know how to tell the difference.

ETA: Okay, so that r-word isn't allowed, good to know.