Uneasy cyclists show it’s not about the sundresses
They came to ride in various garments, but mostly wearing positivity, showing up not so much to dress down a councillor as to undress the sundress comment as a misnomer and redress a lack of infrastructure.
It all started with Coun. Lloyd Ferguson’s musing about why far fewer women than men cycle regularly — could it be that “they like to wear sundresses in summer and they don’t feel comfortable on bikes?”
He’s been reassured ever since that the reason is a lack of safe cycling infrastructure. And to hammer it home, some 25 riders — mostly women but men, too — in everything from, yes, sundresses to other dresses, skirts and jeans, cycled Wednesday from city hall through the core and back.
It was called the Sundress Ride for Hamilton Bike Lanes, and one of the chief organizers, Jessica Merolli, arrived on theme decked out in a striking white number with ruffles down the front and along the hem.
“I only ride in a dress and often in heels” Merolli said, pointing to her pumps with sparkles.
She called Ferguson’s remark “uninformed” but welcomed it as an “opportunity.” Many at the ride echoed that sentiment. “The biggest obstacle (to women riding) is not what they wear but the disconnected nature of existing infrastructure,” said Merolli.
Some stretches are great, but then others will squeeze riders up too close both to traffic and parked cars, with a double threat of being hit or having a door open suddenly in front of you, said several participants.
Why does imperfect bike safety deter women more than men? “Women tend to navigate urban environments differently,” said Maureen Wilson, a marshal at the ride wearing a delightful faux grass skirt.
“If men go from A to B, women go from A to A1, 2, 3 (picking up things, running errands) then to B and B 1, 2, 3, then back to A4. It’s a cooked spaghetti noodle, where the male pattern is an uncooked spaghetti noodle.”
Debbie Chamberlain, in pants, was one of several riders who, borrowing a term from ethology, said women tend to be like “indicator species,” revealing the quality of the environment.
Organizers are launching an interactive map that plots problem spots based on cyclist feedback.