BE A ‘SPOKES’ WOMAN!
‘I want to be motivational and inspirational for everybody: my big aim is more women on bicycles’
Why don’t more women get into cycling? It’s a question I ask myself all the time. Over the past few years there’s been an increasing number of campaigns about gender equality in the professional, amateur & recreational cycling world. And while you can see some positive changes, progress is very slow. I’m a cyclist, not professional, not an amateur just a woman who likes to ride her bike...a lot! So I’ll share my cycling journey with you, how I got into it and the fears I experienced and overcame, in the hope that it encourages other women to take up this fantastic sport.
Before I fell in love with road cycling, I was a marathon runner and only bought a bike to cross-train, to help with running injuries, and with the plan of getting into triathlons. In the end I loved cycling so much that the running shoes were left gathering dust in the cupboard.
With running you can just slip on your trainers and go for a run, but with cycling there are a few more things you need to consider, and for many women these can become barriers to getting involved in cycling at all - issues such as fitness, traffic, bike handling, simple repairs and being part of a sport where you are in the minority.
When I was a runner, I never really thought about things like a ‘gender gap’ in the sport because there was generally a good mix of men & women when I was training or racing. I was aware of gender inequality in the professional cycling world, but it never crossed my mind that not many women would be involved in cycling at a recreational level.
When I began road cycling I lived in Scotland and cycled mostly with my partner or by myself. There were some local cycling clubs in the area, but these were predominately filled with fit looking lycra clad males.
This prevented me from plucking up the courage to join a club until I got a bit more experience on the road. I never did pluck up that courage, always doubting my ability and the inexperience of riding as part of a larger group. But I know now that you’ll never get that experience unless you join and that you have to start somewhere. I know for sure if it was a women’s group I would have had no problem joining the club. I still doubted my ability when I moved to France, and if you add in a language barrier, well the idea of joining a club went out the window - until recently, when I connected with other women who are part of the ‘Femme et Cycliste’ association. An organisation who are 100% committed to women’s cycling by welcoming, supporting and assisting women into cycling and helping those who wish to enter into a more sporty practice of cycling. My first ride with them was for a recce of our local area for their upcoming 8848 challenge in August 2021 - an ultra cycling event with different formats to allow everyone to succeed. (More info can be found on their website, www. femme-et-cycliste.com). Naturally
I was a bit nervous before the first ride, wondering if I was going to be able to keep up. But any nerves soon disappeared as soon as I met the girls because we were all on the same wavelength when it came to cycling.
We rode at a pace comfortable to us all, we encouraged each other, we chatted, had the obligatory photo stops... it was great, one of the best riding experiences I’ve had. My only regret, I wish I’d connected with a group like this sooner!
I moved to the Hautes Pyrenees in 2017 to run the Pyrenees Cycling Lodge.
This is a beautiful area where the road traffic is lighter than in Scotland, but on the other hand the mountain terrain is far more demanding...more challenges to conquer! It’s only after making this move and running the Lodge that I realised how large the gender gap in cycling is. In our first season at the Lodge 98% of our guests were cyclists, and 90% of those cyclists were male. Most of the women who stayed with us in the first year were the non-cycling partners of male cyclists; or they were a single woman cyclist with a group of men. In our second year, we noticed a slight increase in the number of women cyclists, with most of that increase coming from cycling couples. Throughout our 3 seasons here, we’ve only had one all women cycling group, a group of strong mature women from the USA.
We’ve also noticed women cyclists to be in the minority on the local cycling scene. I remember in particular going to watch one of our local Tour de France stages on Col d’aubisque. After cycling the mountain before the pros, we stopped at our viewing spot for the stage and when I looked around I realised I was the only female cyclist in that area among hundreds of men. Something we’ve thought about over the past few years that might promote women’s cycling is to host a series of women’s cycling weeks throughout the year at the Lodge, where we’d work with local female guides, cycling nutritionists and provide basic bike maintenance workshops as part of that week. We’re building up a network of connections with women cyclists, so if this is of interest to anyone reading, please get in touch.
Fitness is always an issue when starting any new sport. Even though I considered myself quite fit from my running, when I moved to the French Pyrenees I was definitely not fully fit for this mountainous terrain. In the early days, it was a mental & physical challenge just to keep riding and to keep climbing to get to the top of the cols. I had to learn to be patient, to give it time, and to be okay with sometimes stopping to catch my breath. As time went on, the stops got less frequent, the legs adapted to the terrain and I found my comfortable pace. I’ve now been riding these mountains for 3 years, and while I still can’t say it’s easy, what I can say is that I know I’m better, I’m more experienced, and most importantly I love it! I like my sport to be challenging, because when you accomplish your goal it makes the feeling of satisfaction even sweeter... and of course justifies that coffee & cake even more!
With road cycling, traffic was probably the biggest issue for me to overcome. With running you are off the road and safe but with cycling you become part of the traffic. When I started road cycling, I remember tensing up everytime a car approached. Over the
years, I haven’t completely lost the fear of traffic, but with experience I’ve become more comfortable sharing the road and to ride in a safe way so that I can protect myself. My experience of traffic in the French Pyrenees is completely different to the traffic I experienced when I first started cycling in the UK. In the French Pyrenees, there is a legal requirement for drivers to give bikes a space of 1.5m when overtaking; there’s a broad appreciation of the benefits of cycling to the Pyrenean economy and cyclists are not looked upon as a hindrance on the roads.
Bike handling & simple repairs are other things I remember worrying about when I got my first road bike. Gearing sounds more complicated than it is. I remember the temptation to stick in the same gear for long durations, but I learned that the only way to master the gears was to use them, and to find out what was the most efficient for the terrain I was riding. I soon learned that if you use them correctly they can reduce fatigue, conserve energy and make the ride smooth, fast & fun.
Sometimes I ride alone and it was important for me to be able to do simple bike repairs. Many local bike shops run basic maintenance courses but I had never got round to doing one. Instead I used online tutorials to learn how to make simple repairs such as fixing a puncture, changing a tire, making simple adjustments for bike comfort and cleaning & lubricating.
It’s definitely a confidence booster knowing that when you are out riding you are able to deal with basic repair issues. On a recent bike-packing trip I had 2 punctures a day for the first 4 days, so I can now confidently say that I can fix punctures!
That’s some of my journey into this wonderful sport! I love cycling, travelling on 2 wheels and having the freedom of the bike to go and explore.
Of course there will be times when it’s not easy and times when you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone. So I think for women trying to get into the sport, that if you can get yourself into a group or join up with friends, or into an environment that feels safe & comfortable for you, this will help with your motivation and will definitely contribute to making you a more confident rider. At the end of the day, it’s not all about being fast, it’s about moving...it’s about you, it’s about more women discovering cycling!
“I’ll tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than any one thing in the world. I rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a bike. It gives her a feeling of self-reliance and independence the moment she takes her seat; and away she goes, the picture of untrammelled womanhood.”