The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Chance to make sure cycling is a breeze for women
Ihave written before about the gender imbalance blatantly apparent in cycling: from top level professional cycling to grassroots amateurs, woman are not fairly represented or catered for in the world of two wheels.
This lack of coverage takes many forms but, at its base level, the lack of visibility of women on bikes means they’re less likely to pick up a bike and go for a ride.
There are, of course, many great female role-models and many initiatives encouraging more women on to bikes.
A major driving force for this is that more women are getting directly involved in the cycling industry.
As with most industries that have paid only lip-service towards addressing gender imbalance in their field, the cycling industry has always been rife with misogynistic practices, right from the top of professional sport, through manufacturing, and down to the practices of traditional clubs.
Thankfully, many pioneering women are pushing through the barriers and opening up the world of cycling for others.
Many of those women – such as Alex Feechan, who started up her own cycle clothing company, Findra in the Scottish Borders – are challenging the conventional, male-dominated cycling world and being massively successful.
If you are passionate about cycling and getting more women involved in it, Scottish Cycling need you to be an ambassador for the sport.
They are looking for women like you to inspire others to get fit, have fun and enjoy riding bikes.
The programme will recruit volunteers to become Breeze Champions and they will work towards breaking down the barriers that can face women and girls who want to get active by cycling.
British Cycling has an ambition to get more than a million more women cycling by 2020 and Breeze will be the Scottish initiative to achieve this UKwide aspiration. So how do you get involved? Well, for a start you don’t need to be a cycling expert, just have confidence in riding your bike. It’s more important to have a passion about cycling and empowering other women to get active.
Scottish Cycling has developed a oneday course and assessment that will qualify you to deliver guided bike rides for groups of women, and one of those courses is in Dundee on July 14. It is free to sign up – see below for more details on registration.
Maryam Amatullah is already a Breeze Champion.
She had a passion for cycling as a child but quit in her teens.
In 2010, wanting to improve her health and fitness, she decided to get back on a bike again.
She bought herself a bike and initially, she said: “I got a lot of stares at first in my hijab, particularly from my community, and I didn’t like it. I got tearful and felt self-conscious.”
Fortunately she was pointed in the direction of British Cycling and in 2011 she trained as a Breeze Champion and now feels her life has changed forever.
The BBC published an article in January asking what is stopping more women getting involved in cycling. A lack of confidence was one of the main reasons.
Could you be one of those women who inspires others and gives them the confidence to get out cycling?
Find out more about becoming a Breeze Champion at letsride.co.uk/ beachampion