Saudi women don't cycle

One of the blogs I occasionally read, is by an American woman who lived in Saudi Arabia for many years and was married to a Saudi guy before he died. She has been well-connected to range of folks whom she's interviewed /socialized often.

I asked her to just give an general impression of what she observed (and she would have been in bigger cities too):

It is quite unusual for a Saudi woman or young girl to cycle unless she is on a large private property. If she were to cycle in public areas she would be expected to wear the long abaya which is certainly not suitable for cycling. And as Aafke pointed out, she’d likely draw unwanted attention to herself too.

I saw young Saudi boys with bikes but it is not a typical item for a Saudi girl


As mentioned several weeks ago in TE forums, there was mention that it is illegal for Saudi women to drive a car.