Why do I see fewer women cycling than men?

[OakLeaf]

Although I really have no experience with most of it (no children, commuted in heavy traffic through my teens and early 20s and had no car, so couldn't afford to be afraid), what everyone else has said rings true intellectually to me, except for the thing about size being a disadvantage.

I can't TELL you how many men behind me in a paceline have grumbled about my size! And vice versa, it's super easy for 5'3" me to tuck in and hang on with a much stronger group. They don't even mind so much if I only take token pulls, since I'm basically not doing anyone any good at the point anyhow.

As far as hills, that extra 20-30# of body weight that a man has to drag up a hill costs him WAY more than the extra 2-3# if the woman can't afford a bike as snazzy as his. BTDT, with men who can completely dust me on the flats.

[jyyanks]

For me, it has everything to do with lack of time. I work full time with a 2 hour commute which leaves me no time to cycle during the week. During the weekends, the kids have activities and quite frankly, i feel guilty spending time away from them since I'm not around as much during the week so weekends are primarily devoted to family. I get about an hour or two each day during the weekend but thats not enough time to go on an extended group ride (which typically lasts longer and does not work with my schedule). Therefore, I end up riding alone on the bike trail a lot. When my kids are older, I hope I could devote more time to cycling and join more group rides but unfortunately, that isn't possible now.

[ivorygorgon]

My club is dominated by FAST men. When I talk to the guys about their wives, the inevitable reason their wives don't ride is that they are afraid to ride on the road.

[Eden]

I'm like Oak - I grew up riding on the road. I started cycle touring with my parents when I was about 10 or 11 I think - I was in middle school. I was riding all over by myself in city traffic by the time I was 14. I didn't even have a driver's license until I was 25. I don't have kids.

None of the worries other people have expressed have ever really affected me, I guess. I suppose a lot of it has to do with how I was raised. My parents were always quite active and I was allowed, perhaps even pushed to do things that other girls never were. Other kids thought I was weird, but I don't think that ever really bothered me. It certainly didn't change my behavior - nor has the fact that now other adults often think I'm weird bother me or change my behavior.

[lph]

One thing I have noticed over the years, in a variety of activities, is that some women feel guilty about spending money on adequate equipment. So they get something cheap'n nasty, "just in case I decide I don't like it", and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

This is a good point. We all know about and roll our eyes over men's "expensive toys", that's sort of just part of being a guy, while a woman beginner will often feel that she really needs to deserve a good quality bike (kayak/pair of skis/whatever), doesn't have the know-how at that point to buy something used of decent quality, and ends up feeling heavy, slow and unathletic on crappy gear. I've done it, though my excuse was just lack of money. My dh taught me that yes - the weight of a bike does count, a lot! - and steered me towards decent gear. Makes a huge difference in enjoyment. I'm now more of a weight-weenie than he ever was

But he's roughly my weight. A strong man who outweighed me by half might not even think I had a heavy bike in the first place.

[Crankin]

Come to think of it, I rode all over, on the road starting at age 10, until I got my license. It wasn't city riding, but a very hilly, densely populated suburb. I rode at night, too. There are certain places I won't ride, but I started out right on the road.

[Owlie]

I totally agree on the "deserving" a nice bike. And while I can understand the desire not to sink a lot of money into a new hobby immediately (because I did it too), and I do realize it's an expensive hobby, the fact that it isn't nice is probably going to hinder your enjoyment.*

And if I see couples together on the bike trail, if they're not riding comparable bikes, it's always the man that's riding the decent bike, while the woman's huffing and puffing away on a heavy mountain bike or something.



*Maybe I'm a masochist, because I rode for 3 years on a bike that didn't fit and I still like it...

[featuretile]

Where I live in California, there are almost as many women in the bike club as men. Most of the people are over 60. If you are younger than 60, you are a kid. Both men and women have pretty nice bikes. But, the faster riders are mostly men (but not all).

In fact, they are all great roll models for me of how to stay fit as you get older. We have 3 men who are over 80, and I think, 3 women who are over 70. Most members are very encouraging. There is some problem with different levels of speed in the group rides, and I have experienced being dropped. But they are trying to remedy that.

Since no women that age are dealing with raising children, that does not stop them from riding. And the weather is good all year. Everybody wears hi-vis jerseys or jackets and black biking shorts, and I have gotten used to that as working better and no longer feel self conscious about the clothes.

I feel lucky to be in this kind of environment.

I prefer a group ride to riding alone because there is someone there if something happens, and I get to learn new roads.

[Grits]

There is also the vicious cycle of more men riders bring in other men riders and so on. When I started riding it was because three other women I knew had just started, and we had a group of about the same ability starting out and learning everything together. That is fairly rare. If I hadn't known them, I might not have gotten started because I doubt I would have gotten into it on my own or with a group of guys because it does seem intimidating.

[Jiffer]

By the way, cycling IS growing for women in a big way. At least it is in Southern California. The owner of one of our bike shops was telling us a while back that he had recently been selling way more bikes to women than ever before (this was a year and a half ago or so.) He hosted a women's clinic, too, to encourage women to ride and to teach them HOW to ride.

[lovelygamer]

I don't have a lot of advice on the why's of women and cycling. I only can say that I myself have worried about the practical vs. recreational aspect (time spent on a hobby vs. something more practical), the risks to my physical self, the costs of the equipment, and the fashion or lack thereof. Maintenance of bikes is intimidating to me too. I haven't learned it yet and I feel at a disadvantage for it. That's a hell of a lot to get over and I don't even have a child!

I will say that locally, we have one competitive road cycling group, one mountain biking group, and one group that is a non competitive ladies only group.

btw I just marked an article for further reading today, about this topic.

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/com...en-bikes/1984/

[shootingstar]

I only can say that I myself have worried about the practical vs. recreational aspect (time spent on a hobby vs. something more practical), the risks to my physical self, the costs of the equipment, and the fashion or lack thereof. Maintenance of bikes is intimidating to me too. I haven't learned it yet and I feel at a disadvantage for it. That's a hell of a lot to get over and I don't even have a child!

Interesting that you should feel guilty /wonder if cycling is a hobby /recreation /practical. Since I haven't lived in a home with a car for past few decades, I consider my bikes (yes, 4) practical for transportation purposes. I don't apologize anymore for having this number of bikes since I've cycled all of them and still all cheaper than owning and driving a car.

If cycling is good for your health, then that for certain is damn practical! I don't kid myself that bike maintenance is something I know much about nor practice it in an knowledgeable way, even though I've been shown several times. And I've been cycling regularily for past 20 yrs. I think I can intelligently look/name a troublesome bike part and intelligently ask a bike store what can be done + assess whether or not the bike mechanic fixed it properly.

I've noticed way more women cycling in Vancouver now compared to 10 yrs. ago.

[Crankin]

I really have a hard time understanding why anyone would feel guilty about cycling. Feeling guilty about having a hobby, participating in a sport, contributing to a less polluted environment, and doing something positive for your health (both physical and mental) just doesn't make any sense. Why shouldn't you spend money on yourself, when it's something that has all of these positive benefits? I sincerely believe that most of this comes from the way a lot of women are socialized, i.e., don't ever do anything for yourself.
I guess I must have missed that message, because I never gave any of this a thought. I also had a ton of encouragement from my DH, my son, and my exchange student when I started riding.
I do agree, there are a lot of azzholes in the cycling world, but if you look around, it is possible to find someone who has similar cycling goals. I've always been firmly in the "too fast for the slow group, too slow for the fast group" camp, but I found both individuals and a group that are perfect for me to ride with. I have no interest in real "training" and I never wanted to race, but over the past 11 years, I've improved, gained confidence, become a ride leader, had years when I rode less/lost strength/speed, as well as buying/selling 7 bikes.
Am I perfect? Of course not. I'm still a wimpy descender, I don't like certain traffic situations, and my mechanical skills are minimal. But, I keep going and every year is more interesting.

[tiva]

Great topic. I spend a fair bit of time in Europe, where more people ride bikes in the cities than take cars, and you see more women than men riding, I think. Women on road bikes, women in fancy dresses and heels on city bikes, women with kids--all sorts.

Here in the US, it never occurs to me to be afraid alone on roads or on trails. Wisconsin is a pretty safe state, but still.

I ride every other day, either alone or with a couple friends. But I never go with a bike club, for some reason. I'm much less comfortable with competition than many men are, and because I usually ride alone, I don't know how to ride in groups. And I know I'm not as fast as the guys who ride in the clubs. But it would be interesting to try group riding.

[FlyingScot]

The biggest thing that makes me think twice about going for a ride is the safety factor. I, by necessity, ride alone 99% of the time. My two choices for riding (path vs road) each have pretty significant issues. The bike path nearest me is very secluded in some parts, runs through subsidized housing (think large groups of bored, disaffected and often angry young men rolling around on undersized bikes but not going anywhere), has easy access by other vehicles (service drives that aren't blocked off), increasing numbers of homeless men and so far has had two murder victims found on it. In addition my community is not bike-friendly. We have had multiple accidents most of them ending with a dead cyclist. It seems that drivers are actually aiming for us so the roads aren't a great option either. You'd never know that I live in a rather up-scale part of town.
The second thing is my personal discouragement whem I'm being passed by what appear to be 80 year old men on BSO's. Seriously, am I THAT slow!