Trek Women Who Ride

[Geonz]

I love the way folks can put out opinions and still be respectful.

I sent in my essay for "women who ride." All you had to do was send an essay, oh, and three photographs, so I would imagine they got ***lots and lots*** of applications. I noticed that the applications were due at the end of April... but entrants were supposed to be prepared to start their exciting year of touring and blogging... May 1.
I believe it was Mid-July before they made their selections - despite a couple of emails saying "we'll pick by ___" and it not happening. All the evidence says it was a committee of folks who may or may not have consciously considered The Diversity Question; if I remember right they made a point that they were looking for "all ages," and said stuff like whether we rode for a cause like environmentalism... which I considered could have been 'cause they wanted to weed those folks out
There were also some pretty fundamental flaws in their website about their "women's tour" - Illinois was an "eastern state" if you clicked on it... but the events were actually listed (oddly enough ) under the midwest, as just one example. That one they didn't fix; I emailed the contacts about it and at least one other, which they did fix. Their site is pretty consistently flawed (and then there's the content: "Ten best reasons to commute by bike," half of which involved having "fun" dodging heavy traffic, which of course is what *intimidates* people from commuting, so I'd have to call that one a marketing faux pas ).

So. IMO, they've got a marketing budget... but not particularly good *skills* in the craft.
When I saw who was picked (only because I kept going back to the site and probing and searching - *not* because they plunked it front and center or sent it out in their email right away) I thought, "wow... those folks are poster ladies... they're the Hallmark Channel STories of cycling." Then summer was over and I've been working a lot harder and surfing a lot less - but I have wondered whether the individuals would stay Hallmarky for the whole year... and whether they would actually gather a community around them or not. I did duly notice that they were all white folks, and figured it was the usual unconsciously homogenous thinking that steered things that way.
I agree that in a sense they are singing at the choir (not even preaching... but trying to *do* at us what we are already doing) as opposed to trying to make cycling look accessible to the masses. Reckon it's up to us to do that

[rij73]

KSH, I guess one of the reasons for what you describe could be regional. Here in Brooklyn, minorities are actually the majority of bike riders.

[slmdunc]

KSH, I guess one of the reasons for what you describe could be regional. Here in Brooklyn, minorities are actually the majority of bike riders.

I have to agree. In LA, we have all sorts of folks who ride.

[velogirl]

I think much depends on which segment of the bicycling market you're looking at. In many metropolitan areas, you will find a very diverse cycling community, however, much of the diversity is focused on riding for transportation (ie the "invisible" cyclists). These are the folks who ride because of necessity -- transportation to work because they can't afford a car. The average price of a bike for this type of cyclist is probably less that $100.

Then there are the commuters -- folks who use their bike for transportation by choice (not by necessity). While there is still some diverstiy in this segment, you typically see more affluence (and bikes in the $250 - $1,000 range).

But many of you have cited examples from the recreational riding community. These are the folks who are riding for pleasure or fitness or competition (and their bikes typically range in the $800+ category). In that segment, we really don't see a lot of racial diversity, even in an area as diverse as San Francisco. I can definitely say that the racial diversity in our club (Velo Girls) is not representative of the racial diversity of the greater SF area. In the past six years, we've seen good representation from the hispanic/latina community, stronger representation from the asian community, but only one or two women from the african-american community.

The demographic of recreational riders is definitely middle-aged, middle-income (or above), and white.

[indigoiis]

In the brochure I picked up at the trek event, there are several models modeling clothes and bikes, all of them 110 lbs or less, and one of them a very pretty, athletic appearing African American gal with very big hair.

[Crankin]

I am not sure that Amy meant anything mean when she said that cycling is primarily an upper middle class sport. I didn't misconstrue it at all; of course, we want everyone to ride! They don't need to be riding $5,000 carbon bikes and they don't need to be riding fast. But to get people who are currently sedentary to ride, the cycling community needs to market differently. I'm not a business person, so I can't address that.
However, when you look at the people who ride for fitness or race, it is primarily upper middle class white people, at least here in the Boston area. I belong to 2 clubs and I don't think I've ever seen an African American on any rides. I'm not sure how we can change this.
This reminds me of something that I witnessed many years ago. We took our kids skiing at Burke Mountain, which is way up in Vermont. It was not a popular place in the early 90s. Since I was X country skiing and they were downhill, we decided to meet up in the lodge. As we were getting ready to leave, we heard a very distinguished looking older African American man say quite loudly to a white kid, "What's the matter? You've never seen a Black man skiing?" We assumed the kid must have been rudely staring at the man, but everyone laughed when he said this.

[SheFly]

I am not sure that Amy meant anything mean when she said that cycling is primarily an upper middle class sport. I didn't misconstrue it at all; of course, we want everyone to ride! They don't need to be riding $5,000 carbon bikes and they don't need to be riding fast. But to get people who are currently sedentary to ride, the cycling community needs to market differently. I'm not a business person, so I can't address that.
However, when you look at the people who ride for fitness or race, it is primarily upper middle class white people, at least here in the Boston area. I belong to 2 clubs and I don't think I've ever seen an African American on any rides. I'm not sure how we can change this.
This reminds me of something that I witnessed many years ago. We took our kids skiing at Burke Mountain, which is way up in Vermont. It was not a popular place in the early 90s. Since I was X country skiing and they were downhill, we decided to meet up in the lodge. As we were getting ready to leave, we heard a very distinguished looking older African American man say quite loudly to a white kid, "What's the matter? You've never seen a Black man skiing?" We assumed the kid must have been rudely staring at the man, but everyone laughed when he said this.

Quad Cycles has a really good Cat 4 African American racer. He's a great racer and very friendly to talk to at the races as well. There is also an African American rider that lives in Bedford - I think he's mostly a commuter, but may do some racing as well. You are right though - in this area it is more white people.

I will, however, argue, at least from a race and my club perspective, the upper middle class differntiation. We have A LOT of young, just starting out in life, racers and club members who don't have a lot of extra income, and wouldn't consider themselves "upper middle class"; likewise, trades-people/"blue collar" workers. I know a lot of riders who scrounge for spare parts, cheap, used, free to be able to fuel their passion. Not everyone is out racing on expensive bikes - a couple of racers/friends I know just bought complete 'cross bikes (no-name) for under $800 - was all they could afford. I also have friends who have just gone out and bought custom Sevens...

Here's what I LOVE about cycling - it doesn't matter to me what color you are, what you do for a living, what your social status is. As long as we have cycling in common, all of that goes out the window and is irrelevant. This is a great sport in that sense.

I do also agree with Velogirl - different levels of "cyclists" out there.

SheFly

p.s.
Robyn - DH grew up near Burke, and an African American skiing would defnitely draw some looks from the locals...

[amymisk]

Thanks Robyn for your reply.

The trouble with writing, sometimes the message gets misconstrued or misunderstood.

I said it is primarily a white middle to upper class sport. When I watch pro racers, ride around my home, and in charity rides, in magazines, I see primarily white cyclists.

I love the sport and this site and didn't want to offend anyone. I was making an observation.

Geonz is probably right about the marketing group for Trek, have the money, need help in the skill.

I still also believe that this country doesn't see cycling as a "sport" like they view Football, Hockey, Baseball, and Basketball. If they only knew how dangerous cycling can be! I would love to see more mainstream information/marketing for cycling, but in our current society, I don't think it will happen.

I know that this is a sport for anyone and most cyclists are very welcoming and encouraging.

[Andrea]

I applied for this as an aspiring racer. I'm a huge supporter of women's racing, and I think that the fact that they didn't pick someone (definately doesn't have to be me- just SOMEONE) more involved with racing shows how not even the big manufacturers of the sport care too much about women's racing. It's painfully obvious that they don't feel that highly competitive women are a valuable demographic to market to. Instead, they wanted to tug on the emotional heartstrings of the average Caucasian-American female who, at one point in life, has struggled through some sort of personal hardship- whether it's been body image, illness, or the like.
I think that this type of thing inadvertently discourages women from competitive cycling. I feel like they are sending the message that rather than competing with each other, we should just focus on ourselves. It's not that I don't think that overcoming personal hardship isn't an important, life-changing process. I just think it's pretty sad that they didn't include someone to represent those of us who aspire to achieve victory over our opponents as well.

[velogirl]

Hey Andrea! I'll share with you something most industry insiders will tell you -- bike racers don't sell bikes and bike racers don't buy bikes. Meaning that a shop employee or even a recreational rider will have a much broader reach and influence the purchase of a certain brand more readily than a racer will.

Another thought is that you're already part of a sponsored team. Interesting that Trek used to be the bike sponsor for Team Kenda but now Blue is. Blue is a competitor of Trek, so it would be difficult for you to remain on your team and also be sponsored by Trek in the Women Who Ride promotion.

[Andrea]

Hey Andrea! I'll share with you something most industry insiders will tell you -- bike racers don't sell bikes and bike racers don't buy bikes. Meaning that a shop employee or even a recreational rider will have a much broader reach and influence the purchase of a certain brand more readily than a racer will.

Another thought is that you're already part of a sponsored team. Interesting that Trek used to be the bike sponsor for Team Kenda but now Blue is. Blue is a competitor of Trek, so it would be difficult for you to remain on your team and also be sponsored by Trek in the Women Who Ride promotion.

Yeah, I definately see how that wouldn't work out now, but at the time of the applications, I was just racing for a local team. It would just be nice to see them include at least one woman who had aspirations of racing. Women's racing needs all the promotion it can get!

[velogirl]

you know, there are also lots of riders who are not racers who resent or don't care for racers. some folks believe that women who race (or men who race) have "attitude" and are dangerous riders (especially on the big group rides).

Lorri (I race, BTW, but wanted to mention this)

[crazycanuck]

I hope it's cool for me to chime in although i'm not in the US.

In terms of racial diversity & cycling here in the Perth region, i've never seen an Aboriginal Australian at any cycling event. Again, it's due to $$.

The only role models for young aboriginal australians are in footy (aussie rules).

MOre later.

C