HELP NEEDED PLEASE! Opinions and comments wanted :)

[cassie]

Hi everyone!
I'm a Graphic design student at the University of Leeds, and I'm currently working on a project which is aiming to encourage females aged 20-25yrs old to participate more in cycling as a sport. According to research that I've found, this is a low-participating audience in the sport. So, please if you have a spare minute or two, I'd be very grateful to hear any views you have on this issue - why do you think females of this age don't cycle often? Why SHOULD they? Did/do you cycle at that age - why/why not? Could it be an image problem at all? Are they scared of the dangers of cycling perhaps?

Thanks very much for your time, and I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cassie x

[KnottedYet]

You really need to be asking these questions of people who DON'T bike. They are the ones who would know the answers.

We would just be guessing.

[Trek420]

Welcome to TE. I'm not sure how much we'll help your study, like "preaching to the choir" so to speak but it's a great place.

Surf on over to the "getting to know you" thread when you get a chance.

[Biciclista]

bike helmets mess up their hair. And no, I'm not joking.

[TsPoet]

bike helmets mess up their hair. And no, I'm not joking.

I've heard that more from my guy friends than from women - I'm not joking.

[limewave]

bike helmets mess up their hair. And no, I'm not joking.

That's my guess too.

And that it's not even on the radar of most women at that time. I think its true for a lot of sports across the board. Doing running races, the 20-29 bracket is not very competitive. But once you get into the 30's, all of a sudden it explodes.

In your 20's, your establishing yourself: relationships, family, careers, living on your own, etc. Sports just aren't on the forefront.

At least, that was my experience.

[tangentgirl]

It's not a cheap sport to really get into. With running, you buy a pair of $100 shoes and you are good to go. Biking I'm guessing is around $300-500 (or more if you want better stuff), even if you are starting with a used bike, if you consider bike racks, bike shorts, bike shoes, pedals, helmets, blah blah blah. Most 20-25 year olds don't make a heck of a lot of cash. I know I didn't, I got my first serious bike when I was around 25 (more than 10 years ago), and the $350 investment was not trivial for me. I really would not have been able to do that a couple of years earlier. I thought I would pass out a few years later when I dropped $800 on a road bike.

Also, I think many people, and maybe women more than men, are intimidated by the idea of riding a bike in areas with cars. If they do not have groups to ride with, and do not understand the rules of the road, it could be well, scary. A lot of women - and we all know who they are - have that eek, not little old me attitude. I think that goes away a bit as you get older and try things. Boys are raised to jump into physical things. Girls are often raised to be more cautious.

[BalaRoja]

Preface: I'm not a 20-25 year old female who doesn't cycle....

I'm a little older and a bit of a cycling maniac :-)

Cassie, I think you are asking a fascinating but incredibly complex question. Like most complex questions the answers & reasons why one thing happens (or doesn't) are multi-factorial and cannot be reduced to a few things.

A notable chunk of the North American (yes Canadians too) population is sedentary and has related health problems. I would think there is some continuity between the reasons that is having and the age group you mentioned as well. There are probably some specific reasons for not cycling among the population you stated (20-25 yr old women) but I suspect many of them are no different than why other populations don't cycle.

Why don't people cycle (or jog or walk, etc)? I'd say there are economic, social, psychological, and emotional reasons for that. Maybe for specific individuals there may be one clear-cut reason that predominates, but I think when looking at a large group of people, you'll find it varies considerably and usually involves several factors.

If I had to speculate, I'd look at 20-25 year olds in general - this being a prime college age group. College students are more indebted than ever, not coincidentally school is more expensive than ever, while job prospects aren't nearly as good. All of which makes for people working more, earning less, and consequently having less time. Then again, this is hardly limited to just 20-25 year olds..

Sounds like less quality of life to me and having ample time and resources to exercise is most definitely a quality of life metric imo...

[Owlie]

I'm 22. I got into cycling this past year (started looking for a bike a year ago!).

I would not have bought a bike if I didn't have someone to ride with. In my case, it's my significant other. I'm also still a bit nervous about riding on the roads. Not so much the cars any more (I do what I can do, and that's all I can do; also, most people really don't want to hit you), just cars + bad pavement around here. I have a lower risk tolerance than BF, which he hasn't realized yet.

Time and cost are two other big factors. I don't ride as much as I'd like because I'm a full-time college student. During riding season, I was lucky if I could get out on weekends.
The big thing is that this is a very expensive sport. I got very lucky in that I got a cushy summer job and parents who were willing to give me half the cost of the bike as a birthday/Christmas present. Many people don't have that luxury. The entry-level road bike was about $800. Shorts, a helmet, water bottles+cages, and a bunch of other things later...well, that's a lot of money. I could go find a sports club on campus and try something else like fencing or archery (for example) for $15 a semester and not have to buy anything.
That's also an age group that doesn't make a lot of money, and the money gets used up on other things, not least of which is student loan debt. It's also a group that will quite likely not have health insurance (not limited to 20-25 yr-olds, obviously), so a sport like cycling that is perceived to be inherently dangerous ("you're riding on ROADS?") is less likely to be attractive.

[cassie]

Thanks so much for your replies!
I know, it's such a broad area to research, and - like you've said - there will be different reasons for different individuals, etc. The money issue definitely seems to be an important factor for the age group I'm looking at though.

On a slightly different note - as people who cycle regularly and enjoy the sport; what do you like best about it? What aspects of cycling would you promote in order to encourage young females to participate more? In my earlier research, I found that health and body is a very prominent issue with females aged 20-25, and so was hoping to use that as a possible direction perhaps....

Thanks again for all your help by the way
Cassie x

[BalaRoja]

What I like most about cycling.....?

In no particular order...

Superb health benefits - I actually look forward to seeing my body fat numbers, cholesterol, blood pressure, etc. And as a bonus, no need to worry about clothes becoming too small...

Great fitness - nothing makes me feel younger than knowing I'm fit enough to do almost anything I want physically.

Mobility - I don't have a car so the bike is how I get around. There's nowhere in town I can't get to on my bike.

Sights/Sounds - is there a better way to get to know your city or even travel than on a bike?

Social consciousness - biking is the most efficient form of transportation in the world, period. Not to mention it is generally very clean (yes, tires & manufacturing process do contribute some greenhouse gases, but much less than that in the production cars. plus bikes last far, far longer than cars and make cities & streets much more pleasant)..

Cost - The amount of money I save on insurance, gas, repairs, etc is massive compared to owning a car. Granted, some people really need a car for their job, etc and/or the places they live in don't have adequate transit - so I understand going car-less isn't for everyone. But for me it certainly is one more motivating reason to bike.

[Melalvai]

On a slightly different note - as people who cycle regularly and enjoy the sport; what do you like best about it? What aspects of cycling would you promote in order to encourage young females to participate more? In my earlier research, I found that health and body is a very prominent issue with females aged 20-25, and so was hoping to use that as a possible direction perhaps....

This research approach makes more sense: ask people who bike why they do, and ask those who don't why they don't.
I started biking 5 years ago so I can answer why I didn't bike before, and why I do bike now.

I bike for transportation. I started biking because we had only one car and couldn't afford a 2nd. So I started biking because it was cheap! I loved it, and now we will never have two cars. I loved losing weight, I love saving money, I love not driving a killing machine around. I feel safer on a bike than in a car.

Why didn't I bike until I was 31? It didn't occur to me. I didn't realize that people could bicycle for transportation, unless they were poor or had DUIs. (In fact, someone assumed I was "green" because she knew I wasn't too poor or drunk to own a car, and that was the only reason she could think of that I would bicycle!) I recommend education & role models to encourage women to bicycle.

[zoom-zoom]

When I was 20-25 I was in college full time, working part time...I was broke, tired, and didn't have a lot of spare time. Had money not been an issue I have a feeling I would have made time for cycling.

[GLC1968]

When I was 20-25, I was athletic, but I was still in college and participating in a lot of team sports. It wasn't until I got out on my own and found I didn't have time for team schedules that individual sports like running or cycling became a draw for me.

Cycling just never even occurred to me at that age.

Actually, let me correct that....road cycling never occurred to me. I did own a mountain bike and I did enjoy mountain biking when I could get the time. My roommate in college had a bright yellow Trek mountain bike and we all drooled over it. If our dorm room door was open, people would stop in and ask what kind of bike it was...mountain bikes were so rare back then!

I have a theory though. I don't think that most young women think about cycling as a sport because they don't have a lot of role models and a lot of exposure to it like guys might. I mean, my husband grew up riding BMX bikes, so transitioning to mountain biking and then road biking was a natural transition, even if he didn't race or get involved with teams. Most women do not have those kind of early influences. It's the same reason that women in fields like electrical engineering are so rare. MOST women are just not exposed to things like electronics at an early age...where as boys often are...it's a societal influence (wrong or right).

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Here is my personal thought on this subject.

Aside from the obvious hair messing type stuff that can prevent women from riding bikes....

I myself don't really do 'sports'. "Participating in a sport" sounds like way too much fuss and trouble to me.
I'm 55, and I bicycle, I snowshoe, I do vegetable gardening, I dance, and I fitness walk...all to stay active. I do all these things for fun and as a normal part of my lifestyle.
When it snows, I put on my snowshoes. When it's a beautiful day, I get on my bike and go for a bike ride. Or I go to the store on my bike and climb back up the killer hill to my house. I meet my friend for breakfast once a week and we typically go for a 4 mile brisk walk afterwards. I go to the local dance here in town once a month and I dance my head off for 3 1/2 hours. I hoe and weed in the garden.

I don't compete, and I do these fitness activities just as a part of my every day life. I don't think of them as sports, and therefore they don't require much special preparation and planning set aside. It's just my own mind set, but to me bicycling is just a part of my normal lifestyle, whereas I think of a 'sport' more as something special and separate from your normal day that you plan and set out to do.

Decades ago, average people and kids just rode their bikes and had fun doing it. People didn't think much about it. Nowadays I think the general non-biking public in America gets the idea that 'cycling' is something you have to have very specific skills and equipment in order to do. And you have to have Tour de France type outfits and do lots of Training too, preferably with a look of intense suffering on your face. LOL! The gear required is bewildering. That's what the average person sees when they see cyclists whizzing by. Looks too expensive, too complicated and looks like a lot of WORK.
Now I'm not saying there isn't an exacting real sport of cycling where serious athletes are competing in cool ways. There is!
But I am secretly convinced this whole concept of riding bicycles as being an exacting sport and no longer just a part of every day life is responsible for a lot of average women thinking that riding a bike is something too involved, competitive, expensive, and difficult. Men are slightly different, as in general men tend to be less afraid to take on a competitive activity, which is what they see in 'the sport of cycling'. And men also tend to not be scared off by having to buy expensive equipment. Sad but true.

My two cents as to why more women don't ride bikes.