Why do I see fewer women cycling than men?

[Maye]

I do believe that child care is a big factor - it certainly had been for me. Even when we arranged child care, I always had more guilt around leaving the kid for the day to ride than my husband did.

I concur. Child care, another factor. I always feel guilty about leaving my husband taking care of our daughter which is in the terrible 2's phase.

[hebe]

I concur. Child care, another factor. I always feel guilty about leaving my husband taking care of our daughter which is in the terrible 2's phase.

I try so hard not to feel guilty about this. It's not actually asking them to babysit so much as ensuring that they participate in parenting after all. Plus, my dh enjoys the benefits of my cycling as much as I do so it's not exactly a selfish request.

I put a link onto my fb page about women and exercise - it's a study done by a mental health charity here women scared of outdoor exercise

+1 to all points above.

[shootingstar]

I also think that bike=machine=technical=male thing plays a role

I think this has alot of influence for women who don't want to cycle + the fear of looking dorky/out of shape against the young males in spandex.

I think it is also true for some men...who want to get back into shape and I know for certain some like bikes, because they are geeky-techy-mechanical guys.

How I try to explain to some about bikes..is to tell them, a bike is like a sewing machine. I meann hey, a sewing machine requires understanding it, how to use it, it is technical and sewing/tailoring well, does require logic, some technical details (and artistry abit). And I use sewing as something totally different metaphor, but has been traditional viewed as "women's stuff", but can be intimidating to people who don't like it/intimidated by the details.

[ACG]

I think time away from children is an issue.

In my immediate group, I'm the only mom. The other women don't have children and are at the age that they will not now.

As SO works, we hire sitter for 9 year old. Other kids are grown.

I will always miss a ride and put family first.

[Crankin]

My take is that women are just more fearful. And sometimes this becomes a reason to say "I can't." I know lots of people who say, "I couldn't do what you do."
As far as the kid thing goes, I'm not the best to ask. I didn't ride when my kids were small, but I was a group exercise instructor, in addition to having a full time job. I never felt guilty. My kids grew up seeing a mom being active.
And when a dad is with his kids, he is not babysitting. He's being a parent.
Where I live, the ratio of cyclists is pretty even in terms of gender. This has happened in the past 5 years

[redrhodie]

Where I live, the ratio of cyclists is pretty even in terms of gender. This has happened in the past 5 years

I agree. The lbs rides are split pretty even these days.

[climbergirl]

I'm going to throw out another vote for fear of the mechanical aspects: I used to be terrified to ride alone because OMG what if I had to change a tire? Or if something broke? Practice, and always carrying a cell phone, help a lot.

Also, yeah, the aggression/competitive thing.

[lph]

I struggled with a bad conscience too when my son was a baby and I wanted to get some exercise and he would scream for me as his dad took him... but I'm pretty sure that was hormones talking

Intellectually I had no trouble rationalizing that I needed to get out, he needed to get to know his dad, and his dad needed time alone with kid. We talked about it fairly early on and agreed that our expectations were shared parenting as default, which meant both parents at home, and ask if you want to do something alone. So we called it "babysitting", but that was whenever either parent had to care for baby alone, without the other one. (In reality I had to peel baby off me to do anything, but hey, we tried).

Wow. Now my son is 15, gruff-voiced and moustached, and just sat up later than my bedtime, dissecting computers with his dad Time flies.

[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.

[nuliajuk]

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!...

Interesting that you should mention fashion. I remember sitting in the infield of the velodrome between races years ago and mentioning to another female rider that I'd wandered into a high-end dress shop on my lunch hour and seen an $800 dress. I remarked that you could buy a pretty decent bike for $800 (this was in the 80s) and she laughed and told me I had my priorities straight. Many women who balk at paying more than $200 on a bike don't hesitate to spend that and much more on shoes and clothes that will be out of fashion within a year.
Find a maintenance class if possible - they are out there. When I bought my first "serious" bike as a teen in the late 70s, the bike shop I got it from offered a free maintenance class to anyone buying a new machine. Being young and dumb, I didn't know that it was supposed to be intimidating, so I took to it with enthusiasm and did my own overhauls for years. I'm eternally grateful to that shop (now long gone) for having offered that class, because even though now I don't do my own repairs much any more, I know enough about bikes to at least have an idea what's wrong before taking it to a shop. (Actually, modern bikes require a whole lot less maintenance than older ones, what with the sealed cartridge bearings everywhere.)

[Reesha]

Interesting that you should mention fashion. I remember sitting in the infield of the velodrome between races years ago and mentioning to another female rider that I'd wandered into a high-end dress shop on my lunch hour and seen an $800 dress. I remarked that you could buy a pretty decent bike for $800 (this was in the 80s) and she laughed and told me I had my priorities straight. Many women who balk at paying more than $200 on a bike don't hesitate to spend that and much more on shoes and clothes that will be out of fashion within a year.
Find a maintenance class if possible - they are out there. When I bought my first "serious" bike as a teen in the late 70s, the bike shop I got it from offered a free maintenance class to anyone buying a new machine. Being young and dumb, I didn't know that it was supposed to be intimidating, so I took to it with enthusiasm and did my own overhauls for years. I'm eternally grateful to that shop (now long gone) for having offered that class, because even though now I don't do my own repairs much any more, I know enough about bikes to at least have an idea what's wrong before taking it to a shop. (Actually, modern bikes require a whole lot less maintenance than older ones, what with the sealed cartridge bearings everywhere.)

I was with a friend at Tiffany's when she was preparing to get engaged and we were trying on rings and I couldn't stop thinking about how I'd spent more on each of my bikes than most of the rings we were trying on. It really cracked me up. I'm not sure I'd put that much money on my finger, but I'd put it between my legs!