Organizing a women's bike ride -- help me decide between two options!

[ny biker]

I almost know that area -- I checked it out online and thought I might do some riding there because my nephew recently moved to Maryland and was staying in a temporary rental not far off Edmonson in SW Baltimore. But he ended up finding a more permanent place to live south of the city in AA County.

This will probably not help you decide on a route, but I had an interesting experience last night. My LBS had a ladies' night, which they do monthly from spring through fall. There were a lot of women there, and we went around the room introducing ourselves and stating our favorite place to ride. Almost every one of them said her favorite place to ride was a local trail in the area. Some of them ride with their kids and others are just getting into cycling or getting back to it after years of raising kids, but I was still surprised at the lack of road riders.

It could be that a women's event at an LBS tends to attract more women who are less experienced cyclists, for a variety of reasons. So maybe the trail ride would be a good way to start, and then you could gauge interest in a future road ride. Though on the other hand, a 10-mile trail ride might only attract women who are not interested in road riding. I don't know.

[Crankin]

My club recently had a beginner's instructional ride. Not beginner, as in teaching how to actually ride, but, a review of shifting, signaling, cornering, etiquette. I was disappointed to see that the 10 mile ride they took at the conclusion of the clinic was on a trail. I guess this provides a service, but *none* of our club rides are on trails (we really have very few here) and i fear that some of these people may show up for our New Members ride, which is in 2 weeks. They would end up with the slower group, but still, I don't want to inflict a bunch of scared, unprepared for the road riders on my friends who are leading that group. I looked at the pictures that were posted, and it was mostly women, a couple I recognized from our Basic Bike Workshop a couple of weeks ago. I am glad the club did the clinic, but I would have preferred they teach road etiquette and skills on some of the quiet country roads that are in abundance around here!

[rebeccaC]

The cyclofemme rides are on mother’s day. A lot of the rides are about mom’s and their children celebrating the day, which is what it is here…..i wouldn’t want the ride here to be on a street. I assume you aren't doing that kind of a ride and have talked about that with the bike store and in promoting it. Besides honoring mom’s it’s also about empowering the future of women in cycling….hence the inclusion of info about riding classes for both children and adults in the ride here....and children luv the tattoo's too