Women's inclusion in cycling clubs
- Thread starter fair weather cyclist
- Start date
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Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
I can only speak from (good) experience of one club, and from a male perspective.
First of all, if she experienced "toxic masculinity" I'd say: Bad club. Don't go back and if you feel like it drop a note with an explanation of why not to the club sec.
Second, "just inviting female riders to the usual 50-60 miles weekend social rides (not easy if you are a beginner)". That's an indication that they are unwelcoming to beginners of either sex. Again I'd say bad club. Or at very best, inappropriate club for a beginner. It also sounds like a very small club if they only run one ride of one length and one pace.
I'd advise your wife to think carefully about what she wants from a club in terms of rides - and look for a club that advertises an appropriate rides at an appropriate pace.
Next I'd look over their website and any associated social media to try to get a feel for the culture of the club. For example do they have a published diversity & discrimination policy? Do they have an induction process to help new joiners to discuss their aims? Drop them an email to discuss before turning up.
Lastly I can say from my own experience that there are clubs (or at least one club of which I was a member) out there with a significant (although quite a small minority) female membership, and that run rides suitable for a wide range of abilities. Obviously I can only speak from a male experience and maybe their female membership would have been bigger if they had done some things (that didn't occur to me) differently.
First of all, if she experienced "toxic masculinity" I'd say: Bad club. Don't go back and if you feel like it drop a note with an explanation of why not to the club sec.
Second, "just inviting female riders to the usual 50-60 miles weekend social rides (not easy if you are a beginner)". That's an indication that they are unwelcoming to beginners of either sex. Again I'd say bad club. Or at very best, inappropriate club for a beginner. It also sounds like a very small club if they only run one ride of one length and one pace.
I'd advise your wife to think carefully about what she wants from a club in terms of rides - and look for a club that advertises an appropriate rides at an appropriate pace.
Next I'd look over their website and any associated social media to try to get a feel for the culture of the club. For example do they have a published diversity & discrimination policy? Do they have an induction process to help new joiners to discuss their aims? Drop them an email to discuss before turning up.
Lastly I can say from my own experience that there are clubs (or at least one club of which I was a member) out there with a significant (although quite a small minority) female membership, and that run rides suitable for a wide range of abilities. Obviously I can only speak from a male experience and maybe their female membership would have been bigger if they had done some things (that didn't occur to me) differently.
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Profpointy
Legendary Member
Whilst I only went along once, and that is no reflection on the group as they were very friendly and welcoming, my local CTC lot were great and seemed to have as many ladies as blokes, and a fair spread of ages, fitness, sportiness and included a few who looked like they'd toured round europe or further. It was advertised as "slow" or maybe "slow-medium" and they stuck to a steady pace and one or two less than athletic ladies on shopping bikes could keep up and were never made to feel they were holding the group up ... and there were people there of both sexes who could doubtless have rattled off twice the miles in half the time, but they didn't because that wasn't the planned nor advertised pace. The club did fast rides and hell-for-leather rides too, but they were advertised as such. Anyhow, a more friendly or inclusive group you couldn't hope to meet - so if your local CTC group are anything like this Bristol gang, give em a go
- Location
- Glasgow
The Glasgow Belles folded (I got sick, couldn't ride, no other takers for leading), but the Edinburgh Belles are still going strong, afaik.@fair weather cyclist - calling @Pat "5mph" and her 'Belles on Bikes': https://www.cyclinguk.org/project/belles-on-bikes
I'm guessing the group already exists
derrick
The Glue that binds us together.
- Location
- On the edge of London
We are all inclusive, plenty of women riding and racing in our club, The ladies organise a ladies only ride once a month, to attract more women. They have joined in the 200 mile challenges, and completed them. We have ladies on the committee. Club is rolling along nicely.
We ride as one.
We ride as one.
fair weather cyclist
Guest
I agree, from what my partner told me and from what I've read on the club facebook page, it didn't sound like they were very welcoming to beginners. Unfortunately, it is not a small club, I'd say it's got more than 100 members. They don't run only one ride, recently they've been running 3 rides every weekend:
- a gravel ride
- the A ride, 50-60 miles sometimes longer at 18-19mph
- the B ride, the one for beginners, same route so 50-60 miles but at 15-16mph
My partner joined the B ride once, could keep up ok in the first half but then obviously as a novice who had never done more than 35 miles, she was cooked. Her legs were fried for a couple of days and she was mortified because she couldn't keep up and felt guilty because the group had to wait for her on a few occasions (some of them didn't even wait and went their own way, which is also garbage).
Hasn't been out on the bike since but she's doing fine on the turbo trainer. I look forward to go out on a ride with her in the spring 😄
fair weather cyclist
Guest
Thanks, that's interesting. I'll let my partner know about the Edinburgh Belles.
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
Must have a different definition of "beginner" to me.
Just speaking personally I would be dropped before they got half a mile down the road. I've seen similar rides advertised by clubs near me and just written the clubs off as "not for the likes of me".
fair weather cyclist
Guest
I know, I've been cycling for a couple of years and I'd just quite manage to keep that pace for 50 miles.
Looking at my stats when I started, I was going at 13-14mph, that seems more beginner friendly
Looking at my stats when I started, I was going at 13-14mph, that seems more beginner friendly
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
Lower! Lower!
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
I met some guys from a local club on an Audax once. They were very keen for me to join and told me what a great club it was. I'm sure it was a great club but I looked at their website and the rides were all way too fast for me, so clearly not my kind of club. Nothing wrong with it, just not for me.
So why were they so keen for me to join? I think I figured it out ...They wanted my Audax points. Crafty buggers.
So why were they so keen for me to join? I think I figured it out ...They wanted my Audax points. Crafty buggers.
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
That's the BC funding for the non-membership rides co-led by "honorary ladies" that I posted about earlier. As it recruits from non-BC groups, I bet they count the women as "new/restarting cyclists" and it looks wonderful on paper for BC while practically doing little to rebalance existing BC clubs or increase numbers cycling.
On the speed thing: one ride might not mean a small club, but one that prefers to stick together or one that lacks enough volunteers to run more. And I believe ours plans for 10mph including short stops on most rides, as it is often 11 or 12 but can be 6 if you end up grinding across fen into headwinds.
matticus
Guru
Depends so much on the terrain. My club can do rides either pan-flat, or verging on Quite Hilly.
Must have a different definition of "beginner" to me.
Just speaking personally I would be dropped before they got half a mile down the road. I've seen similar rides advertised by clubs near me and just written the clubs off as "not for the likes of me".
Mr Trousers you must be able to average 12mph over mixed terrain to complete long audaxes in time. Unless you only ride pan-flat events? (I need more data Sir! ) 15mph in a bunch on the flat really isn't much different in power output.
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
Firstly, Audax UK uses a minimum speed of 10-12.5km/h for BPs, 15km/h for short BRs falling to 8⅓kph for long ones, and 12.5km/h for RMs, so the fastest minimum is less than 10mph so why "must be able to average 12mph"? https://audax.uk/about-audax/classifications/
Secondly, 15mph requires 68% more power than 12mph according to bikecalculator.com. I'd call that pretty different. As for "in a bunch" making it easier, I think it'd be 25% more power required even with perfect slipstreaming, and it wouldn't save that much because only a fool would ride in an unknown group without safe stopping distance in front of them (I definitely wouldn't, based on some of the awful cyclecraft I've seen from road clubs around here), plus that might not even be a gain because I think we don't know if DT rides audaxes alone or in small groups anyway.
