The new breed of cycling clubs: ‘A lot of what we’ve seen around activism and campaign work was very male, pale and stale’
“Let me tell you what I think of bicycling,” Susan B Anthony wrote in 1896. “It has done more to emancipate women than any one thing in the world.” The famed American civil rights leader was referencing the use of the bicycle — then called the ‘Freedom Machine’ — as a democratic device for good, spurring on societal change and even aiding the suffragette movement.
n today’s world, however, the bicycle’s egalitarian roots have changed direction somewhat. For a start, the gender balance of cyclists is different, with far fewer women taking to their saddles these days than in Anthony’s time. And even though bicycle sales in Ireland soared by more than 30pc during the pandemic, recent research suggests only about a quarter of cyclists on Irish roads are female.
In a bid to encourage more women to the sport, Ireland is quickly developing a progressive and forward-thinking cycle culture, with an emphasis on female participation and safety, and dotted across the country are cycling clubs providing females with a new-found sense of freedom, safety, pleasure and independence on two wheels.
In Dublin, Monthly Cycles co-founder Joan O’Connell is gearing up for the group’s second meet-up of the year. With its roots planted firmly in feminism and activism, Monthly Cycles is a social-first cycling group that encourages women, non-binary and transgender members of the community to saddle up through informal, accessible and safe events. Cycling safety is paramount to the group, who, through group cycling events and awareness campaigns, share safe routes and safety tips.
Joan O’Connell from the cycling group Monthly Cycles, who meet up around Dublin. Photo: Steve Humphreys
“The main motivation behind the group was to encourage people to join us who might be nervous or might be considering cycling but don’t know where to start,” says O’Connell.
Monthly Cycles formed quite organically following what O’Connell describes as a gap in representation for female cyclists, especially when it came to cycle safety.
“A lot of what we’ve seen around activism and campaign work was from a single perspective and was very ‘male, pale and stale’, and we didn’t see ourselves represented in that group,” O’Connell says, adding that certain aspects of the female cycling experience — like the gendered nature of public spaces and whether a route was well-lit, for example — were not fully considered. “We wanted to make sure those aspects were taken into account,” she says.
You don’t need to be an avid cyclist — or a woman — to recognise the obvious dangers of cycling due to poor safety infrastructure and access to facilities, and the less-obvious dangers, like the stigma often associated with a gendered sport. In 2020, a study by a leading EU transport safety body showed Ireland had the highest rise in cycling deaths in the EU in a nine-year period. And in 2021, a total of seven people died while cycling on Irish roads. One solution in helping to create a safer cycling infrastructure, according to O’Connell, would be to create a solid network of interlinking cycle routes throughout Dublin city. She hopes Monthly Cycles will help cyclists discover alternative, safe and accessible routes — like those which are brightly lit for visibility and unobstructed.
“Unfortunately, part of the problem with the network of cycle routes is that these cycle paths aren’t all linked up, so it’s hard to get from one safe space to the next without encountering something a bit uncomfortable. Part of what we do is to show that there are ways to navigate the city and incorporate safer routes. We encourage people to sign up to our mailing list and we send out the details of the starting location and time. On the day, the organisers will introduce themselves and explain what to expect, and we will always emphasise that it’s very relaxed. It’s all about chats, cake and cuppas.”
A self-diagnosed leisure cyclist, I love discovering unfamiliar routes and quaint caffeine pit-stops. And with a little over €204m investment in facilities for bikes and walkers in 2021, it has never been easier to enjoy all 355km of Ireland’s breathtaking Greenway and Blueway routes — and the coffee and cake stops along the way, to boot.
For leisure cyclist and women’s officer for Connacht Cycling Stefanie Carr, breaking up a long cycling route is an integral way to encourage beginners of all fitness levels and abilities to join in. It’s a bleak winter’s day when we meet for a spin in Westport, Co Mayo, and I’m one of 40-plus female riders braving the elements for a women’s gravel bike event — one of the first in the area to be organised by Carr in conjunction with Connacht Cycling and Westport Covey Wheelers Cycling Club.
Yvonne Rogan from Westport Covey Wheelers Cycling Club at the women’s gravel bike event. Photo: Jake McCabe
She places riders into groups (I ride with the beginners) and wheel-by-wheel, swathes of beginners, novices and intermediate cyclists alike follow behind Carr along the Wild Atlantic Way. The prospect of a tea break is encouraging, but so too is the sense of camaraderie at the event, despite the -3C wind chill and battering headwinds. There are girls as young as 12, mature women who love to meet new like-minded people, and complete beginners — like me. We chat and pedal our way around a 30km course before a well-earned cake break.
Carr, who is relatively new to off-road cycling and first joined her local club, Galway Bay Cycling Club, in 2012, takes great pride in coordinating a new series of female-first off-road cycling events to inspire other women to get into gear. “For me, it’s all about the connections and just the freedom of it,” she says of the events. “Some people bought bikes during lockdown just to get headspace, and now we’re giving them a platform where they can cycle and chat, and it’s great craic.” She hopes to bring the series to Leitrim, Roscommon and Sligo next.
The fact that there are now more female-run events in the annual cycling calendar than before is evidence of the work that has been done to make the sport more accessible, more welcoming and safer for women. “When I started off cycling, the club structure was not there to support women joining them, in my experience,” Carr says. “Now clubs are appointing women’s officers [like me]. If you left our club seven or eight years ago and came back today, you wouldn’t recognise it.”
Women’s officer for Connacht Cycling Stefanie Carr. Photo: Jake McCabe
Carr’s advice for anyone wishing to take up cycling in 2022 — for leisure or competitively — but who is unsure where to start, is to link in with their local club, Sports Partnership, or Women on Wheels programmes, a female-only cycling initiative to improve cycling skills in a safe and enjoyable environment. “Reach out, because there are so many people like you out there. We’ve all been there.”
Events like those facilitated by Carr are an indispensable way for women in rural areas of Ireland to connect with one another. At the gravel bike event, I meet Edel Gallagher, whose life, she tells me, has been transformed by cycling. At 53, Gallagher, who is a leisure representative for the Cycling Ireland Leisure Commission, rekindled her love of cycling later in life — albeit by accident.
Edel Gallagher from Cycling Ireland Leisure Commission
At first, cycling was simply the mode of transport available at the time, when, during the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Castleconnor native would make the journey three times a week by bike to play football with Bonniconlon Ladies’ Football Club. It wasn’t until she was recovering from breast cancer in 2009 that the sport offered her respite from symptoms of her illness, transforming her mental and physical health in the process. “I had an awful lot of anxiety from my treatment. And when you’re going through treatments, you don’t realise how traumatising it can be afterwards. Cycling was like a social prescription for me,” she says.
A decorated athlete — she has completed several adventure races, including Sea2Summit and Gaelforce, and taken part in many marathons — Gallagher takes pride in being a leisure cyclist, enjoying weekly spins with her local Ballina Cycling Club, which, she says, provided her with additional support and encouragement during a difficult period in her life.
“I started off very basic and bought a bike and joined our local Ballina Cycling Club for support. I went out one morning and said, if I could do 20km, that would be great, and we did a 40km spin that morning. It’s addictive.
“It’s just unbelievable the amount of respect that you have for people and strangers that you meet along the way, and you have friendships for life.”
I find many similarities between my own and Gallagher’s experiences. It wasn’t long after I bought my bike (during lockdown, of course) that I found myself swapping weekend hangovers for 60km cycles along the coastline, daring myself to take the next mile faster than the last and willing my legs to work hard against the brutal west coast headwinds.
Safety and event support are cornerstones of Gallagher’s role as leisure representative. When I spoke to her, Irish pro cyclist Imogen Cotter had recently been involved in a horrendous accident while training in Spain. Cotter’s accident is a frightening reminder of the dangers of the sport — something Gallagher is hyper vigilant of. “Every time we go on the road, our life is at risk, and we take a huge chance, and the roads are so busy.
“The first thing I do if I bring a group out cycling is say to them, ‘You look in the driver’s eye, and if the driver hasn’t looked into your eyes, then the driver hasn’t seen you.’ You can’t be too careful on the road.”
If slow and steady isn’t your pace, however, you might consider joining a club that takes a more high-octane approach to cycling, like Mountain Bike Club Cork (MBCC). For 31-year-old champion mountain biker Laura Pratt, safety does, from time to time, take a back seat in favour of high-speed adrenaline. Although she’s a life-long cycling enthusiast, it was only three years ago when the Cork native discovered mountain biking and joined her local club, MBCC.
Champion mountain biker Laura Pratt
“I remember, at the beginning, I was very overwhelmed, because I just felt, ‘Oh my God, it’s so male-dominated,’” Laura recalls, noting the lack of female representation at the time. Having access to local and national clubs, as well as the support of other riders, she believes, is part of the solution to stamping out prejudice toward female riders from all disciplines.
“There’s not enough women doing this. But I’ve been very involved in trying to bring more women into the industry and to build up a network of women that are very like-minded, and the transformation I’ve seen over the last two years has been phenomenal.”
Mountain biking is historically a very male-dominated sport, and new research conducted in America from more than 20,000 riders estimates only two out of every 10 mountain bike riders are women. As well as being the female representative for both her club in Cork and in Munster, Pratt is also an Advocate for Women’s Cycling 2022, an initiative from Cycling Ireland’s Women in Sport campaign to promote the sport and encourage more women to get involved. For Pratt, this means breaking down the gender barriers that block women from entering the competitive world of mountain biking, as well as fostering a network of like-minded people. And similar to Anthony all those years ago, Pratt hopes to help more women to take their seats on the trails.
“Women in the sport are very supportive, and everybody wants you to do well. You share the same passion [for cycling] so everyone understands each other and you meet people from all walks of life. It brings a big circle of friends into your life, and it builds your confidence. It definitely has built my self-esteem hugely.
“I feel like the sky’s the limit and I’m just so happy that I’ve found the sport.”
https://www.independent.ie/life/the-new-breed-of-cycling-clubs-a-lot-of-what-weve-seen-around-activism-and-campaign-work-was-very-male-pale-and-stale-41403532.html The new breed of cycling clubs: ‘A lot of what we’ve seen around activism and campaign work was very male, pale and stale’