Cycling is not the most diverse of sports (hurrah for Teniel Campbell and Biniam Girmay) so it probably won’t surprise you to learn that 80% of British Cycling members are male. That perhaps goes someway to explaining why BC set up the Breeze programme back in 2011 to inspire ordinary women to discover or rediscover the joy of riding bikes.
Breeze rides are fun, free and open to women of all abilities. They are designed to encourage women into cycling and offer them them support whilst they gain confidence on their bikes. And they seem to be working here in the Welland Valley. WVCC have been organising Breeze rides for over 2 years. So far we have had 315 participants on 92 rides – I’ll just point out that that’s not 315 different people, folk usually come on more than one ride!
We’ve had complete novices join our rides and a good number of them have gone from strength to strength, learning how to use gears, coping with hills, riding further and further. Some go on to get themselves road bikes, learn how to clip in, take on the “very steady” club ride and join WVCC
Interestingly, some riders are already members of the club who maybe lack the confidence to ride on their own, or don’t feel they can keep up with their partners or just want to ride at a more gentle pace.
We have a good number of women who rode already but were looking for groups with whom they could ride more. It saddens me to learn that the majority of women are scared to cycle on their own but it’s great that they have been able to ride together regularly and join other cycling groups such as the U3A and Market Harborough Summer Cycling who do such a good job locally.
I find it all very encouraging and I hope that the WVCC membership does too. If you know folk who you think might like to get involved, please encourage them to visit the Let’s Ride website where they can find out about Breeze rides near them (and also other rides open to all). Let’s Ride – Homepage (letsride.co.uk)
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