[No1InParticular]

Also, about the rentals… Some shops will let you have the price of the rental off of the purchase of the bike if you’re really nice to them about it. So it’s definitely worth it to give ’em a try for at least a few hours.

[No1InParticular]

I think the crux of the issue is this – if you don’t enjoy or care about cycling as a sport and an industry enough to want other people to experience it, then by all means, be as sexist as you want, that’s your prerogative; and while you’re at it, perhaps you may as well just quit. But if you want to get the best and the most out of cycling as a whole, and you want the sport to grow and flourish, then you need to start thinking more about how you yourself are representing it, both out on the trails and in places like this.

[No1InParticular]

I understand you aren’t trying to discriminate in any way, but in your own argument you also aren’t making the sport any more of a welcoming place for women by saying things like “the reason women do not excel at physical sports is due to genetics,” implying that women are bound to be genetically inferior when it comes to cycling. Again, I don’t think you mean to be making this implication, but for new female cyclists the implication is there, and rhetoric in this vein amounts to a huge amount of social pressure just from this discussion, let alone the constant advertising campaigns amounting to the same thing.

I’d be interested to hear what the women you cycle with have to say on the matter, but for some reason there don’t seem to be many here chiming in…

 

[No1InParticular]

Neat idea, but I think I’ll still opt for my novelty horns – I find them a lot more fun, especially during races.

[No1InParticular]

 

This is my 1997 Haro Escape, Bessie. Been through a lot, but tons of fun, can’t wait to take it out again.

[No1InParticular]

I’ve been on a brief trail build (basically replacing one that had long since disappeared under brush) and I have to say that was a lot of fun, and awesome to have that kind of effect on a trail system, but going out just to do work feels like a different story. That said, I’m a huge proponent of the post-storm leisurely clean-up rides that my local group does, though I can see how a dedicated day of work without bikes could be more effective.

[No1InParticular]

I agree with Chris 1 million percent – quantity based contests have some serious negative potential. I happened to get lucky and was just starting to increase my contributions recently when I saw this contest, which basically means that all of the things I haven’t reviewed for the past few years I’m getting a chance to now – I don’t know that that’s entirely fair, but I suppose the contest is a great way to get a lot of people contributing who normally wouldn’t. I suppose we’ll see if it was all worth it in about a week once the dust settles.

[No1InParticular]

Question for you moderator folks… Is CX deemed acceptable?

[No1InParticular]

I think you bring up a good point musikron. There’s definitely a dichotomy at work here in that the issue may not present itself in certain communities. I know that my community seems pretty friendly to female cyclists as well; they actually make up a huge part of the active cycling population. But there’s a difference between local and industry-inherent sexism, and the industry itself has definitely suffered with sexism in the past if not also the present. Your local community may be very welcoming to women, but others may not be, and therein lies the problem. The struggle is not to help just your community, but to make cycling an inherently welcoming sport rather than the inherently sexist sport that some people see it as. The first step to being welcoming in this case would be in communities like Singletracks and broader, more globally accessible media than simply meeting people on the trail, and your comments seeming to imply that the reason some women aren’t or shouldn’t cycle is “purely genetic” doesn’t make a good first impression. That may not have been your intention, but it does happen, and nowadays online resources are often the first line of contact for potential new riders.

[No1InParticular]

Perhaps I didn’t make this clear enough in the original article, but the point is not to dispute whether or not sexism exists. I think most reasonable individuals understand that sexism does exist in both directions depending upon the environment and situation. What I think is the bigger issue, regardless of whether or not women are more or less capable than men, is that no one should ever feel so intimidated by the sport that the fear overrides the enjoyment they derive from it. That’s a good way to kill a sport. For instance, just because you might not have the abilities of Jaroslav Kulhavy or Ned Overend doesn’t mean that you should feel so unwelcome that you aren’t comfortable going for a ride on the weekend. The point that I think is encouraging is that in general, the broader cycling community appears to be very supportive and welcoming of new cyclists, regardless of gender, which is why I myself have gotten tired of the constant claims that cycling is an inherently sexist sport. I have to admit though, some of these comments are forcing me to reconsider my opinions.

All the same, thanks for the input. I think it is a complex issue that isn’t going to be solved overnight, but I’m optimistic.

[Author]

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