In the past, I’ve shared brands and organizations in cycling by women before but have not highlighted others who are doing the hard work to decenter the privileged narratives in cycling. Who I’m sharing today in this post is not particularly IG influencer status with thousands of followers but they are influencing inclusivity and creating space for others to cycle, which is more than what IG influencers do anyways. I promised last week I would share them with you and would like to encouraging you to be open minded about the narratives below and diversify your following.
To be transparent, I’ve started to implement the practice of diversifying my feed to make sure that I am supporting variant size, WTF, and BIPOC’s either as influencers, writers, business owners, activists, athletes, or organizers by following them online and donating to those who are doing the educating and work to diversify the dialogue of representation and inclusivity in cycling of those marginalized by the media and overall community.
While I know I’ve shared a few names on this list in the past, I want to pass the torch to those who are currently expanding the inclusivity narrative by their work and could use our financial support and reshares.
I also wanted to share a bike panel around Intersectional Feminism and Biking for a discussion about breaking down barriers to inclusion for female-identified and gender non-conforming people in the world of biking.
A few of the panelist here are mentioned below and are doing great things in their community to expand inclusivity in cycling, a lesson we can all learn from.
Binky is the owner and founder of Hard Knox Bikes, a specialty bike shop offering hands-on workshops for the not-so-average rider. Services and resources support all those who identify as women, people of color, trans and all other gender rebels and allies throughout the East Bay. HKB’s goal is to help provide equity through representation within the bicycling industry and inspire others to reach out and educated themselves about their bicycles. Offering resources and access to bike mechanic information, materials and hands-on instruction for women, people of color and gender rebels.
Emilytricia is a core organizing member of Bicis del Pueblo (a project of PODER) and a founding member of the Nothin Nice Collective, a grassroots organization that holds space for and empowers the QTPOC community in the Bay Area. Emilytricia is a winner of QBP Women’s Bike Mechanic Scholarship 2018 and has spoken on panels on intersectional feminism, cycling, bike equity, and her experience in the last 5 years navigating cycling spaces as a queer young poor Xicana dedicated professionally towards Bike and Recreational Equity.
Marley is a fat activist and body positive bike rider. As a Seattle based environmental manager, bike advocate and women’s ride leader, she also co writes a blog called, Life On Two Wheels. She’s the person behind the With These Thighs stickers and hashtag, and she refuses to let our image-conscious culture interfere with the love of riding bikes. She doesn’t ride bikes to lose weight and loves helping people find a bike that works for their needs and shares her journey to encourage other cyclists of variant sizes to try cycling.
“It is about creating empathy and connecting people with their own bodies. A big part of this work is done by people in thin bodies who need to create space for body size diversity. Folks are invited to explore the connections between the experience of a bikers body and the activity of adventure cycling. Covering gear basics for larger bodies and related tips and tricks.” Marley also has co facilitated WTF Bikexplorers sessions on how to build a size diverse community of adventure cyclists by examining a few outdoor adventure groups that work to create space for fat people to recreate.
Read her article “Biking while fat: 4 things I wish I had known when I started riding“.
Blogger, author, activist, presenter, VéloCityGirl, focuses on different aspects of cycling, including cycle-style, adventures on two wheels, and how to widen inclusivity in cycling. Jool’s blog and social media presence has inspired women and young girls around the world to get on the saddle and ride. Leading UK publication BikeBiz named me as one of the most influential women in the UK cycling industry. US publication Bicycling Magazine listed me amongst their 107 Cycling Digital Superstars in the world to follow.
Jools is a voice in the UK about cycling culture, representation and inclusvity, and what it’s like to be a woman of color in that domain on platforms as varied as BBC Newsnight, the Design Museum, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 6, and Southbank Centre’s WOW Festival. Her first book ‘Back In The Frame’ tells the story of how she I fell in love with all things bike and her journey into cycling, was published by Little, Brown on 23 May 2019.
I’ve done a review of the book recently and find it to be one of the most important in women’s cycling and inclusivity. You can order it here.
Courtney launched The Brown Bike Girl in 2016 with the goal of assisting existing and aspiring community stewards to expand their capacity to knock down the barriers between communities of color and their access and adoption of the life-changing machine known as the bicycle. Communities of color stand to gain the most benefits from cycling – From economic empowerment to health, mobility equity, and the simple joy that a bicycle ride can put into everyday life.
The Brown Bike Girl is available to help as a strategic partner, outreach specialist, project coordinator, or training facilitator in whatever capacity it takes to help facilitate the experiences, discussions, or education needed to get communities of color cycling. This work is so important and we can all learn from Courtney as cycling enthusiast and activist.
Jenni founded the London Bike Kitchen in 2012 – an education space that encourages people to fix and build their own bikes. The kitchen is a space you can drop in (there are mechanics on hand to answer questions), or book into classes and workshops. Jenni hails from San Diego and went to university at UC Berkeley (GO BEARS!) before traveling around Europe and settling in London. The LBK has also become a cycle hub for social events. Expanding their program, the Kitchen also hosts Women and Gender-Variant nights (WAG), a bi-weekly event designed to be a place where women and non binary folks can learn new skills, meet one another and share cycling experiences. If you’re a London resident and could use some skills and other nice bike things, join their Friends With LBK Benefits program.
Jenni also wrote the book How To Build A Bike and is a co host to the Wheel Suckers Podcast (my fav!).
Río was born x raised in Echo Park and has Central American roots. Río is People for Mobility Justice’s Building Power Director. As a Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) family they seed critical consciousness around Mobility Justice in all communities to ensure that everyone can move in public spaces with love and dignity. Since 2002 Río has worked across all of California and the nation on issues of mobility justice, transportation equity, food justice, healing justice, land liberation, resisting displacement and much more. Río has also participated with WTF Bikexplorers Summit 2019 and use their framework to teach how to build bike community to examine how we can honor ourselves while acknowledging and supporting gender inclusive spaces.
You can follow Rios work through PFMJ, donate or hire for consultation in active transit.
I’ve shared her story before but she’s busy creating more spaces for expanding inclusivity. Molly Sugar is currently combining her love for cycling and design at Ride with GPS in Portland, Oregon. In her free time she is organizing and creating Friends on Bikes, a cycling group that aims to promote more diversity in cycling for BIPOC, women, trans and gender non-conforming people of color. She is also the co-founder of WTF Bikexplorers, a summit and ride series supporting, celebrating, and connecting women, trans, femme and non-binary cyclists who use their bicycles to explore. Her feed is full of adventures, friends, and inspiration to get you stoked about bikepacking from Canada to Mexico!
In an interview, Molly shares “What can we do to be more inclusive within the bikepacking community?”
“I also strongly believe that the first step is action, and words are meaningless without action. If no actions are taken then we won’t see any change! So take a read on what we can do to be better:
WTF Bikexplorers accepts monthly donations to help organize rides and summits.
Mary Ann Thomas
Mary Ann is a brown queer travel writer who biked across the United States and Canada in 2014. She rode over 6600 miles on a trip planned solo. When she finished biking, she completely rearranged life, moved to Alaska, and prioritized travel and writing. In 2017, she bicycled from the high mountains of the Himalayas to the tip of India, and then to Kerala, where Mary Ann’s parents are from. She tells stories along the way, often through intimate postcards sent to friends thousands of miles away. Here, you can find Mary Ann’s writing on the blog, Postcards From Mat.
Nicole Villegas
Nicole organizes an annual WTF bike camping event (@v3pdx) and loves the energy of biking en masse. Last year, she completed the Oregon Outback bikepacking route with her partner and super cute puppy. At this years WTF Bikexplorer’s summit, Nicole led a session on sharing her experience of ongoing healing, from having trauma-related anxiety and asthma attacks on 10 mile bike rides to completing a bikepacking trip across Oregon. Nicole teaches harnessing your strengths to challenge the stress response. How biking can support healing and resiliency. Ways to Show Up for yourself, and others, while biking. Nicole believes that bikes & community have the power to heal.
Often voices of patients with mental health challenges in cycling are stigmatized. Nicole Villegas’ clinical practice promotes social justice and mental wellness through cycling adventure.
Patrica McNeal
Patricia biked across America five years after surviving a stroke and founded the nonprofit Heels on Wheels, with a mission to inspire other women to take up cycling. The 2,200-mile pedal-powered adventure she took was a learning experience, she didn’t start cycling until she was 51! She didn’t even know how to change a flat tire when she set off on her solo ride—luckily, she didn’t get any flats along the way. Still, McNeal decided to tackle the long haul as a way to prove a point to herself and others. “I wanted to show women, and African American women in particular, what they can do,” she says.
Patricia’s story is incredibly amazing and I strongly encourage you to read the Outside article “How This Grandma Became a Cross-Country Cyclist“. It doesn’t capture the full story of Patricia’s journey into cycling but she is making real change not just for herself but for others in her community too.
Yewande Adesida
Yewande is a self-described “up-and-coming amateur” track racer who hails from London. A former competitive rower, she graduated from university two years ago, and is currently seeking her PhD. She’s quickly moved up in the British amateur category system and has racked up some solid results. SRAM road brand manager Kate Powlison. Powlison says she was looking for people of color who would be a good fit for a project, and prominent cycling athlete and “Representation Matters”activist Ayesha McGowan put her in touch with Adesida, as well as Marty Merritt, whose images appeared a the marketing campaign.
“More riders from Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds in the UK seem to be taking up cycling. Yet most cycling clubs, even in racially diverse London, are still very white. The same appears to be true of how cycling is portrayed at national level, including cycling media and brands.” according to Yewande. Yewande appears on various cycling marketing campaigns and has participated on a Diversity In Cycling panel in the UK sharing her experience into cycling to encourage and empower younger BAME identifying folks to get involved.
I know this list doesn’t capture all the great folks out there who are doing work in representation and inclusivity but this is a start to help you diversify your feed and support in this space.