It’s been a good solid 10 years of bikes, radical feminist rants, and adventures here on City Girl Rides. While this may not be the end of a decade for CGR, I have been working on something new and ground shaking to cycling but before I share that. I’d like to share a bit about CGR’s origins and how it got me to this new project.
My Story As A Women’s Cycling Advocacy Blogger
To share a bit about my story as a blogger, or what we now call “influencer”, here is how I got this point as an influencer. I started in this very tiny niche with a very modest loyal following long before Instagram or Pinterest. When I started out, I knew there was a lack of resources, products, and female representation in cycling. I tried joining forums, went to bike shops to ask questions and for guidance but the bikesplaining was a huge problem for me and left me feeling unwelcomed and angry, so I decided to DIY and figure things out on my own and when I did, I figured that there were a lot of women who could really benefit from my experiences, finds, and tips. Surprisingly, a lot of women engaged with my cycling content and expressed similar views and experiences. As a result, I labeled myself as a women’s cycling lifestyle blogger because to build a women’s community where our representation was invisible. With that I decided that CGR would provide a safe space for women to engage their adventures, thoughts, stories, and gear recommendations.
As my community grew, we were able to help each other cycle safely, more confidently, find the right panniers, bike to work clothes, connect with our local communities, and recommend cute and functional helmets to cycle with. Our experiences where authentic, educated, and actually very helpful. For many cycling bloggers that started out in the early 2000’s, these were the glory days of cycling lifestyle blog communities.
Today, the media and industry is saturated with products that are designed for women to cycle to work and exercise with. However, there still is a lack of knowledge behind real life representation behind the product. What is often portrayed lacks the story of the everyday woman who cycles. In my college days, I presented a research analysis in cycling participation of women and found that road safety perceptions, lack of experience and representation is what really holds many women back from adopting a lifestyle on two wheels. Women have to see it to be it and know they are safe from cars and street harassment. With so many women’s led brands and groups propping up to provide a community, a voice, and solution for women, the landscape for changing representation in cycling with their influence is an opportunity wide open for women to dominate the industry.
The only problem is that the industry is still saturated with white representation.
Through this new project, I wanted to take a different approach to how we celebrate our spaces and the places we cycle. When the history of women’s cycling is pushed to the edges of the field, this has an impact well beyond the boundary line. But by only telling half the story and not celebrating the rich diversity and vibrancy of the history of BIPOC and WTF folks in cycling, we reinforce broader inequality in the community. When we tell our stories, all the depth and complexity and beauty breaks down the barriers that we have long endured to participate.
Creating safe spaces and supportive environments where WTF and BIPOC folks can speak on cycling, has the potential to translate to making things better on performance, participation, and representation. Cycling has an endless array of purposes to inspire, engage, motivate, and transcend.
My hope is that through this project, our cycling narratives will continue to provide visibility and create space where social change can become a core purpose. Opening safe spaces would represent positive change. I see this trend emerging through grassroots organizations led by Black, Indigenous, People of Color, disabled, LGBTQIA+, undocumented, houseless, youth, and elderly folks in cycling. We/they do so because it is how many of us hold ourselves with dignity by speaking truth in a space that ignores us.
So with that, I’d like to introduce you to Cyclista Zine. We are the intersectional radical feminist response to the cycling industry. A media zine focused on sharing knowledge, art, and stories of BIPOC and FTW folks in cycling. While this is very much a DIY effort like the early days of CGR, this is a much more grassroots movement to really shake the industry up. We aren’t a magazine selling merch, we don’t sell mainstream bike culture, we don’t feature white men, we say fuck the patriarchy, we riot and advocate for BIPOC representation. Say goodbye to the medieval days of cycling. We are going to dismantle the shit out of it.
Please visit the website cyclistazine.com and read the Cyclista Zine Manifesto for more about what we are and our goals. This is a self supported and DIY project. We are radical so if you feel compelled to support us, please visit our Patreon and check out our merch.
Without many more words, I’d like to say thank you to our long time followers and fans. This website will still be publicly available and I’m sure I’ll return to blogging at some point. Otherwise, you can find me over at @citygirlrides on Instagram along with @cyclista_zine.
See you on the Internet!