Blog
Webinar: Engaging Women in Bike Clubs
When Sandra Lupien first moved to Sonoma County, it seemed like nobody rode a bicycle. In the rural/suburban community, the number of transportation cyclists was far smaller than the dense urban centers of nearby Oakland and San Francisco. But Lupien quickly learned that biking is alive and well: In the evenings and on weekends, impressive crowds show up to participate in social and recreational rides.
As the outreach director for the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition (SCBC), Lupien discovered something else: Women are particularly engaged in her community. Though underrepresented nationally (taking just 24 percent of bike trips in 2009), women make up an impressive 46 percent of the SCBC membership.
How do you get more women riding in your local bike club? If you’re a League member, attend our next club leadership webinar — Engaging Women in Your Club — on Thursday at 8 p.m. Eastern to find out!
Our panelists on the webinar will include:
- Sandra Lupien, Outreach Director for the SCBC, who will discuss women’s participation in bicycling in Sonoma County, including membership demographics from the area’s largest bike club and SCBC’s “Biker Chicks” women’s rides program.
- Sara DeShong of the Austin Cycling Association, who will provide insight on the similarities and differences of the vast niches of women-only rides in Austin, as well as problem identification and solutions from the standpoint of local leaders in the cycling community.
- Sarai Snyder, founder of Girl Bike Love, who will share very specific details of how to address the issue of getting more women out to ride in groups based on her personal experience running a bicycle shop and changing the demographic of the rides and customer base from about 10 percent women to closer to 30 percent.
(Did you know the League is also co-hosting a National Women’s Bicycling Summit this September? Learn more here!)
Carolyn Szczepanski
Communications Director
Carolyn joined the League in March 2012, after two years at the Alliance for Biking & Walking. In addition to managing the League's blog, magazine and other communications, Carolyn organized the first National Women's Bicycling Summit and launched the League's newest program: Women Bike. Before she crossed over to advocacy, she was a professional journalist for nearly 10 years.
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July 10th, 2012 at 9:43 am
Great job ladies! Keep it up.
July 10th, 2012 at 10:54 am
[...] Webinar: Engaging Women in Bike Clubs [...]
July 10th, 2012 at 12:08 pm
Will this be archived? I will be at work during that time. Thanks!
July 10th, 2012 at 12:15 pm
One of the big things that has happened in our part of the world (Longmont, CO) is the advent of a women only bike event, the Venus de Miles. The event is in August and we have grown a bike club in our neighborhood that focuses on training for that event. Most of the women in our bike club are new bikers in their 40s and 50s. The Venus de Miles was instrumental in bringing new bikers in to our bike club.
July 10th, 2012 at 1:02 pm
Great! I’m from The Netherlands, lot’s of female cyclists there and the number is still growing!
We even have training groups in some cities, lot’s of women participating.
Started because women have a different approach then men and you also don’t always want to ride in the slipstream of men, you want to ride yourself!
On july 1st, a group of 30 women of these groups participated in the Maratona dles Dolomites, in Italy. A very tough ride, 138km, 4200 meters of difference in height. Great thing to do together!
Would love to ride in the USA (I have done so in Canada, but USA appeals so much!)
Are there many organised trips, long trips, holidays?
Keep up the good work!
Simone
July 10th, 2012 at 1:49 pm
@Sarah- Yep, it will be uploaded to our Club Corner by early next week!
July 12th, 2012 at 8:32 pm
Will this information be available in the future. I am in the process of setting up an all Women’s Bike Ride to meet monthly in my hometown and would love to have this information on hand. I wasn’t able to catch the Wiebnar but would like the opportunity to listen.
July 12th, 2012 at 9:51 pm
I missed this. Can you try to get notifications of these types of events out about a month in advance? I found out about it after it was held. Thanks!
July 13th, 2012 at 1:41 am
Saw this after the webinar happened. Glad to see you’ll be uploading the log.
July 13th, 2012 at 2:57 pm
[...] the Women’s Webinar! ShareWe had a great turnout and incredible discussion on the “Engaging Women in Bike Clubs” webinar last night. If you missed it live, don’t [...]