Guest Post: Cyclofemme – a day of riding to unify the voice for women in cycling

This post was written by Sara Kazemi .
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One of the major issues in bicycling today is the disparity between the number of female to male bicycle riders. A 2011 article entitled,”Bicycling renaissance in North America” (pdf) found that, although the number of bicycle riders had increased in the span of two decades in the sample of nine large cities that were surveyed, this increase was predominantly seen in men aged 25-26, with the number of women bicycle riders staying relatively the same and the number of child riders decreasing.

Putting aside whatever reasons one might have for remaining sans bicycle, Sarai Snyder at Girl Bike Love has started a worldwide movement called CycloFemme to help get more women on bikes. The endeavor seeks to motivate more women to ride by providing them with a supportive social riding environment. Women around the world are starting their own CycloFemme rides and urging their friends to come join them on Sunday, May 13, 2012, which just so happens to be the day that commemorates the most special lady in everyone’s lives–Mother’s Day.

San Diego has their own ride with a meet-up time of 3:15 PM at Aztec Walk on San Diego State University campus. Although this ride is targeted towards women, everyone is welcome regardless of gender. Male participants are urged to bring along their sister, mother, aunt, daughter, wife, girlfriend, and/or any other female they may know in order to support her riding experience. The ride will be relatively short (~5 miles) and slow-paced as there will be a variety of ages and comfort-levels to accommodate. For more information about this local ride read my writeup or contact me at sarieses (at)gmail.com.