Friday, 2/24/06 at 5:10 PM
by Alameda Bicycle
by Alameda Bicycle
The Perfect Bike is Just the Beginning…
You've done it! You've found a bike that you love, that feels and looks great, and now you want to start riding. The community element of cycling is one of the biggest joys of the sport. It helps to instruct, foster lasting friendships, challenge and open the doors to exploration. However, unless you're very lucky, you won't find a ready-made network right outside your front door. A cycling community doesn't come to you, you'll need to be proactive.
We all have different stories of how we came to cycling, but the basic elements are the same: by riding, we met other women and started something more. Now the three of us ride together and work in a great bike shop. Some of the communities we share have evolved around us. Some, we discovered and share with others. The common thread is Alameda Bicycle — the store where we work.
Like Alameda Bicycle, your local bike shop is a primary resource for information on how to become involved with the cycling community. The store may have details about teams or organized clubs that they ride with or sponsor, web site information for riding groups in the area and they may offer classes on various aspects of cycling. If your shop doesn't have the resources you're looking for, don't give up. Try suggesting the programs and information that you'd like to see or start a group and ask for the shop's advice or support. Chances are they'd be stoked at the idea of getting involved. We became more involved with the women's cycling community through the shop and now teach a series of for-women/by-women seminars that provide the knowledge and skills everyone needs in order to ride confidently. There are additional community resources out there, including Internet sites and even other riders you meet on the road. Never be afraid to ask another cyclist where she rides. It might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
One thing is a given: you will eventually need to go to the shop for something. There are many benefits of using your bike shop as a primary resource, including the chance to interact with the employees. Most are involved in some type of riding and, if asked, will probably be happy to tell you all about it (the three of us can go on for hours). They can teach you about local cycling routes, and where to ride to get the best workouts, views and coffee. A visit to your bike store also lends support for local business, a major plus in the bike industry. Finally, getting more women involved with bike shops and the cycling community benefits everyone. Each day, the streets and trails see more and more women on bikes. If your local bike shop sees that you're a key part of its customer base, it will gear more of its offerings toward you and encourage manufacturers to develop products designed for women, which is great for all of us! Our presence in shops shows the cycling industry that we are part of the community, that we want to discover and develop it, and that we mean to stick around. The more we ride, the better it gets.
- Team Alameda: Sara Jarrell, Kelli Poindexter, Casey Larimore
We all have different stories of how we came to cycling, but the basic elements are the same: by riding, we met other women and started something more. Now the three of us ride together and work in a great bike shop. Some of the communities we share have evolved around us. Some, we discovered and share with others. The common thread is Alameda Bicycle — the store where we work.
Like Alameda Bicycle, your local bike shop is a primary resource for information on how to become involved with the cycling community. The store may have details about teams or organized clubs that they ride with or sponsor, web site information for riding groups in the area and they may offer classes on various aspects of cycling. If your shop doesn't have the resources you're looking for, don't give up. Try suggesting the programs and information that you'd like to see or start a group and ask for the shop's advice or support. Chances are they'd be stoked at the idea of getting involved. We became more involved with the women's cycling community through the shop and now teach a series of for-women/by-women seminars that provide the knowledge and skills everyone needs in order to ride confidently. There are additional community resources out there, including Internet sites and even other riders you meet on the road. Never be afraid to ask another cyclist where she rides. It might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
One thing is a given: you will eventually need to go to the shop for something. There are many benefits of using your bike shop as a primary resource, including the chance to interact with the employees. Most are involved in some type of riding and, if asked, will probably be happy to tell you all about it (the three of us can go on for hours). They can teach you about local cycling routes, and where to ride to get the best workouts, views and coffee. A visit to your bike store also lends support for local business, a major plus in the bike industry. Finally, getting more women involved with bike shops and the cycling community benefits everyone. Each day, the streets and trails see more and more women on bikes. If your local bike shop sees that you're a key part of its customer base, it will gear more of its offerings toward you and encourage manufacturers to develop products designed for women, which is great for all of us! Our presence in shops shows the cycling industry that we are part of the community, that we want to discover and develop it, and that we mean to stick around. The more we ride, the better it gets.
- Team Alameda: Sara Jarrell, Kelli Poindexter, Casey Larimore
Comments
Do you have tips on how to start a local riding club? I've got friends who ride, but we can't seem to get organized and we ride at different speeds. I want to try to expand our group for fun and so that we can have some people at each riding level.
Thanks,
Terry
Starting a riding club is a large endeavor. From my experience with helping to start Team Alameda (Alameda,CA), the club formed from one Saturday ride. Our ride captain committed to being at the meet point EVERY Saturday morning. A small group formed first and then after about a year we expanded to an official club with three ride options on Saturday mornings. It really takes one person to say "hey, I'll be there every time" and then be there. Our Saturday ride is also a "no drop ride". So there are regrouping spots, usually at the top of a hill. That way people with different riding speeds can ride together.
Hope that helps,
Kelli
Thanks Kat
Congratulations on your new bike! Sometimes bike comfort can be challenge, but don't be discouraged. Your saddle positioning is a good place to start. Without considering any pre-existing injuries, here's a couple of basics. Leg extension = the angle of your knee when your crank/pedal is in the position closest to the ground. You should have a 20-30 degree bend in your knee. You don't want a completely straight leg because this may cause strain and potential knee injury. Too bent and you'll feel scrunched up and lose power and efficiency in your pedal stroke. This must be balanced with your skill level. If you need to have both feet on the ground when you come to a stop to feel comfortable keep your saddle a little on the low side when you start. As you get more comfortable with the bike raise your saddle a bit to get the most out of your pedal stroke. I generally clip out of my pedals as I come to a stop, raise up off my saddle and then put one foot on the ground while my other foot remains clipped in. I can barely touch the ground with my toes when I'm sitting on my saddle (on my road bike). When riding on trails, cyclists will frequently adjust their saddle height depending on the terrain and whether they are ascending or descending a trail. Position your saddle so that your sit bones are on the top most cushioned part of the seat. If your sitting on the edge of the saddle, you'll get agonizing nerve pain. Having a saddle that is the appropriate width for your sit bones is also important. There's always a bootie break in period when your new to the bike or a saddle, but it's muscle soreness. Initially, you'll have some discomfort in the first 10-15 mins of your ride until those muscles toughin' up. The key is to keep getting back on the bike. Staying in your neighborhood until your comfortable is a good idea. Good luck and keep at it.
Kelli
Chris
Welcome to the dark side
-Kelli
Thank you,
Jenna
Congrats on your new bike! Can't wait to read an update on your riding. I have a suggestion on finding riding buddies in your neighborhood. I hope to share several thoughts here with you. We have a group of women who are now celebrating our 10th year of riding together. We have grown from groups of 2 and 4 to groups of 2, 3 all the way up to 16 for a ride. The women have frequently said.........This is just what I needed. I have been riding on my own and am glad to have found this group. We grow by word of mouth and at this time prefer not to advertise. We recently had a lady, "age 55", who said I am just listening because I can't ride w/ you younger folks. So we went around the table of about 9 folks and she learned that many were in their 40's and 2 others were also 55 years young!!!!! We started by imitating a group of women who organized weekend golf outings. One of the first women I spoke to was as eager or more eager than I to get this going and we called anyone we could think of and got names from friends who thought they knew someone who may want to bike with us. In fact if that friend DIDN'T bike, there were even friends of friends who joined us who DID WANT to bike. So I suggest you try several of the following: 1. Drive to the nearest bike shop and ask them for the best bike news pamphlet they havethat will list locat riding events and see if there is anything in there for you. 2. Talk to friends for the next 1-6 months and let them know you want to start a new rider bike group. When you have a few names go for coffee or happy hour and talk about what you want to do. 3. Try your first ride with 2 or 3 women and ride on some route you all agree on. 4. When you can ride 9 to 15 miles, sign up for an organized "fun ride" (it may be free or you may have to pay) and go see all the folks that ride. See if there are riders who you may feel compatable with. 5. IF these don't seem to work then maybe call a bike shop to come to your library, school, church etc. and advertize a women's bike event for 2 to 4 hours. The bike shop should be able to help you from there. (Our town just had one of those days and it was AWSOME.)Meet at this bike event and learn about bikes, bring information about biking in your "state" just to see what is out there. NOTE: If you are going to be 10-15 mile bikers then stick to that and you may bring in others who like your consistency. If you want to grow into more miles, then keep talking and riding and going to bike shops (somewhere)to ask and stay informed. 6. Keep reading THIS SITE. Tonight is my first read and I love the stories.
Good Luck Kat,
Joanna
Please read the above reply to KAT. As they say, "if you want it ....it will come
I would only add for you that we take the responsibilities to organize. We also got lucky that we have maintained 4-6 women who always want to ride. Terry, we have a roster of names (those who say they want to be included). We meet in/near Feb. each year. We bring a printed agenda with all weekend dates listed from March to October and have some sanctioned rides listed. We have folks talk and we fill in the empty weekend dates with rides they would like to do. By now we have some traditional routes that we like. We have a ride coordinator who volunteers at the Feb. meeting to be the RC (ride coordinator). This person puts out e-mails or makes the phone call(s) to let folks know the starting parking lot, starting time, destination and miles planned. This person also makes the call to ride or cancell the ride in case of ugly weather. A plus to this is that we integrate our rides with one or two local and public riding groups in our city. We had to endure the first few years of having the same one or two folks organize and lead the rides as RCs. Now we have 4 or 5 leaders and many traditional routes to choose from.
We welcome new riders but at this point have established some distances and speeds that our riders have elected to maintain. So we do let folks know that they may need to ride a bit before riding w/ our group on a regular basis. So far those who are motivated have been supported in their growth. NO RIDERS LEFT BEHIND. (Some also have started and decided that this is a pace that is too fast or too slow for them.)
Good Luck,
Joanna
I just bought a Giant Cyprus and love it. But something I didn't think about with a 'women's' bike - there is no cross bar for easy carrying down BART (SF Bay Area metro) stairs (as the elevators are out of service most of the time and there's lots of screaming if you get on the escalators).
Does anyone have any tips about easily carrying a women's bike up and down stairs?
Thanks!
I ride a 1999 HomeGrown Schwin 4 banger on moderate mountain terrain and I use a gel seat. It is wider and squishier and makes a difference on the bum. Am so excited that somone is making an effort to market to women in mountain biking. I ride with my husband and his friends and sometimes their wives or girlfriends. We ALL have secondhand bikes that have been modified to fit us. The question I have is about a web site that can give suggestions on the geometry of a good fit for a mountain bike for WOMEN. I have not given up my bike for a newer one because of the perfect fit and i have been looking for over a year!! My husband says i am outriding my bike, but each one I have tried fits so different than the one I have now. I'm 5'3" have 28" inseam and 16" waist. The smalls are scrunched and the meds are long armed. Please, please if anyone knows of a formula or site, post it. We just rode SnowShoe Mtn and my 2" of travel made it hard to handle on the DH. (I love DH & FreeRide. There is nothing like it; to clear your mind of all things "xept for falling". ) Thanks for the focus on women and i anticipate good things from Giant. r
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