Should Women Take Over Biking? 

All opinions are mine and mine alone.

The Wheel of Fortune: Should Women Take Over Biking? 

Women cycling has come a long way. The two-wheeled invention brought about a paradigm shift to women’s standing in society. So much of the transportation system depended on men back then. Women can only go as far as their feet can take them. Beyond that, men had to take over and supervise, limiting the exploring liberties of women. 

But when bicycles came in, women took it upon themselves to turn the wheel of fortune in their favor. With women being able to progress by pedal, their mind-set started to evolve along with their clothing, until it became a norm for women to hop on and bike wherever they want to go without expecting grave consequences afterward.   

To say that women have succeeded in the past is an understatement. They’ve done so much more in changing belief systems across the globe with the help of bicycles. 

  Can Women Change the World Again?  

At present, bicycles are poised to have an impact in changing the accepted norm for transportation, the gas-guzzling motorized vehicles. To temper the harmful effects of increased carbon footprint, citizens of the world are turning to bicycles as the solution. The question now is, can women once again change the perception of the world for the better?   

The environmental and social impact of biking cannot be emphasized enough. Transportation is deemed as the most significant cause of traffic and air pollution. Biking to work or to your home or any other place you wish to arrive in, pollutant-free, is not as hard as you think. With the right bike-commuting conditioning and support systems like power meters, you’ll find your footing on a pedal in no time.   

Speaking of footing, women have been constantly at the frontline of the bicycle movement. If women are to play a role in pushing for bicycles as the primary mode of transport, then it’s time to do an inventory of today’s inspirational women cyclists. Meet some of the most progressive cyclists today who are breaking new ground and reinforcing the idea that anything is possible with the right push on the pedal.   

Claire Floret and the Donnons des Elles au Vélo Jour-1  

The 34-year-old French road-race cyclist Claire Floret, is a woman of action. Knowing full well the harsh exclusivity of Tour de France, an annual bicycle race for men, Floret took it upon herself to address this problem. She gathered like-minded female cyclists who were willing to go more than thousands of miles with her in exchange for the possibility of change.   

She formed the group Donnons des Elles au Vélo Jour-1, women-on-wheels activists whose sole purpose is to challenge the limiting mentality of the organizers of the tour. As part of their campaign for gender equality, members of the group have been following the 21-stage route of the Tour de France each year since 2015.  

Donnons des Elles au Velo Jour-1, which means “Let the girls ride the day before” in English, has been getting more and more international media coverage from the US, UK, Germany, and Spain.   

The group has been getting tremendous support from its own country as well. It is receiving generous sponsorship from companies, allowing them to stage a race alongside Tour de France each year and to prepare and train the team for the ultimate test.   

Thirteen members of the group go through the same route as Tour de France does, which lasts for 23 days and covers a 3,351-kilometer distance. Cycling news reports confirm that the formidable group of amateur cyclists has outraced the men one day in advance consistently each year. The group plans to continue with their cause, debunking the preconceived notion that only men are strong enough to complete the tour. 

  Fiona Kolbinger  

The 24-year-old cancer researcher Fiona Kolbinger recently became the first woman to win the self-supported bicycle race across Europe.. The race is one of the most gruesome tests of endurance and mental fortitude. The German cyclist came into the race as an amateur with no prior experience for self-supported cycling races or any type of bike race, for that matter. 

Previous winners of the competition, which started way back in 2013 and founded by an ultradistance cyclist, the late Mike Hall, have been men. The race has been mired in gruesome injuries sustained by competitors, temporarily relieved by fast-healing muscle tapes. Its level of difficulty is so high that only experienced ultraendurance cyclists can participate in it.   

But that all changed with the recent win of Fiona Kolbinger, who is a confirmed medical student of pediatric oncology in Heidelberg, Germany. It is her first-ever cycling competition and her first time to win. She reportedly trained with Björn Lenhard, 40, a renowned ultracyclist and the crowd favorite. He won the TransAtlantic Way in 2018, a cycle race in Ireland, and was expected to win this year’s race. But the odds favored Kolbinger instead.   

Kolbinger documented her 4,000-kilometer-cycling-race experience from Bulgaria to France. Each racer is expected to complete the course without any external assistance. Cyclists are expected to “take only what they can carry and consume only what they can find,” as explained in the race organizer’s website.  

Reports confirmed that she had slept only four hours during the allotted resting time but consistently dominated every cyclist on the track. She bested 263 ultracyclists: 40 were women, and 225 were men.