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York bike belles @wacc2016
- 1. Cycling communities for women
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Editor's Notes
- Sheridan Hello!.In the next 6 minutes, a few of the York Bike Belles Team, myself Sheridan, Jo, Alice and Helena will take you on a whistle stop tour of York Bike Belles – York’s thriving cycling community for women. This image is from the Spring of 2014, when York hosted the start of the second stage of the Tour de France. This is still, for many, the representative image of “cycling”
- Sheridan Also, in Spring 2014, York saw the launch of York Bike Belles. Delivered by Sustrans and funded by City of York Council, it’s aim was to increase the numbers of women cycling across the city of York.
- Sheridan York Bike Belles kicked off with an online survey, new facebook and twitter streams, help from partners, and a small group of women meeting regularly for chat in pubs around York. By the summer of 2014, we were in full swing with a programme of motivational communications and confidence-building activities
- Sheridan Fast forward to 2016 and the impact has been astonishing. Over 3000 women have attended activities, many thousands more engaged with us online, 75% of participants have increased their level of activity. And most self-reported increased confidence and well-being. And the community is still growing!
- Jo So, what have been the secret ingredients to creating our community? First off - champions You’ll hear from Helena (pictured) later. In a nutshell, champions are at the heart of the community. They help spread the word, with activities, lead rides. support new cyclists and now are forming the management committee for York Bike Belles new community group.
- Jo Secondly, an important focus is new cyclist support We do this with a combination of cycle training, buddying, bike tryouts and loans of bikes and child-carrying equipment. Here, we have capture that amazing moment when someone learns to ride a bike again!
- Jo Next - inspiring communications are key to keeping our community engaging with large numbers of women, especially our Facebook page where we have daily conversations. We mix it up! Events, local and national articles, motivational and random postings. This post about a simple bicycle vase encouraged women to tag their friends and reached over 1.5k people
- Jo (Jo’s own words – why did you choose this?) It was shared numerous times and reached 2.5k people in a few days!
- Helena Other key ingredient to York Bike Belles is the friendships it creates All our activities bring women together in supportive, relaxed environments with plenty of opportunities for getting to know each other. This is a weekend ride to a café in the countryside just outside of York.
- Helena’s own words… This is an evening social ride to a lovely country pub for food and chat!
- Helena Another key is that all our activities are fun. We look at what will appeal to women, what’s happening in the community, and then add on riding our bikes! This is the, now annual, Illuminate Your Bike Ride where we decorate our bikes with lights and cycle round the Illuminate York festival. Last year , we were told we were the best installation there!
- Helena New this year was York’s first ever Spooky Cycle Tour of York, delivered with Mad Alice, York’s most famous Ghost Walk guide. She made a Spooky hat for the occasion, specially to fit over her cycle helmet.
- Alice Regular Bike Maintenance workshops are also key. We work with bike shops and ensure workshops are run by women iif possible, in a friendly, skills-sharing atmosphere. Oh, and we also offer cheese and wine, and sometimes, tapas
- Alice Social Rides Monthly Social Rides are a popular feature. They are supportive and sociable great for introducing new members to the best routes and pubs around town.
- Sheridan Another key feature is accessibility– we make sure all our activities are suitable for all ages and abilities. We have recently introduced a #travelwithtots roadshow with tryouts and loans of child-carrying equipment which has been immensely popular.
- Sheridan We choose times, routes carefully and make sure all our rides go at a steady pace with plenty of stops and, of course, café breaks. To make sure that they are accessible for most people.
- Sheridan It has been striking how the friendly, equitable and accessible nature of our community has attracted a wide range of people. We say that we target women because of their under-representation in cycling, but that everyone is welcome.
- Sheridan Men often complain about not having a dedicated group for them – our response is always the same – come along! This was our “Pedal to the Earth” Ride for climate change.
- Sheridan Finally, if you’re wondering if you could start your own women’s cycling community, the answer is yes! We’ve been there, done it, it works and it makes a real difference., not just to women but to the communities around them.
- Sheridan Final slide - we’re around all day or on the Bike Belles stall if you’d like to come and talk to us. Or check us out on Facebook. That’s all from us. It’s a privilege to be here. Thanks for listening.