OPINION
Women make the industry more powerful
By Laura Laker
I don’t think people understand how much fun they can have on a bike until they get on it”. Naomi Rumble is one of
ten women with their names on hire bikes in London - and this is how her club, Together We Ride, gets people cycling who might I joined Naomi and seven other women
as Transport for London staff unveiled the ten public hire bikes (aka ‘Boris Bikes’ or Santander Cycles) named after these ‘unsung heroes’. Two women were unable to attend, one having been born in the 1800s, the other being on holiday. They have variously empowered other women to cycle by leadership, encouragement, storytelling and Naomi told me as we stood beside the sunlit Lea Valley
Velodrome in east London: “It’s all about increasing diversity in cycling. Those that maybe never would have thought of getting on a bike, we say, ‘just get on a bike, join. We’ll explore The rides are open to anyone and range from entry-level to
more than 100 miles, and the formula clearly works: their club on Strava has more than 600 members. Naomi herself started cycling through the club. At the time, with her hybrid bike, she struggled to find suitable cycling groups - until spotting
PHOTO BY SHARAD SREENIVAS ON UNSPLASH
Together We Ride online. As a Black woman, seeing other Black women in the club encouraged her and now, as director, she is that representation It is a hard reality that cycling needs more
women. For every cycling trip a woman makes in England*, a man makes between two and three. For every mile cycled by
women, men cycle four to five (depending on age). To state the obvious, fewer women cycling means fewer people buying goods and
services from the industry. It means fewer sales. There are a number of reasons for this difference and, happily, a few solutions. Women are less tolerant of
dangerous roads than men. They are also subject to dangers men don’t experience to the same extent, and are often unaware of. Research by the London Cycling Campaign’s Women’s Network found 24% of the city’s cycle network felt unsafe for women because it uses isolated paths where a hidden attacker might lurk. The choice is often to cycle on a busy road or not to cycle at all. We know which one women choose: a third give up cycling in winter. Whether someone chooses to cycle or not depends on
more than just bike lanes, though. Grassroots groups and role models help by encouraging new riders, showing them the quiet or traffic-free routes, what to wear, and how to tackle Samra Said is CEO of Cycle Sisters, a Muslim women’s cycle
club. They run lessons, group rides and help build people’s confidence. They also bring new people into the industry. So far, they have trained more than 130 women as British Cycling- accredited volunteer Ride Leaders and 24 women as qualified National Standards instructors. They have more than 2,100 members across nine London boroughs - showcasing cycling Samra adds, people want to cycle; they just need the right
opportunities. “We often hear the phrase ‘hard to reach,’ but we strongly disagree with that idea. People themselves aren’t hard to reach as it’s more about the way organisations try to connect with them and whether the opportunities being offered truly meet their needs.”
www.bikebiz.com April 2026 | 37
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