Sturdy Girl Cycling

Along the first day of riding with the Bike Club of Philadelphia, we met a lot of bike enthusiasts (as one might imagine). One of which was Dana Hanchin who had an especially noteworthy recreational pursuit. Dana is the co-founder of Sturdy Girl Cycling, a Philadelphia based organization dedicated to fostering the participation of women in cycling.
















Dana described the Sturdy Girl group as a grassroots effort to eliminate the fear, embrace the power, and love the bike. The focus of the group is to gear (pun intended) this mentality toward women (although rides and activities are open to all genders). This struck me as particularly interesting because all too often I see areas such as sports, business, music and other social scenes utterly manhandled, by... well, men.

Through my involvement in music and touring, I've come across areas where the female population has eventually said "ENOUGH!" and this spurred effort and activity to balance the scales a little better through organization. In order to have social awareness infused into an activty that is, at least in theory, open to anyone, you need to create an environment where anyone feels welcome. All too often, this is not the case. In my experience, cycling groups can tend to be pariculary clique-y. When an "open" activity becomes overrun by a particular "type" of person (i.e. men, hipsters, tall people, etc...), this can create an atmosphere where others who don't fit that mold feel excluded or ostracized if they try to participate. Sometimes this alieneation can even be less covert and more directly applied. So, I appreciate the fact that Dana is part of a group that is out to create a comfortable environment for women to get into cycling without having to worry about being scoffed at by testosterone driven adrenaline junkies (but we're not all like that! I swear!).

Out of the 15-20 people involved in the Philly to New York ride through the BCP, Dana was one of 2 women. Despite being "outnumbered," she was centainly not "outgunned," spending 90% of the ride leading the pack. Which should by no means intimidate beginners from checking out Sturdy Girl Cycling. Currently, there are 60 women involved locally and a 9 woman racing team. There is also loose talk of starting a Sturdy Girl branch in the mid-west, where Dana's sister lives.

Anyone interested (regardless of gender or ability level) should check out the website for weekly ride and event information:

www.SturdyGirlCycling.com