Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel...the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood. Susan B. Anthony
Don't be afraid of going fast and getting hurt. (You can always wear black stockings to cover up the scars!) You just have to forget what your parents taught you--stuff like being careful, looking good and catching the best man available. Marla Streb
A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle. Gloria Steinem
She who succeeds in gaining the mastery of the bicycle will gain the mastery of life. - Frances E. Willard, How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle
Women and biking
oh yes. cycling has been such an empowering experience for me. it has given me a sense of comfort and ease with the wide stretches of the entire city and the world beyond that nothing else really could. I can ride through the city, free and fast (barring annoying stoplights that aren't on the right green pattern!), on my own power, across the GWB and into the relative quiet and green of the palisades, go sixty miles round trip with ease or a hundred with a little effort - all by myself, happy, fierce, strong. not to mention the freedom of the community of cyclists - a large and roving group that provides not only the easy social connection of a common interest but also safety in the unspoken creed of the lycra-clad: you see a solo cyclist on the side of the road, you ask if they need help.
ach I miss it so. (sidelined for the past six months by a major illness - but hoping to get out again as the weather turns sweet)
The sense of freedom is intoxicating. At the same time, you are able to meet people in a much more open and friendly way than you ever could travelling by car. On my travels by bike, I remember the most mundane moments as being special and revelatory.
I'm really happy to hear from other women in the club who feel the same way about cycling as I do--as an experience as well as exercise.
Sadly, the juvenile message board is a half century or more behind the rest of the world, and demonstrates it every time the subject of women comes up here. Rather than deal with this pernicious sexism (of both the troll and his trophies), I suggest we take this discussion offline.
All women in the club are invited to my apartment in Midtown for a cocktail party (or to an Irish pub if enough respond). Please respond to email address above. Likely days are Thursday or Monday after work, or an early Sunday evening, within the next couple of weeks.
Apologies to the three supportive men here, but this needs to be girls only.
"""pernicious sexism"" and other wholesale binary assumptions comprise the half-empty glass view in my opinion. After the usual brow-beating and obligatory responses to such a reply have already taken place, a little light hearted humor helps replenish the water bottle to at least half full."
I have noticed many women in the club with large butts. Why is that, and why doesn't all the cycling help whittle that down?
That's a funny thing, I've noticed some men in the club with fat heads.
How clever and witty of you to denigrate something beautiful about the glory of cycling, and not have the courage to post your name.
As the father of two young women who cycle, and the grandfather of three young girls who cycle I say:
All hail Jill and xxx, may she recover quickly, and enjoy cycling in good health!
Geo Carl Kaplan
News Flash!!!
Fat people can ride bikes!
If calories in are equal to or greater than calories burned they will continue to be fat.
They may get strong quads, reasonably efficient hearts and lungs from riding, but if they don't eat less than they burn, they will not loose weight. Even if they do centuries.
We live in a society of overabundance where we pay people to make us do physical labor, (personal trainers), and pay doctors to suck the fat out of our asses, (liposuction). Even the poor people are fat.
please don't respond to the troll. It only eggs him/her on. Their comments are meant to --- oh my -- provoke your shocked reaction. Sad trolls have no lives and nothing better to do than to try and incite people on message boards. Sad but true, and many message boards have folks just like that. Best thing you can do is pretend that the xxx troll does not exist by ignoring comments like that. DON'T FEED THE TROLL!
Rock on....
"...those fat bottomed girls, you make the rockin world go round
maybe he's Fast Freddie
"" All I wanna do is Bicycle, Bicycle, Bicycle
I want to ride my Bicycle, Bicycle, Bicycle""* Mercury, incarnate.
* gratuitous cycling content"
I want to ride bikes with a fat bottomed woman.
And, Jill, great quotes! Thank you for sharing. I esp. liked the Marla Streb quote.
; )
-CK
Former research scientist who analyzed her race results and discovered that the earlier in a race she crashed the higher she placed at the finish. Thus, she took to hurling herself at a tree before the race began to get the crash out of the way:
http://outside.away.com/outside/magazine/200007/200007marlastreb1.html
i've noticed a lot of men in the club with small bike pumps. why is that?
They have no need to compensate for anything. It's the guys with big pumps you have to watch out for!
It's not the size of the pump but the size tire it can inflate.
"I'm relatively new to the club, and haven't noticed this with other women, but have with myself. I've been working out daily for 30 years. When I ""just bike"" (when traing for a century or such), I ususally gain weight especially in the butt which is the place for most women. For me, biking is a great cardio workout but when it comes to toning; its weights, stair climbing, etc. that are more efficient. So depending on age and body type (our bodies are on the decline after age 30 or so), my experience is a more integrated cross training routine works best!"
Biking for most people is a weekend activity. Even if you bike commute, unless you have a long and strenuous commute, your major caloric expenditure on the bike will be on weekends.
Calories taken in during the week will not sit in the blood as sugar waiting to be burned– they'll get stored as fat.
On the bike, you burn primarily blood sugar, which you replenish by eating snacks. You don't start to burn body fat till you've put quite a dent in your available blood sugar. Vigorous riding is not great for fat burning, (ever notice the fat burning mode on exercise bikes at the gym is less intense?).
The gym burns fat better because most people who go to the gym go 2-3 times M-F and do something like running or cycling on the weekends. They're not trying to burn 5 days of fat storage off in a few hours on the bike on the weekend.
