Recently in Women Category

My mum wants to get a bike and she wants me to help her find one. Now that's a lot more challenging than most requests I get for help with finding a bike.

Seriously struggling to come up with a range of ideas at a suitable price. Seems if you're small, female and looking for something simple and fun, then the market is pretty thin. Would love any help you readers can offer. Please comment and stick in links to anthing you

The first thing I've done is to break down the request to help narrow the options.

• Type of rider: Female, nearing retirement, about 1.50m (5ft) tall
• Reasons for cycling: Exercise, contemplating a cycling holiday next year
• Type of riding planned: Pottering about, nipping to the shops, exercise
• Expected riding surfaces: Canal towpaths, bridleways, road and path. Possibly some light woodland trails. Some areas can be hilly
• Weather conditions: All-year British

So taking that information, I'm trying to break it down into must-have and would-be-nice features.

Must have

• Step through frame
• Mudguards
• Wide gear range
• Low maintenance
• Rack
• Fun to ride
• Nice to look at
• Available from the range of bike shops within the Woking area

On the shortlist so far

Charge Lazy Susan - from Evans Cycles

Raleigh Ladies Pioneer Elite 1 - from Raleigh Bikes

Raleigh Oakland - from Evans Cycles

Dawes Street Elite 2010 Women's Hybrid Bike - from Evans Cycles

The big headline is Rapha for Women at last!

Obviously my first response is to make a list of the things I want.

The lightweight jersey in light blue would be nice if I'm doing the Etape this year (of course this means the moment I get one it'll be hellish weather).

It's got something of a classic Bianchi team jersey vibe going on and not being white gives it a bit more usability in my book.

I need a new gilet and I'm quite tempted by the new white one. Although I do really like the contrast stripe of the old one which feels a little bolder than the piping.

The full preview shows plenty of things that I WANT and expansion in the range that look interesting.

The city riding stuff is nice enough but doesn't turn my cranks. Perhaps I'm a bit binary about having bike mode and town mode. I like what they're doing but it doesn't grab me for riding around town. That said the pocket t-shirt may turn out to be an opportune purchase at some point.

Would love to hear what you guys think of the new stuff. Any standout items, any duffers?

On the women's stuff, I'd really love to hear what women who cycle think of it. Grit & Glimmer have got a first look with an American perspective I guess, but what about women cycling in the UK?

For me the three items are the core of any good cycling collection and the decision to go with normal shorts, not bibs is well thought out given the likely audience and type of event they'll be riding.

Last week, during the World Championships, Sky News ran the news package below, about the Call For Sexual Equality In Sport, based on the news that the UCI is to insist on parity between men's and women's events at London 2012.

Brendan Gallagher in The Telegraph has a good overview: Read London 2012: Victoria Pendleton to be given chance of triple Olympic cycling gold

Today Lizzie Armitstead signed for Cervelo Test Team for the next two seasons. She's currently the most promising British woman riding and joins Emma Pooley at a team with a good pedigree. As Stage Hopper points out on twitter:

"It was only 4 years or so back that Nicole Cooke was questioned for joining the same team (when they were called Univega ProCycling)"

"Thanks to her efforts they topped the world rankings in both the seasons she was there laying the foundation for the Cervelo we see today."

More's the pity that they couldn't keep Cooke, but it's not like they've gone wanting. A glance at the season's results has them and Columbia-HTC as placing riders in the front group of almost every race of note this season, be it for stages or overall.

I have to say I feel sorry for Nicole Cooke whose season as World and Olympic champion has been more cursed than most.

Setting up Vision 1 Racing was an ambitious project, more so given the lack of a headline sponsor from the outset. But you don't do a unique double like hers without pushing outside your comfort zone and being ambitious in your goals.

It clearly seems to have taken its toll on her racing form which hardly seems surprising now. It can't be easy trying to get a team off the ground with the weight of expectation entirely on your own shoulders?

Increasingly I've been questioning the levels of equality in the British side of the sport, especially given the establishment of Team Sky. Here's what the press release said about its aims:

Team Sky will aim to:

• Create the first British winner of the Tour de France, within five years.


• Inspire people of all ages and abilities to get on their bikes, through the team's positive profile, attitude and success.


• Add further support to competitive cycling in Great Britain.

OK, aim number one is the shoot for the stars headline, but the other two are the meat of what this about, right?

I don't see any support for women's cycle sport in anything announced to date.

Could an Olympic and World Champion not be an inspiration to the roughly 50% of the population who are female? Or the hugely personable Pooley and Armitstead?

Or the countless other young talents who are apparently having to make their own way along the road while their male counterparts can see a clear transition from U23/Espoirs to the seniors, potentially on a British team? where's that path for the women?

I'm not trying to start a fight here, I just think that this is a really important part of the strategy that is missing. And I've yet to hear it properly addressed.

Let's dispatch a few of the obvious get-outs:

No one else is doing it - you mean apart from Columbia-HTC and Cervelo Test Team. British Cycling managed to come up with a deal to run Halfords Bikehut to ensure Nicole Cooke's double in 2008.

There's not the depth of talent there - Italy's women looked pretty deep on talent, likewise The Netherlands and GB isn't short either with Cooke/Pooley/Armitstead. And if you're going to develop the talent, as GB have done, where are they meant to go?

There's seems to be an increasingly long list of British women coming through with serious talent and no English-speaking team to go into. Rosters aren't big, 13 seems about average, and the pool is getting big enough to support another team.

They race a busy calendar but at half the size of the men's team, the costs are lower. Plus economies of scale mean that run in the same setup they can use many of the same resources.

So anyone got any answers, or am I going to have to go out and get them myself?

Featured in her latest collection of adidas by Stella McCartney, due to hit stores in spring/summer 2010, is cycling gear.

Notes to other cycling clothing retailers

• This is how you make cycling attractive to women. Well-cut, attractive clothing that isn't just "shrink'n'pink".
• If you are selling clothing, strong, considered photography works. It's clothing, not a physics experiment.
• adidas are coming back to the market and are serious about it.

The mitts and cap both show signs that Stella has understood the sport and the style of clothing. It's definitely Spring/Summer gear and the monochrome palette never fails.

The jersey and shorts similarly show touches that are "heritage". The mid-thigh length of the shorts harks back to the era before "mo' fabric, mo' sponsors" became the norm. And the jersey, with its understated zebra print takes the Acqua e Sapone/Domina Vacanza kit of Mario Cipollini and brings it to a level which everyday cyclists can get away with.

Now that is what I call fashion forward.

There's also triathlon gear which is, according to Grazia is "the next big thing among sporty types". Here's the quote from Stella:

"This collection continues to be a great success, and I'm very excited to introduce Triathlon and Cycling as new categories. I'm always trying to push myself and this new collection has everything you need in sports today: it is sleek, stylish and super sporty! Technically, both new sports are exciting, they are very personal yet still competitive, and they combine both a city and country experience which is very important to me."

• adidas press release for adidas by Stella McCartney, Spring/Summer 2010
• Read the Grazia review of the Stella McCartney show

If you're following the Giro D'Italia then in my opinion there really is one writer who you have to read: Juliet Macur of The New York Times. In our house she's the first report we read when looking for perspective on what's happening.

You can read her work on The New York Times site or subscribe to her RSS feed. She's also on twitter where you can follow her at twitter.com/julietmacur.

What I love is that her style is precise, informative and understated. It's the sort of punchy news style that I struggle to do and which there is not enough of these days.

The other writers I'd recommend are riders.

You can read Freewheeling with Chris Horner on Oregon Live. I'd skip past the bits not written by Chris as they're not the best bit. Horner's view from inside the Astana camp, and of riding alongside Lance Armstrong is packed with the little of nuggets of information that could only come from a rider: the routines, the mood on the road, the expectations and the unity of a team.

Ted King of Cervelo Test Team is one of two riders writing Giro diaries for Velonews.com. King's witty, goofy and suitably informal which makes a nice counterpoint to the more earnest formality of Columbia's Michael Barry. You can read both in the Velonews.com/diaries section. You can also follow Ted on twitter at iamtedking.

One thing that I've just noticed about Ted King's pieces is that they are filed from a blackberry which just shows how times have moved on. It's an idea device for this sort of writing from the field and so portable that it's almost the case that a reporter shouldn't need much more to file copy and pictures.

I'm not writing about my racing this week as it was dispiriting at best. My legs are going before my lungs which isn't the way it usually happens.

Quick note that there's still entries going for the Women's race at the Smithfield Nocturne. The bigger the field the better the race so if you are a woman who races and are even contemplating it, get your name on the start sheet. Sign up now at http://www.nocturneseries.com/smithfield/elitewomen.php

A women's race has been one of the big missing components from the Smithfield Nocturne's first two editions. But in 2009 that is set to change with the announcement of the Women's Elite Criterium in the programme.

Having recently started writing about that side of the sport I think it's fair to say that its omission was as much a reflection of the likely numbers as anything. A couple of years ago you would perhaps have been pushed to get a decent sized field.

This year, from what I've seen, there should be more than enough competitive women in London and the South East to make up the required numbers. My understanding is that they need 30 entries for it to take place. It says E123, which might miss out a huge swathe of women who are just coming into the sport this season as 4th Cats, but if you've got the points, make it a date.

Here's what the course looks like

And here's my top reasons why you should sign up to ride it:

1. It is the most fantastic atmosphere to ride in. Having ridden the folding bike and Press/All-Star races the last two years I can safely say that there a few occasions when a lumper like me gets to feel like a pro and hear the massive roar of people packed in all round the course.

2. It's a fantastic course to ride. It may not look much on paper but the bottom corners on Snow Hill are fast and the sort of thing that gives you butterflies. In fact all the corners are exciting to ride and it's so fast that you are buzzing all the way round, totally ignoring how much it hurts to be riding that fast.

3. You owe it to yourself to ride. Charlie Easton has been a big agitator for getting it to happen and credit to James Pope at Face Partnership for responding in the right way to the criticisms about the lack of a women's race. It's now up to you to make sure it happens.

So if you know a woman who races and holds an E123 licence, then sign up. The price tag is, in my opinion, a good reflection of what it costs to make races like this happen. It's also a good reflection of how good racing at Smithfield is.

I might not get the chance to show my lack of speed this year but if it means that women's racing has a place at this high profile event, then I'm more than happy to cede my place on the circuit.

So make sure you sign up for the Women's Elite Criterium at the Smithfield Nocturne

I recently posted about some of the issues when it comes to buying a woman's bike and how frustrating my girlfriend was finding it. Great response to it from readers on the issues as well.

Today I can announce that she is the very happy owner of the Bianchi that she had set her mind to getting. And it's thanks to Geoffrey Butler Cycles in Croydon.

Not only did they have the bike in stock and held onto it for her for over a week while we tried to find the time to make the trip across town (3 different trains to get there, taking around an hour and a bit) but when we got there they were helpful, attentive to her needs as the customer and delivered a good experience for her as a first time buyer. The first of those is obvious enough but the other two might need some explaining.

By taking me along there was the risk that I could have got in the way and suggested things that might not have been entirely helpful. I know what I think she needs to buy, but is that the same thing as what she does need to buy? Possibly not, which is why it was great that while the guy (apologies for forgetting his name) serving us listened to what I had to say, he focused on why my girlfriend was saying more closely.

I remembered to bring along the Shimano M324 Combination Pedals I'd bought her ages ago and we got them fitted. I might have picked up a few shoes to suggest but it wasn't me who sensibly suggested a pair of Specialized Road Shoes which mean she can now upgrade to any three-bolt road pedal she likes when she wants to move on from the SPD fitting on those pedals. They were also considerably less costly than any other pair of shoes she owns.

It's been said of the bike trade that it doesn't traditionally cater for the needs of women, something which was confirmed by what we we've seen and heard about the availability of clothing and accessories for women, but the quality of service at GB Cycles was totally contradictory to that received wisdom. My girlfriend is now happy to make the trip round to Croydon again if we need anything because it was such a positive experience.

My girlfriend is currently in the process of trying to buy herself a road bike. Were she looking at men's bikes then she'd have a huge array of brands, equipment and parts to chose from. As she's a woman, she's forced to accept that the industry seems to believe there's no need to cater for half the population properly.

It's not that she hasn't been able to find something she likes. With her eye for style and a desire for a bike that she wants to look at and enjoy riding, she has settled on the Bianchi Dama Bianca She

Any excellent choice both on the choice of brand and appearance. The alternative was the Specialized Dolce Elite but some unknown reason they've chosen to change the paintjob from a clean white to the uninspiring and frankly a bit ugly nail varnish red (I'm assuming that's what they're attempting, although I've been told "If it was red that would be fine. But it's burgundy, who wants that?").

Beyond that the issues are multiple and incredibly frustrating for me, as someone trying to help her with the process using my knowledge, and her, as someone who just wants to buy a bike she likes and ride it.

Let's deal with her issues first, as these are the most important.

Do you have it in stock?

Bianchi seem to be having a bit of a nightmare getting this season's models into stores. Evans are going to phone once they've got the size and model in. Apparently they are planning only to bring in six (yes, 6, six) of the 53cm size into their shops in the current order. 4 are pre-sold, so if we want one we're going to have to be lucky and keep chasing them.

The rise of the euro

Since we first looked at the bike the euro has risen strongly against the pound. It's affecting the whole bike industry and it's why the bike has jumped from a price of around 675 GBP to 871 GBP. This is hitting everyone hard and seems to be coming without warning from retailers.

Complete lack of a site reviewing women's bikes

Pretty much any bike that goes to market for men will have a review somewhere online, no matter how incomplete or partisan it may be. I've done a few searches now in similar terms and come up with next to nothing. What really annoyed me was the almost complete absence of an English language site that focuses on cycling for women. There used to be shecycles.com but that now only redirects to RoadcyclingUK where I could only find review of a 2006 Specialized Dolce.

Arguably it's like there being no male equivalent of Net-a-porter for men but, as a wider point, it's the lack of choice that bugs me. There's probably five bikes to choose from at that price point for a woman compared to dozens for a man. How on earth are we meant to get more women cycling if they can't find a bike they like?

Lack of choice

I've already touched on this but my girlfriend has been reading this and pointed out the things I was perhaps ignoring: she just wants to buy a bike and be able to ride it, not worry about buying several hundred quid of modifications to make it right.

Off-the-peg is what the vast majority of hobby cyclists will buy as their first serious bike. If you want to go boutique brand/custom built it is going to cost you much more in any case and that is a big financial commitment if you are still trying to decide if cycling is for you.

The specification on lots of the bikes I looked over was lower than the male equivalent in some cases which could be down to the lack of volume to offset cost, or the premium on "women specific" design.

Now that I've got this bee in my bonnet I really want to hear from people in the bike industry, both manufacturers and retailers, as well as women cyclists about the hurdles that seem to exist to them getting into the sport and recreation of cycling.