Women riding alone- is that THAT unusual??

Wed, 20 Aug 2003 01:05:57 GMT,
,
(Marlene Blanshay) wrote:

Is it like that everywhere, that women riding alone is
considered be some sort of daring feat?

The women I see riding are mostly commuters. They ride alone although
there's always another cyclist coming along.
--
zk

(Marlene Blanshay)

wrote in part:

I see women riding alone, but is it really that unusual?

"THAT unusual"? No, but I do think there is a general (but not universal)
difference between the way the sexes think about doing things alone. When's the
last time you heard the phrase, "the lone gunwoman"? g

Regards,
Bob Hunt

(Marlene Blanshay) wrote in news:blanshay-1908032051520001
@192.168.1.3:
I go on a lot of rides alone, and today another woman cyclist I know (who
is a great athlete and does triathlons and wins them- she is from another
species really) commented on how cool it is that I ride alone

Here in California, I see many women riding alone, both on the road and on
mountain bikes. However, I do know some women who won't ride alone because
they cannot fix a flat tire. Some of them have a physical limitation: they
aren't strong (or heavy) enough to put enough air in a road tire to get them
home with out pinch flatting. Fortunately, the local bike clubs have dozens
of group rides every week of the year.

Marlene Blanshay wrote:
I see women riding alone, but is it really that unusual?

It's not unusual around here. I see it all the time. Especially
along the coast. One time I was about 10 miles from home at the end
of a 50 mile ride and started talking to a woman on a nice racing bike.
It turned out she lives on the next street from me. We rode together
all the way back. BTW, she was married.

--Bill Davidson
--
Please remove ".nospam" from my address for email replies.

I'm a 17 year veteran of usenet -- you'd think I'd be over it by now

I see women riding alone, but is it really that unusual?

I'm in a rural part of the UK. Most of my cycling is done alone. I see women
cycling alone - going to work, doing the shopping, where cycling is the form of
transport used for same.

What I do do, and husband & son do same - is when out cycling alone, we wear a
dog tag with basic details on - name, phone number, address... so if, for
example, we were in some sort of accident & rendered unconcious, when carted
off to hospital, the nearest & dearest can be informed. Note to self - have
blood group put on tag...

I also carry a mobile phone with me - for emergency use.

I also carry with me - puncture patches, multi-tool, tyre levers, a small
amount of money (enough say, for a phone call home), note pad, pen & sometimes,
a spare inner tube.

I think it's essential to be able to at least repair a puncture/change inner
tube.

Other thing I do - I always tell someone at home - or leave note - as to where
I'm going, route I plan to take, time left so hence time roughly expected back.
Husband & son so same if they are cycling alone. Just basic commonsense stuff
really :-)

Is it like that everywhere, that women riding alone is
considered be some sort of daring feat?

Just call me Mrs Daring ;-)

By the way, I'm no great athlete - I'm fatbirdonabike who just happens to love
being out on my bike :-)

Cheers, helen s





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I'm not
exactly Miss Mechanic. But I go anyways and cross my fingers that nothing
goes wrong.

That's the theory as to why more women prefer inline skates to bicycles.

Well, I guess that can be true. But here in Central Florida, Diane Blake is
generally regarded as being the top bicycle mechanic and technical whiz in the
area. So I guess this thing about mechanics doesn't hold in all cases.

I know a fair number of women who will not ride solo. Some of them seem to
fear being molested by males which is, I suppose, within the realm of
possibility. Being male I am not an authority on this subject. I don't think
about it much because I have yet to hear of a guy being sexually assaulted by
women.

However, I do know a number of women who ride by themselves and seem to have no
problems at all.

On 8/19/2003 9:05 PM, Marlene Blanshay wrote:
I go on a lot of rides alone, and today another woman cyclist I know (who
is a great athlete and does triathlons and wins them- she is from another
species really) commented on how cool it is that I ride alone, although
she likes having another girl in the group. ANd a friend of mine who works
in a bike shop says he sees women coming in all the time, women about my
age (in their 30s, 40s and even older) who say they don't get to ride much
because their husbands aren't around that much. WHen it's suggested they
consider going alone, they say, "oh, I couldn't do THAT." And another
woman I know of, married, never goes alone on rides and considers me to be
really 'independent.'

I see women riding alone, but is it really that unusual? I can't believe
women in their adult years can't consider going on a ride alone. I go
alone because I hardly know any women riders, and the ones I do know are
great athletes who make me feel, well inadequate to say the least. I like
going in groups but I'm not going to miss a nice day, that's for sure.

Mind you, there is always the anxieties, like "What's that creak?" or
"what's that noise", or having an accident and being alone, and I'm not
exactly Miss Mechanic. But I go anyways and cross my fingers that nothing
goes wrong. Is it like that everywhere, that women riding alone is
considered be some sort of daring feat?

I'm a thritysomething female and I ride alone all of the time. I ride
5-6 days a week. I live in the Raleigh, NC area. My husband doesn't
ride at all so it would be a long wait for me if I was waiting for him
to go :-)

On Wed, 20 Aug 2003 03:35:39 +0000 (UTC), Ken wrote:

(Marlene Blanshay) wrote in news:blanshay-1908032051520001
:
I go on a lot of rides alone, and today another woman cyclist I know (who
is a great athlete and does triathlons and wins them- she is from another
species really) commented on how cool it is that I ride alone

Here in California, I see many women riding alone, both on the road and on
mountain bikes. However, I do know some women who won't ride alone because
they cannot fix a flat tire. Some of them have a physical limitation: they
aren't strong (or heavy) enough to put enough air in a road tire to get them
home with out pinch flatting.

They can't use CO2?


--
Scott Johnson
"Always with the excuses for small legs. People like you are
why they only open the top half of caskets." -Tommy Bowen

x-no-archive:yes

Here in California, I see many women riding alone, both on the road and on
mountain bikes. However, I do know some women who won't ride alone
because
they cannot fix a flat tire. Some of them have a physical limitation:
they
aren't strong (or heavy) enough to put enough air in a road tire to get
them
home with out pinch flatting. Fortunately, the local bike clubs have
dozens
of group rides every week of the year.

Introduce them to the Topeak Road Morph. Even the smallest person could
inflate a tire with this little gem.

Pat in TX

Mind you, there is always the anxieties, like "What's that creak?" or
"what's that noise", or having an accident and being alone, and I'm not
exactly Miss Mechanic. But I go anyways and cross my fingers that nothing
goes wrong. Is it like that everywhere, that women riding alone is
considered be some sort of daring feat?

Sometimes I prefer the solitude of riding alone and other times I
prefer to have someone else to go exploring with. If I'm riding in the
city I'm not concerned at all. If I'm going on a longer ride I'll be
sure to have a spare tube, pump and cell phone (in case of breakdown I
don't know how to fix) with me. I would probably not stop to fix a
flat alone at night, so I guess a cell phone is good then too. I did
have a flat at night but was not carrying a spare anyway, fortunately
I was only about 20 minute walk from home so I dragged the bike the
rest of the way

However in Ottawa Ontario recently a woman was murdered after going
for a 1 hour bike ride near her home along a bikeway in parkland. That
was a very sad story but there are flukey bad things that happen in
the world and its not going to stop me from enjoying riding

I also find that if you stick to places well travelled by other
cyclists, cyclists are very friendly and helpful people. If your bike
breaks down and you don't have the tools to fix it, often another one
will stop and give you a hand.

Tanya