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| Photo credit Carey Lowery of me at Racoon Mounain |
I've been carving out some good clean fun the last couple of years doing mountain bike skills clinics for women. The last ones that I did in the South were special requests by small groups of women that were really good riders with racing experience, but wanted to take their skills up a notch to get faster and more relaxed. And these women were all fit and skillful, but also very successful at their careers and achievements. And they had really nice bikes!
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| Photo credit Carey Lowery |
Riding with those ladies, it reminded me how cool the greater mountain bike scene keeps getting because there are more women involved. Women make the sport cooler. I remember hearing that statement a while ago in Whistler. The speaker (a man) said,"Look around at your local bike scene? I guarantee you that if there are a good number of women in it, it's going to be cool." I like cool, but you could replace that with better.
I'd like to think that our bike shops, bike companies, sponsored athletes and trail workers should also have lots of women represented and they will be better. I think women specific products are a great option. All women group shop rides and all women skills clinics are of great benefit for all.
And I am very proud of so many mountain bike races out there, especially the big ones, that give equal pay out to men and women pros. I'm so positive about women cyclists supporting youth cycling like Cutaway Girls Camp and The Little Bellas. Many women have started or are running all women teams NoTubesWomen or are even offering sponsorships from their own pocketbooks.
I know that after I do a clinic the ladies are really great about sharing their feedback, sharing the pictures on social media(even using the right hashtags) and most importantly they know how to have a good time and SMILE! Carey is one of those cool ladies. They do a lot to keep the sport positive and vibrant.
**This was a joke that I heard when I was in Georgia teaching a skills clinic. How is mountain biking like sex? Answer: Don't just sit there! As an IMBA instructor, I had to change it to it's all in the body positioning of course! Or if you can think of something funny, leave it in the comments.
