{"id":183936,"date":"2021-06-11T07:00:02","date_gmt":"2021-06-11T07:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=183936"},"modified":"2021-06-10T09:33:53","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T09:33:53","slug":"what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/","title":{"rendered":"What Actually Happens on a Women\u2019s Group Ride?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Women\u2019s cycling clubs aren\u2019t exactly new. Having been on the edge of male cycling clubs as early as the 1870s, female-only clubs began popping up in the 1890s and well, they\u2019re here to stay. Women love hanging out with other women, occasionally to the dismay of their male peers (sorry, boys). Usually, the rule applies that what happens on a women\u2019s ride, stays on a women\u2019s ride. But it might be helpful to let you in on a few of the key components to prepare you for your first foray.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1) You turn up a few minutes early only to find everyone drinking coffee and eating pastries.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Having joined a few female sports clubs, one thing is for sure: the focus is ALWAYS on good food and\/or drink. We\u2019ll get to the cycling eventually but this is all part of the preparation. So take a seat and grab a coffee. Someone will definitely bring baked goods so I hope you like second breakfast.<\/p>\n

2) People are wearing clothes that aren\u2019t LYCRA.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Colourful t-shirts, high-tops, a dress. Nobody seems to care. If you can cycle in it, you can wear it. Though if you have opted to wear padded shorts, there\u2019s a big trade secret: going commando (i.e. no undergarments) is a game-changer!<\/p>\n

\"Lakes<\/a>
\u00a9 Lakes Gravel Gang<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

3) You\u2019ll talk about hair. There\u2019s a lot of it, it\u2019s inevitable.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019re preparing for the main event and the sole reason for your journey to this car park today and, whilst putting your helmet on, inevitably get into a conversation about the various ways you can style your hair best under the helmet. Plaits usually win but it’s good to have tried-and-tested options with a thorough discussion from a range of voices.<\/p>\n

4) The pace is FRIENDLY!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

You set off from the car park in your all-female pack and start climbing. The dread returns. But oh, what\u2019s this? The pace is friendly. You can keep up! You can even hold a conversation. You\u2019re laughing. This is great!<\/p>\n

5) Nobody gets dropped.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

You heard me. Nobody gets dropped. No woman is left behind. The pace is friendly and so are the people! It doesn\u2019t matter what speed you\u2019re going, you\u2019re all going that speed. So there\u2019s plenty of time and energy to discuss what to do about the patriarchy, obviously.<\/p>\n

\"Women<\/a>
\u00a9 Lakes Gravel Gang<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

6) There are at least two snack stops.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Everybody brought snacks. Somebody might even pull out another tray of baked goods. Wait, where were they hiding those? Whilst you\u2019re snacking away, you might compare the colour of your bikes and how they match your shoes. You might even discuss the more technical stuff because you are women and totally capable of both.<\/p>\n

7) You get a puncture.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

OK, so this likely will not happen on your first group ride with a bunch of women. BUT if it does happen, everyone is super helpful and not in any way patronising. It\u2019s magical stuff. You learn from each other, someone shares the best way to get your tyre off without breaking your thumbs, you appreciate the help. Incredible.<\/p>\n

8) You have a GREAT time.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

All that worrying was seriously for nothing. After the event, the group WhatsApp is alive with pictures of you looking cool on your bike and you share how excited you are for the next one. You just moved your body in a way that made you feel alive and so good about yourself.<\/p>\n

\"Group<\/a>
\u00a9 Lakes Gravel Gang<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

9) You make new friends.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Honestly, making new friends as an adult is HARD. But one of the best things about riding with other women is that you already have so much in common. You can be vastly different in so many ways, and yet you spur each other on over the hill climbs and share packets of wine gums.<\/p>\n

10) You return the next week to do it all over again.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Go on. You know you want to.<\/p>\n

This article was inspired by my recent foray into joining an all-female gravel group: Lakes Gravel Gang.<\/a> Since joining, I\u2019ve discovered a world of sociable cycling clubs. Cycling for fun has always been hit and miss for me, and the prospect of joining a club was terrifying. The group has welcomed me with open arms and I encourage you to seek out something similar if that\u2019s what you\u2019re after. Standard cycling clubs have their place but it\u2019s nice to have other options.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Women\u2019s cycling clubs aren\u2019t exactly new. Having been on the edge of male cycling clubs as early as the 1870s, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":183950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[334],"tags":[5351,5352,2968,1981,5350,2264],"global-categories":[3366],"class_list":["post-183936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-socialising-and-culture","tag-cycling-clubs","tag-group","tag-group-ride","tag-group-rides","tag-lakes-gravel-gang","tag-womens-cycling","global-categories-cycling"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Actually Happens on a Women\u2019s Group Ride?\u00a0 - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Women\u2019s cycling clubs aren\u2019t exactly new. Having been on the edge of male cycling clubs as early as the 1870s, female-only clubs began popping up in the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Actually Happens on a Women\u2019s Group Ride?\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Women\u2019s cycling clubs aren\u2019t exactly new. Having been on the edge of male cycling clubs as early as the 1870s, female-only clubs began popping up in the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-11T07:00:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2021\/06\/Lakes-Gravel-Gang-CVR.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tereza\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Charlotte Murray\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/\",\"name\":\"What Actually Happens on a Women\u2019s Group Ride?\u00a0 - \u0160koda We Love Cycling\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2021\/06\/Lakes-Gravel-Gang-CVR.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-11T07:00:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/50f01ecd18718d2333cf72e823c4f926\"},\"description\":\"Women\u2019s cycling clubs aren\u2019t exactly new. Having been on the edge of male cycling clubs as early as the 1870s, female-only clubs began popping up in the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2021\/06\/Lakes-Gravel-Gang-CVR.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2021\/06\/Lakes-Gravel-Gang-CVR.webp\",\"width\":900,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Lakes Gravel Gang\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What Actually Happens on a Women\u2019s Group Ride?\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/\",\"name\":\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\",\"description\":\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling magazine\",\"alternateName\":\"\u0160koda WLC\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/50f01ecd18718d2333cf72e823c4f926\",\"name\":\"tereza\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f9eb71be33845f0afabce3791bc1c58ecdb0a25c62964987e5dbcf7a20d2ec7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f9eb71be33845f0afabce3791bc1c58ecdb0a25c62964987e5dbcf7a20d2ec7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"tereza\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/author\/tereza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Actually Happens on a Women\u2019s Group Ride?\u00a0 - \u0160koda We Love Cycling","description":"Women\u2019s cycling clubs aren\u2019t exactly new. Having been on the edge of male cycling clubs as early as the 1870s, female-only clubs began popping up in the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What Actually Happens on a Women\u2019s Group Ride?\u00a0","og_description":"Women\u2019s cycling clubs aren\u2019t exactly new. Having been on the edge of male cycling clubs as early as the 1870s, female-only clubs began popping up in the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/","og_site_name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling","article_published_time":"2021-06-11T07:00:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2021\/06\/Lakes-Gravel-Gang-CVR.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"tereza","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Charlotte Murray","Est. reading time":"6"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/","name":"What Actually Happens on a Women\u2019s Group Ride?\u00a0 - \u0160koda We Love Cycling","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2021\/06\/Lakes-Gravel-Gang-CVR.webp","datePublished":"2021-06-11T07:00:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/50f01ecd18718d2333cf72e823c4f926"},"description":"Women\u2019s cycling clubs aren\u2019t exactly new. Having been on the edge of male cycling clubs as early as the 1870s, female-only clubs began popping up in the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2021\/06\/Lakes-Gravel-Gang-CVR.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2021\/06\/Lakes-Gravel-Gang-CVR.webp","width":900,"height":600,"caption":"Lakes Gravel Gang"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2021\/06\/11\/what-actually-happens-on-a-womens-group-ride\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What Actually Happens on a Women\u2019s Group Ride?\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/","name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling","description":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling magazine","alternateName":"\u0160koda WLC","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/50f01ecd18718d2333cf72e823c4f926","name":"tereza","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f9eb71be33845f0afabce3791bc1c58ecdb0a25c62964987e5dbcf7a20d2ec7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f9eb71be33845f0afabce3791bc1c58ecdb0a25c62964987e5dbcf7a20d2ec7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"tereza"},"url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/author\/tereza\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183936"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":183955,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183936\/revisions\/183955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183936"},{"taxonomy":"global-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/global-categories?post=183936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}