Why are 75% of cycling trips made by men?

[roubaixtuesday]

We cycled across NL from East to West this year, and the fundamental difference to the UK is the cycle and pedestrian prioritised street layout.

In the UK, streets are designed for cars, and other users are shoehorned in however it's possible.

In NL, streets are designed for pedestrians and cyclists, and cars take whatever is left.

The difference is absolutely stark.

It's not about topography; most people in the UK live in flat(ish) towns and cities.

[TrevA]

My wife is a cyclist but doesn’t cycle as much as I do for a number of reasons.

We are both members of a cycling club that has 3 club rides per week. She only rides on one of them, a gentle ride on a Wednesday, mainly retired people, where we average around 13-14 mph. We often have 4 women out on this ride, out of an average total of 10. Our Saturday club ride is often a testosterone driven smash-fest, averaging 17-18mph. My wife doesn’t participate in this, even though she rides her bike on a Saturday. She will sometimes do her own road ride and meet us at the cafe. Other times, she will take her hybrid bike and just ride along the canal towpath.

So she is not averse to riding on her own, but does have a fear of being harassed by male drivers. This is a fear that many women have, being harassed by men in a male dominated world. She often says to me that she fears just walking down the street sometimes, especially at night and would never consider cycling on her own at night. She did though used to commute to work by bike on her own before she retired.

Another thing that puts her off solo cycling somewhat is the fear of punctures or mechanical problems that she wouldn’t be able to fix. She has practiced changing a puncture at home but I’m not sure she would be able to do it out on the road. Thankfully, punctures are rare nowadays. I’ve fitted Marathon Plusses to her hybrid bike to reduce the chance of punctures, and Gatorskins to her road bike, for when she does a solo road ride. If she does puncture when we are out together, then I tend to fix it. Perhaps I need to let her fix her own punctures. The situation is not helped by the strength often needed to get a tight tyre back on a rim nowadays. She does struggle with this due to lack of hand strength. We track each others rides using Garmin Livetrack, so if she did have a problem she couldn’t fix, she could be rescued as I would know where she was.

Another factor is a lack of geographical awareness, she knows where certain places are, but can’t string them together to form a complete route. She does tend to stick to routes that she knows when doing solo rides.

She will do utility cycling, especially if car parking is likely to be a problem, which it often is. She will often cycle to get her hair or nails done, nip to the shops, or to gym. Fear of having the bike stolen is factor, but we thankfully live in a low crime area where this is very rare.

[ed_b]

Not a woman, but I don't know how long I'd put up with this sh*t.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4U6OwPYTn4

My wife was regularly nudged on the back wheel at the forward stop lines in London - by sweaty bloke van drivers wanting to troll the female in front of them.

For as long as riding demands a more aggression than the rider plans to use at their destination, I suspect sex differences noted upthread will kick in.

Plus in the UK we seem to mostly treat cycling as a competitive sport, rather than a way to get about - afaict there's no noticable sex differential in Cambridge or York, which are exceptions in that respect.

[Carlton green]

What’s missing from this thread is a woman’s perspective expressed by a woman. That said the recent posts expressing what wives have shared with their husbands is a plus, far better than no (female) response but a bit too like peering through fog (you can only see so far and guess at the rest).

[roubaixtuesday]

What’s missing from this thread is a woman’s perspective expressed by a woman.

Yes indeed. The original linked Woman's Hour programme does have some.

[irc]

What’s missing from this thread is a woman’s perspective expressed by a woman.

Yes indeed. The original linked Woman's Hour programme does have some.

I asked my wife. She walks the 20 minutes to the village rather than cycle because she doesn't need to change her clothes and wear a helmet.

[Carlton green]

What’s missing from this thread is a woman’s perspective expressed by a woman.

Yes indeed. The original linked Woman's Hour programme does have some.

I asked my wife. She walks the 20 minutes to the village rather than cycle because she doesn't need to change her clothes and wear a helmet.

Which just goes to show how differently blokes usually think about many things (compared to women) and why it’s so important to ask women and then to simply listen.

[pjclinch]

Yes indeed. The original linked Woman's Hour programme does have some.

I asked my wife. She walks the 20 minutes to the village rather than cycle because she doesn't need to change her clothes and wear a helmet.

Which just goes to show how differently blokes usually think about many things (compared to women) and why it’s so important to ask women and then to simply listen.

It certainly is important to ask women (and many other groups besides) and then to simply listen, but irc's example doesn't strike me as the difference between men and women, just between different people. My wife rides to work without changing her clothes or wearing a helmet, I know lots of men who wouldn't go out on a bike without changing clothes or wearing a helmet.

Pete.

[Blondie]

What’s missing from this thread is a woman’s perspective expressed by a woman.

Yes indeed. The original linked Woman's Hour programme does have some.

I asked my wife. She walks the 20 minutes to the village rather than cycle because she doesn't need to change her clothes and wear a helmet.

But she doesn’t have to do either of those things if she chose to cycle there.

[pjclinch]

I asked my wife. She walks the 20 minutes to the village rather than cycle because she doesn't need to change her clothes and wear a helmet.

But she doesn’t have to do either of those things if she chose to cycle there.

Whether or not she has to probably isn't the issue, it would be more likeley she feels she ought to or wants to only ride with a helmet and certain clothes, something down to the individual.

Pete.

[ElaineB]

Well you wouldn’t think so if you read the Cycling uk magazine, there’s hardly a man to be seen in it now a days, other than the adverts. The cycling uk mag is so feminine now, it’s seems to be written by women, for women. I thought 75% of riders were women, seems they now know it’s the other way round.
As a female I ride every day in all weathers, except ice and most of the other riders I pass are men, it really doesn’t bother me one jot.
The person who said ‘why does it matter?’ Is spot on as far as I’m concerned.
Women do lots of sports, they tend to gravitate towards team sports, like netball, hockey, football, athletics etc, in fact generally ones they probably did as children or young adults. Most adults now a days have owned a bicycle as a child, so most probably could ride it. Cycling is generally a lone sport, unless you ride in a group and it’s not easy to talk to people in a peloton, so here gents is, in my humble opinion, the reason why cycling favours males instead of females!

[deeferdonk]

Well you wouldn’t think so if you read the Cycling uk magazine, there’s hardly a man to be seen in it now a days, other than the adverts. The cycling uk mag is so feminine now, it’s seems to be written by women, for women. I thought 75% of riders were women, seems they now know it’s the other way round.

Alot of men like to look at pictures of women so maybe its more male orientated than you think

As a female I ride every day in all weathers, except ice and most of the other riders I pass are men, it really doesn’t bother me one jot.
The person who said ‘why does it matter?’ Is spot on as far as I’m concerned.
Women do lots of sports, they tend to gravitate towards team sports, like netball, hockey, football, athletics etc, in fact generally ones they probably did as children or young adults. Most adults now a days have owned a bicycle as a child, so most probably could ride it. Cycling is generally a lone sport, unless you ride in a group and it’s not easy to talk to people in a peloton, so here gents is, in my humble opinion, the reason why cycling favours males instead of females!

As a man i like the solitude of cycling and running., so you may have a point. You do see a higher proportion of women running than cycling though so must be other things at play. I suppose cycling is like running but with more gadgets, so maybe that plays a part.

[ElaineB]

Yes well I look for the chaps in the cycling uk mag but they are few and far between. It appears surprise, surprise, they are all out riding their bikes, not posing in mags!

[cyclist]

I have cycled with a lot of riders of many genders through Cycling UK (more than one club) & Audax UK there did not seem to be any issues. However, I have chatted with women who are interested in cycling but would not do it in the UK or have done it and stopped the reasons that I learned were:

- One told me that she does not feel safe on the roads in the UK with all the cars, the presence of a lane that is just a line on the asphalt is not conducive of safety.

- There are also concerns about bike sizes where the options are less for a woman who finds the 700c too big. For example, there are considerably less options with non-folding small wheeled bikes.

- For commuting and shopping, the bike seemed of less carrying capacity to buy weekly shopping for a family as compared with a car boot unless it is a cargo bike. For commute with children the concerns about safety were also mentioned.

- Another told me that she was used to cycle till she had an accident in a roundabout, and that was it for cycling.

- Another one told me that she enjoyed spin classes more, as it is more focused on health and fitness, in a sense it gets the health benefits of cycling without having to deal with weather, crowd, attitudes, risk etc.

There are other factors eg Tour de France Femmes, and other racing disciplines, are relatively recent in comparison to the TdF hommes. Why is that so, that's an open question.

I cannot answer the question of the statistics, I can only share what I have learned directly in my encounters.

[ElaineB]

Very interesting comments but so many reasons why not to do it. It probably means they are not too keen to cycle in the first place, in which case they are probably better off in a warm gym, at least they are still on a bike and may ‘transfer’ in the summer months.
There are plenty of cheap 26” wheeled bikes that even a small lady like me can ride, I have 2. I had a bad cycling accident in 2005 but it didn’t stop me riding after. I shop with panniers, which ok probably won’t do a weekly shop for a family of 4-6, but adding a small rucksack can help to carry lighter foods etc.
I feel if women don’t feel safe on the roads then they are better not riding on roads, there are plenty of off road options, in fact it seems to be all the rage now,
I ride in London sometimes and the cycle paths are excellent, you just have to keep left and watch out for the couriers etc, as they zoom past. Not for the faint hearted!
Years ago we were just all called ‘cyclists’, why now are we pitching women against men, as though they are to blame? It’s nonsense, leave the 75% of men to ride in peace, good luck to them, I think they are wonderful and just wish women would get on doing what they enjoy too, whatever that is.