It Doesn’t Take Balls to Ride a Bike - By Sarah

It seems as though the cycling industry is slowly waking up. It took nearly a century, but I think we are finally beginning to realize the wants and needs of women on bicycles. Admittedly, this sort of realization could not have come to light until certain structural changes in society were achieved. Nonetheless, the purchasing power of mobile females has created an incentive for shops and manufacturers to alter their own entrepreneurial missions.

And yet smaller frames or lavender jerseys aren’t quite making the cut. As always, there is room for improvement. At this point, I’d like to introduce myself as Sarah, the only current female employee at Breakaway. This blog post, as well as those to come, represents just another step toward opening up the world of cycling to women.

Breakaway has a reputation of exceptional customer service. As cycling advocates, we realize that condescending to the customer or ignoring her particular needs is not a great way to run a business. Following this mission, the shop has made strides to accommodate female riders: women-specific frames, saddles, shoes, clothing, etc.

But our shop, like many others, has hit a wall for two reasons:

1) We can only sell the products that the manufacturers produce. Thus, we are limited to certain size ranges, colors, or product designs.
2) Women may account for half of the global population, but they don’t account for half of our customer-base. This is probably due to our limited supply of women-friendly products. However, this supply remains limited because of the lack of demand from female customers.

As a retailer and not a manufacturer, we have little control over innovations from the cycling industry that benefit women riders. But we do have some influence over who comes in our shop. If we assume too much about our female clientele, we can’t adequately address their needs. Hopefully, as a woman’s voice on the inside, I can shed some light on our “issues.”

For many women, the threat of entering a man’s world starts right at the front door. Whether she is a novice or an elite cyclist, she walks in the shop with a thought at the back of her mind: these guys (think they) know better than me. And whether the thought is proven true or not, it is enough to inhibit questions that could potentially lead to furthered knowledge of her bike or herself as a rider.

Even as a worker in the cycling industry, not just a consumer, I encounter this kind of intimidation. I don’t mean to say that I don’t enjoy where I work, or to generalize that all male cyclists are chauvinistic. But all it takes is one bad experience at a shop and you can’t help but be apprehensive.

Ultimately, Breakaway would like to make some changes. We’ve already established a friendly and helpful customer rapport; now we just need to make the shop space a little more women-friendly. For example, in addition to posts about performance and bike maintenance, we’ll be publishing posts concerning women in cycling.

Furthermore, the phrase women in cycling doesn’t just include the ladies training and competing in races, but any woman who rides a bike. Just like the guys, there are women who commute to work, women who ride only on the weekends and women who tear up the trails. The bottom line is, however, that we’re all taking part in an activity that was once considered to be just for boys. And that’s changing.

On November 10th and 11th be sure to stop by for some of the many activities we will have as the Giant For Women's Tour makes a stop at Breakaway.