A woman on a bike: this must be as efficient as we get. At risk of this blog post sounding sexist, we bring our natural ability in multitasking to two wheels and we’re off…..
We can be doing at least 3 things whilst on a bike: Going from A to B, keeping fit and thinking. For example: cycling to the shop / exercising / thinking about what to write in that application form; cycling home after work / exercising / thinking about what to make for dinner; cycling to pick up the children from school / exercising / thinking about changes to make to the presentation you have in the morning.
When asking female friends who cycle why they cycle, it struck me that they had never thought about it, they just always had. Maybe that’s the problem. If you always have, you always will, but if you never have, or at least haven’t since you were little, then how do you start?
How do you know what you’re missing if you’ve never done it?
When asked about why she did it, one said, ‘it’s so quick and easy to get around. To get to work I would have to get two trams, spend £15.50 a week and it would take 50 minutes each way. Instead I go by bike which is free and takes me 20 minutes’.
I know, being a gym hater, that getting your exercise cycling to and from work is a brilliant time- saver that can be built into your day. But us female cyclists don’t just do it for these practical reasons. Apparently we also do it because it makes us feel free, gives us more independence (especially if we don’t have a car) and actually it does make us feel cool. We also zip past all of the traffic that’s stood still, meaning, rather than biting your steering wheel thinking about all the useful things you could be doing instead .
You could be feeling relaxed and possibly a bit smug like this woman here….
Let’s make life easy for ourselves. Cycling should be enjoyed. If you dread getting an old rusty bike out of the depths of the shed then no wonder you have no motivation to get cycling. Try doing a basic maintenance course, or just locating a friendly local bike shop who’ll do all the dirty work for you.
So to would-be women cyclists everywhere, I know you might think it’s uncool, slow, or it’s just ‘not you’, but really have you got time to be sat in traffic in your car? Once you start cycling, your bike becomes part of you. You control it, not the other way round. So get on your bike and take your natural female efficiency up a level.
Zoe Thelwall