Ladies, Back on Your Bike!

I have never looked back and riding has enriched my life with some

pretty amazing times, helped me through some rough patches in my life

Trudi Louise,  mountain biker

When Jennie Cornish nervously turned up at a women-only cycle club on one of her children’s old bikes to learn to ride, she was adamant about three things: she would never venture onto a road, put cleats on her shoes or wear Lycra.

Now aged 66, she’s happily doing all three and today is part of an 18-strong group of female cyclists who’ve just begun a 1200-kilometre ride from Melbourne to Adelaide.“I hadn’t ridden since my children were very young and never thought I would again,” says Cornish, a retired food and nutrition worker from Melbourne’s Caulfield South. “But now I’m hooked.

“I feel so good, I’m the fittest I’ve been in a long time and, through the club, I’ve made so many great new friendships.”

Pensioner pedal power

That club, Ladies Back on Your Bike (LBOYB), was set up in 2013 by former Phys Ed teacher Jacinta Costello, now 68, for exactly those reasons.

Always a keen cyclist herself, she longed to see more older women out cycling but realised many hadn’t ridden since schooldays and were uneasy at the thought of getting back onto two wheels.

“The sense of community and camaraderie that’s formed between the women is incredible.”

So she drew up a plan for offering riding instruction, a series of fun group rides and then graded trips. Since then, she and the team of fellow instructors she’s recruited have taught over 1000 older women to ride, given them basic mechanics classes and have taken them on many thousands of rides, some as far afield – pre-COVID – as Killarney in Ireland to Bruges in Belgium, through Denmark and around Poland.“These women have been incredibly gutsy just turning up on their first day,” says Costello, from Brighton. “We take them on a test ride to see how they are and give them tips and encourage and support them.

“The crux of it all is that they then ride with a group so are never intimidated or bored, and the sense of community and camaraderie that’s formed between the women is incredible. They make fantastic friendships, they lose weight, they get fitter and healthier and they often end up choosing two wheels over four.”

www.ladiesbackonyourbike.com.au

The latest (2017) Physical Inactivity Report from the British Heart Foundation states: “The government recommends that adults undertake at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity a week and strength activities on at least two days a week.”

It goes on to say that, overall, women are 36% more likely to be classified physically inactive than men, equating to around 11.8 million women across the UK who are insufficiently active, compared with 8.3 million men. Public Health England statistics say that 26.8% of adult women were obese in 2015.

Cycling regularly would be a great way for those women to build some physical activity into their lives, thus improving their overall health and fitness. In the Netherlands, more women than men cycle, showing that cycling per se is an activity women can do when the conditions are right.

But apart from improving fitness, as well as potentially reducing rates of cancer, heart disease and diabetes, what other health benefits can regular cycling bring to women in particular?

Reduces osteoarthritis and obesity

“By nature, women face a triple threat of risk factors when it comes to arthritis: biology, genetic predisposition and hormones. Unfortunately, a lot of women have added a fourth risk factor to the mix – obesity.” More than a quarter of women in England are obese (Health Survey for England 2014). The article goes on to say: “Overall, women have osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, at much higher rates than men.”

Cycling could reduce the risk of osteoarthritis by helping to reduce weight – steady cycling can burn approximately 300 calories per hour. It is also a non-load-bearing activity, so many people can do it, regardless of age, infirmity or other conditions.

The body stops moving because you decide to stop moving. Everybody’s system works better when they ride

Lan Yin Tsai, 90-year-old female cyclist

“Cycling is gentle on your joints and helps preserve cartilage. That’s especially advantageous for women who suffer from muscle strain, foot problems, knee troubles, back pain or impact-related injuries caused by running, jogging or walking,” explains Dr Callahan, medical director of the Women’s Sports Medical Center at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.

Ninety-year-old Lan Yin Tsai takes part in a 160-mile bike ride every year, having been a cyclist for almost five decades. She says: “The body stops moving because you decide to stop moving. Everybody’s system works better when they ride.”

It also offers the opportunity to enjoy some quality ‘me time’, away from domestic duties (which are still done largely by women), and can help reduce stress, anxiety and depression as the adrenalin and endorphins that cycling generates provide a natural high, at least in the short term.

Builds self-esteem and confidence

However, those who do enjoy the technical aspects of off-road riding report an improvement in other aspects of their lives as their self-esteem and confidence increases.

So I started to get fit and, as my fitness level grew, so did my confidence

Linda Edge, long-distance cyclist