A Woman Needs a Man like a Fish needs a Bicycle...

Oh, Man José.

I love riding my bike. I love working in a bike shop. I love taking steps to empower myself, and helping other women to see similar strength within themselves.

I hate hearing excuses not to ride. I hate the stories of women entering male-dominated establishments and getting poor service because of their gender or because they don't have the right knowledgebase. I hate seeing women on rides simply because they're out with their boyfriends and riding a certain type of bike simply because they didn't choose it themselves.

I hate seeing how male-dominated cycling is in this male-dominated city. There's a lot of love here for cycling, but the amount of women who feel free to enjoy it without influence is teeny. There's perhaps four* women in the Southbay under age 30 who regularly ride socially, perhaps 10 if you include 30somethings like me.

I love/hate it every time I see a little girl who gets so excited when she sees a confident woman on a bicycle, or a woman on a bicycle, period. It warms my heart to have that kind of impact, but women on bikes shouldn't be a big deal.

And then, once we get women to show up, there's the harassment. Not constantly, and not generally within the smaller groups. I've been in conversations that get too inquisitive, grabbed, and spanked. I've run from dance areas in anger because I don't want to have to deal with it. None of us should.

To take the cake, I've been remotely following the hubbub in the activist/cycling community in Portland dealing with a deplorable excuse of a human being** who turned himself into a "leader" and used his influence to silence people he'd abused. His behavior had been going on for years when someone finally stepped up and said something at the beginning of the month. Oh Portland, I love you, and while these assholes can pop up anywhere I never thought I'd see it. Perhaps I was too naive, perhaps too wishful in my thinking.

I'd like to start a dialogue with local women who have interest in cycling, whatever that looks like. What can we do to make both rides and roads safer spaces? What can we do to strengthen our numbers?

Some ideas I've been tossing around:

• Education: How to choose a bicycle, how to ride with traffic, how to make basic fixes, how to defend yourself and your friends, how to create a safer space.
• Dialogue: Regular informal get-togethers to discuss the issues keeping us off the road and what we can do about it.
• Rides!
• Presence: Create a network of women at rides and in daily life that can aid with both harassment and cycling issues.

What do you think?

* Based on personal experience, no formal study.
** Hart Noecker