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There is a D.C. bicycle story that few know of. But it’s this story that has inspired groups of cyclists around the country to challenge the notions of who bikes and why. On an Easter weekend in 1928, Marylou Jackson, Velma Jackson, Ethyl Miller, Leolya Nelson and Constance White took a trip from New York to Washington D.C. — but unlike the many who make that journey via bus, train or plane these ‘Five Cyclists’ made the trip on their bikes. Over three days, these five black women made the 250-mile journey between the two cities in what was then a stunning pace.

When we released “The New Majority: Pedaling Toward Equity” report in May, we knew it was just the first step to a much bigger, complex and on-going discussion about bicycling equity in the United States. Anthony Taylor, a member of the League’s Equity Advisory Council and founding member of the Major Taylor Bicycling Club of Minnesota, gives his take on the report this week on the Bike Walk Twin Cities blog. An important and engaging read…

Austin, Texas, is “putting a bite” in its 3-foot passing law. The City of Austin passed a 3-foot law back in 2009, but — like many localities and states — was slow to enforce the law. This year, as part of Austin’s celebration of Bike Month, the City of Austin police department began an enforcement effort using undercover police officers on bikes.

On Friday, dozens clicked over to the #womenbike Twitter hashtag to follow along, offer opinions and connect with others interested in women and bikes. We hosted our first @WomenBike Twitter chat, taking a closer look at our new report, “Women on a Roll.” We talked women-owned bike shops, the pervasive myths about women on bikes, how we encourage others to ride, and more! We’ve rounded up the highlights of the chat for all of those who were unable to join us. And, luckily for us, a few others recapped the chat on their networks, too (Cyclelicious and Lauren Jenkins — thanks!).

Just last week, we released a first-of-its-kind report — “Women on Roll” — that compiles dozens of statistics and highlights five key focus areas to inspire and encourage more female ridership. One of the most important take-aways: More women on bikes means a healthier America.

For the past few weeks, we’ve been highlighting one National Bike Challenge participant each week as part of our Challenge Blog Fridays. We absolutely love hearing the unique stories of each Challenger — what got them started, what keeps them motivated, what type of bike they ride. Each one of us has a story of how and why we ride. That’s why the National Bike Challenge is so special.

This week, the League’s Women Bike program released “Women on a Roll,” a first-of-its-kind report compiling dozens of stats and stories that put hard numbers behind the power and impact of women bicyclists. But before we dive into the data, we knock down a few misconceptions. Here are our 10 Myths about Women and Bicycling.

There are dozens of new stats and stories to digest in our new Women Bike report, “Women on a Roll.” To dig in a little deeper and keep the conversation going, we’ll be hosting a Twitter chat on Friday at 2 p.m. EDT. I’ll be moderating from @WomenBike, and we’ll be using the #womenbike hashtag to keep track of the discussion.