Building on Success: Women Bike Plans for the Future

In barely one year, the League’s efforts to increase the number of women riding has evolved from a two-hour discussion to a full-blown national initiative that drew more than 375 fired-up attendees to our second annual Forum in March. Clearly, there’s tremendous momentum behind our Women Bike program — and this past weekend we brought together key stakeholders and diverse perspectives for a focused two-day strategic planning session.

And, wow, we’ve got big plans in store!

From left: Karyn Williams (co-founder of Velo-City), Susi Wunsch (founder of Velojoy.com), Elysa Walk (Giant Bicycles’ General Manager), Tanya Quick (Principal, Language Dept.), Sarai Snyder (founder of GirlBikeLove and co-founder of CycloFemme), me!, Nicole Preston (National Campaign Director, Tour De Cure), Caroline Samponaro (Senior Director, Campaigns & Organizing, Transportation Alternatives), Jakob Wolf-Barnett (League COO), Karen Overton (Executive Director, Recycle-a-Bicycle)

We were lucky to have the expert guidance of consultant Barbara Smith, who put together an incredible agenda that allowed us to both step back and assess the big picture when it comes to getting more women on bikes and delve into the specifics of how our program can work to close the gender gap.

Over the course of two days, we had in-depth discussions about what success will look like and how Women Bike can work to break down the barriers to change the face of bicycling.

Those discussion were particularly inspiring — and effective — because of the diversity of perspectives in the room, including advocacy, industry, marketing, social/cause riding and youth programming.

After a full 12 hours of work, by Saturday afternoon, we had the pieces of a strong, transformative and uniquely powerful Women Bike program. This week, with help from this talented Strategic Planning Committee, I’m putting those pieces together into a comprehensive plan.

Stay tuned for more exciting news in coming days!