Women Bike > Future Bike

Less than two years ago, the League launched Women Bike at the Pro Walk Pro Bike Pro Place conference in Long Beach, Calif. I still remember that first moment standing at the podium. I had barely gotten the words Welcome to the National Women’s Bicycling Summit out of my mouth when a woman in the crowd yelled “It’s about time!” — and a massive cheer erupted from the packed room.

Well, it’s time to take the conversation further. Get ready for Future Bike.

Since 2012, the Women Bike program has flourished: We’ve hosted two national forums, released a frequently cited report, convened more than a dozen webinars, awarded thousands of dollars in mini-grants and cultivated a vibrant online following of more tha 10,000 supporters across Facebook, Twitter and e-mail.

That success and energy hasn’t just rippled out across the country; it’s had a significant impact here at the League, too. That event at Pro Walk Pro Bike created a space that invited a wide diversity of female bicyclists: from the Ovarian Psycos to elected officials, from DIY mechanics to feminist thought leaders, from ladies who ride as an expression of black power to marketing gurus compelled by cycling style. It mobilized women from vastly different backgrounds and perspectives and united them at the intersection of their love of biking.

In that room, we saw the future of the bike movement — and knew we needed to do even more. It opened the space for us to begin to address the often uncomfortable but critically important conversations about who is and who is not represented in informing and benefitting from our work. Our Equity Initiative has challenged our organization to look inward at our own practices and programs, and convene conversations with grassroots leaders to advance the bike equity discussion at large.

Grounded in the same principles of leadership and inclusion, Women Bike and the Equity Initiative are combining forces to bring that conversation back to Pro Walk Pro Bike this year. Circle September 11 on your calendars and get ready for…

Future Bike
At the intersection of mobility and identity

The future success of the bike movement rests on recognizing the strength in our diversity; Future Bike meets at the intersections of difference to create a vision for bicycling that elevates new voices, engages local communities and reimagines how we create streets that are vibrant public spaces that bring us together. In this half-day forum, hosted by the League of American Bicyclists’ Women Bike Program and Equity Initiative, we’ll discuss how to involve and be led by new and previously overlooked stakeholders — and how to integrate those perspectives to redefine and grow the bike movement.

Registration just opened yesterday — be one of the first to sign up. And stay tuned for much more in coming days.

(Photo by Maureen McGinnis: Members of the Ovarian Psycos presenting at the 2012 National Women’s Bicycling Summit)