WE Bike- Women's Empowerment through Bicycles!

The goal of WE Bike is to create a social and educational community for women who ride bikes in New York City.

As a bike mechanic and a youth educator, I became aware that there was no organization in New York City specifically for women who ride bicycles.  I was interested most in creating a space for women who didn't consider themselves cyclists, felt intimidated in bike shops and on the street and was looking for a supportive way to ride that didn't involve mandatory spandex.

WE Bike was born. The WE in WE Bike stands for Women's Empowerment because I believe that bicycles have the potential to empower women to take control of the city and their lives.  WE Bike hosts rides, like many ride clubs, but we also are planning mechanics workshops and street safety classes.

WE Bike is an inclusive community for any women or women identifying people who ride, or would like to ride bikes.  Our goal is to increase confidence and community both on and off the road.

Currently WE Bike has over 100 members, a team of 15 riders in the 5 Boro Bike Tour, is a League of American Bicyclists Club and has led 2 training rides and one social ride in the month of March.  Future projects include April training rides for the 5 Boro Bike Tour, fix-a-flat workshops, culinary bike tours of all 5 boros, t-shirts and more!

WE Bike is an ongoing project designed at empowering women to ride and fix bikes in New York City.  

This year, our goal is to entrench WE Bike in the city's bike culture through outreach, rides, classes and meetings.  In order to do this we will:

1.     Lead 3-5 rides per month.  Some of these rides will be training rides and some will be social rides.  Our aim is to provide safe and welcoming environments for all types of riders.

2.     Host basic mechanics and fix a flat workshops. We want to give women the confidence to get home safely no matter how far they ride.

3.     Create a monthly newsletter. In addition to the month’s ride calendar this will include articles about issues important to women cyclists in NYC.

4.     Create a community ride calendar.  This calendar will include WE Bike rides as well as other female friendly bike events and activities.

5.     Host monthly planning meetings. WE Bike is a community and we want imput from everyone!

6.     Host seasonal social events such as movie nights and cookouts. WE Bike is a community of cyclists, sometimes it’s easier to talk not on a bike!

WE Bike came into being because there was a lack of cycling resources in NYC just for women.  As 20% of the ridership in NYC, there are a lot of women out there on the road.  WE Bike recognizes that women face unique challenges on the streets and that much of the cycling community is male oriented.  By creating a space just for women we hope to break down some of the barriers to cycling while also building supports for women and female identifying riders.  WE Bike is inclusive of all riders regardless of skill and spandex content and aims to create a judgement free environment where people can get together and have fun on bikes!