Unsung female cycling heroes

Despite some huge strides forward, women are still massively under-represented in cycling, whether that’s the sport, the wider industry or even just ordinary people getting on their bikes. Today is International Women’s Day, so we’re highlighting just some of the women working to redress this imbalance.

Alex Feechan

Scottish fashion designer Alex Feechan is CEO and founder of FINDRA, an ethical clothing company.

A keen cyclist and mountain biker, she quickly realised that when it came to cycle clothing women were something of an afterthought, and in 2014 she set up FINDRA.

This awarding-winning activewear company creates ethically made, sustainable cycling gear that’s designed to make you feel good about being out on your bike. A men’s range was added in 2018.

She says of her inspiration behind FINDRA: “Having moved to the Tweed Valley in the Scottish Borders it wasn’t long before I was hooked on mountain biking, spending my Saturdays out in the hills having fun. When I went to buy some decent kit for my newfound hobby I was struck by the lack of choice for women, with 90% of the product offering being for men and the rest a bit of an afterthought for women.

“The product suffered from what we refer to in the industry as the ‘shrink it and pink it’ approach. I was genuinely disappointed and pretty shocked at what was on offer; I felt it was letting women down.

“Inspired to do better I had my lightbulb moment. With a 20-year career as a fashion designer, I decided to combine my talent and experience as a designer with my passion for the outdoors and so FINDRA was born.

“My aim was to design clothing for women that was fit for purpose but also stylish, versatile and sustainable, clothes that women actually wanted to wear when they were outdoors having fun doing what they love.”

Beryl Burton

One of the UK’s most successful competitive cyclists, Beryl Burton’s many achievements are too numerous to list here. Suffice to say she won more than 90 domestic championships and seven world titles between 1957 and 1986, setting numerous national records along the way.

Sadly, today she is hardly known outside of the cycling world. This is changing, though, with the book Beryl: In Search of Britain’s Greatest Athlete by Jeremy Wilson published in 2022 and the critically acclaimed play Beryl, by Maxine Peake, herself a keen cyclist.

She died in 1996, aged just 58.

Eileen Sheridan

Another largely unknown sporting hero, Eileen Sheridan sadly died in February this year, at the grand old age of 99. She was a life-long Cycling UK member, in fact joining CTC, as it was back then, is what inspired her to start racing.

As an amateur competitor, she specialised in time trialling. She broke all the records of the Women’s Road Records Association during the late 1940s and 1950s. After turning professional in 1951, she continued to break records; her 1,000-mile (1609 km) record of 3 days and 1 hour stood for 48 years until it was broken in 2002 by Lynne Taylor.

Once you’ve got a taste of the freedom and thrill of riding a bike, I reckon you’ll come back for more

Hannah Dobson, managing editor of Singletrack

Hannah Dobson

Cycling media can still feel like an exclusively men’s club, so it’s satisfying that Hannah Dobson is the first of two magazine journalists represented here. As managing editor of Singletrack World magazine and website, she gets paid to write about mountain bikes for a wide-ranging audience.

She joined the magazine as editorial assistant and was promoted to her current position in 2021 when Singletrack co-founder and then editor Chipps Chippendale decided to take more of a back seat.

I asked what her advice would be for women who want to take up cycling but have reservations. “Cycling should be fun! If you’re starting out and don’t enjoy the experience, I think there’s probably something wrong with the way you’ve been introduced to it. The wrong weather, the wrong company, the wrong terrain, or the wrong gear for the situation... all can certainly create a bad first impression!

“Go with someone you trust, plan something that sounds fun to you, and choose a place that suits the kit you’ve got available. Once you’ve got a taste of the freedom and thrill of riding a bike, I reckon you’ll come back for more.”

Hannah Miller

Women account for just 8% of cycle workshop roles, according to research by the Bicycle Association. Hannah is helping fix that imbalance with Hannah’s Bike Barn, which she set up in February 2022. A Cytech-qualified cycle mechanic, she offers servicing and repairs, along with selling accessories, for the whole family’s bikes. She also runs maintenance courses for the local scouts.

A keen cyclist, Hannah is passionate about getting families out on their bikes together. She teaches children to ride, as well as offering adult lessons along with confidence-building sessions for riding on roads or with children.

Isabelle Clement

Isabelle Clement is director of Wheels for Wellbeing, a London-based charity fighting for equality for disabled cyclists. A disabled cyclist herself, she works tirelessly to highlight the barriers facing disabled cyclists, ensuring that disabled cyclists and those that use non-standard cycles have a voice. In 2021 she was recognised with an honorary MBE for her voluntary charitable services.

Through her work as director of Wheels for Wellbeing, Isabelle campaigns for better accessible infrastructure, the recognition of cycles as mobility aids, and greater representation of disabled cyclists in cycling policy, images and language.

Kate Veronneau

This former pro-cyclist is now director of women’s strategy at Zwift. The online virtual training and racing platform has experienced a huge surge in popularity over the past few years, especially during the various coronavirus-related lockdowns.

The company brought Veronneau onboard in 2016 to run the first ever Zwift Academy – a talent identification programme for the professional women’s cycling team Canyon–SRAM. Around 1,000 women signed up to the programme.

Today, the women’s community is Zwift’s fastest-growing demographic, and the company has signed a four-year sponsorship deal with the women’s Tour de France, which runs this year from 23 to 30 July.

She comments: “Cycling is a beautiful sport that can be enjoyed by such a range of ages and abilities. It’s important to offer encouragement, education and a safe environment to overcome some of the initial obstacles many women face getting into the sport.

“I’m proud of the space we’ve built at Zwift. Not everyone lives in a place that has good shop rides or safe roads. We have such a fabulous global community of women, excited to share their knowledge and experience. Whether you enjoy social rides or more competitive training and racing, there’s friends to bike with in all time zones, at all levels.”

Liz Bingham

Preparation for a 10,000km cycling tour of the Americas with partner – now husband – Phil left Liz Bingham frustrated when she found the choice of clothing for women to be, well, limited. And so the idea for a retail outlet for women’s cycling clothing was born.

Realising that was a huge opportunity for the growing women’s cycling community to be much better served, Liz and Phil founded VeloVixen in 2012. The company aimed to showcase and make more easily available great products by inspiring and talented women entrepreneurs.

But they didn’t just build a brand. They also created a community, with a very active and supportive Facebook group, VeloVixen Women’s Cycling Chat.

Sadly, after more than a decade in trading, VeloVixen announced it would be closing its doors in early 2023. But the story doesn’t end there. Popular cycling brand Stolen Goat has taken over the company. We look forward to the next chapter!

Michelle Arthurs-Brennan

As a cycling journalist, Michelle Arthurs-Brennan has had to fend off some horrific online misogyny. But we’re not going to go into that here. Instead, we’re going to highlight some of her many achievements.

She is currently technical editor of Cycling Weekly, one of the UK’s most successful cycling magazines. Before that she was editor of the sadly now defunct and much missed – by me at least – Total Women’s Cycling.

Having raced for Norwood Paragon CC, and often being the only woman in the club, she set up 1904rt in 2017. This all-female road racing team is supported by Norwood Paragon and bike shop Maison du Velo. The goal is to provide female cyclists with the teammates and support required to progress from regional level racing to national series events.

Rachel Aldred

Rachel Aldred is a professor of transport at the University of Westminster, as well as director of university’s Active Travel Academy. As a researcher and keen cyclist, she knows all about the benefits of active travel on both a personal and a professional level.

She comments: “In the UK, women cycle much less than men, but in places where cycling is better supported, women cycle as much or even more than men do.

“Cycling could be improving many women’s health, getting them to where they need to go quickly and cheaply, and making their days more joyful and sociable. Yet systematic exclusion – running from infrastructure, to planning and policy, to media representation – means that many women and people of all genders from other marginalised groups feel cycling isn’t for them.”

Sarah Mitchell

We couldn’t write about the women working in cycling without mentioning our own chief executive, Sarah Mitchell. The Bicycle Association found that “the number of women in senior leadership roles in cycling is scant,” so it’s significant that Sarah is head of the UK’s leading cycling charity.

I asked her why it’s so important to her to get more women out on their cycles. “For many years I felt as though I was the lone woman cycling to and from work – the only woman with a bike in my office and one of very few on the roads. The image of cycling was almost uniformly male.

“Today I am inspired and delighted to see so many more women on bikes on the roads and routes in my local area. Women of all ages, ethnicities, backgrounds and riding all manner of bikes!

“One of the reasons I wanted to work for Cycling UK was to encourage many more women to believe that riding a bike is for us too. Every week in this job I hear brilliant stories about women working and volunteering in cycling, and I am keen for us to share these stories with more women across the UK.”

This is only a tiny selection of the women working to make cycling more accessible and inclusive for all. Many more are celebrated in Cycling UK’s 100 Women in Cycling. This annual list celebrating cycling’s women heroes has been running since 2017. We’ll be launching this year’s award very soon, so start thinking about who you want to nominate for 2023!