Bants, Bikes and Being Female

Adel is a fitness expert with more than 10 years of experience in personal coaching and high performance. She is a former athlete with national and world titles, she has competed and succeeded in Ironman and short course triathlon, endurance events such as 24-hour races and has excelled in many sporting professions. Through her company Shaka Lifestyle Coaching, she offers Life mentoring, personal training and nutritional coaching. Find out more on Twitter, Instagram and her website.

Charlie is a physiotherapist from Sheffield. She is one half of Fit4-Physio, a sports injury clinic run by runners and cyclists for runners and cyclists. She has been a physio for 17 years, including eight years serving in the British Army. Charlie retired from the army in 2014, after her last posting at the Defence Medical Rehab Centre, managing the team for lower limb rehabilitation. Also a qualified yoga and pilates instructor, she’s passionate about helping people to achieve their goals – in particular women.

With a can-do attitude, she takes a holistic approach to injury from assessment to treatment, rehabilitation and beyond. Bridging a gap between a women’s health physio and musculoskeletal physio, she works with women on their pre- and post-natal journey empowering women to exercise safely and confidently when planning a family. If she’s not at the clinic, she can be found running after her two small boys and a dog.

A runner-turned-cyclist, she’s never far from her two wheels or trainers. She has completed the Ride London and UCI World Champs sportives. She has developed a liking for Alpine Cols and daydreams of one day completing the Haute Route.

Crystal is a designer living and working in London. She has been riding bikes since she was a child, but since 2017, riding has become a passion. She spends her time in the saddle chasing adventure and escaping the humdrum of daily life. Crystal, who started commuting by bike in 2011 when she bought a road bike, prefers the quiet and alternative roads, the serenity and nature and meditation of spinning the cranks.

A few incidents have left her with cycling anxiety, but Crystal hasn’t let that beat her. Instead, she uses her anxiety to fuel herself, seeking adventure through travel. She plans to explore the wonders of bikepacking in the UK and abroad once the coronavirus pandemic is over.

Her fascination with cycling led her to learn everything there is to know about bikes. Now she builds them as a hobby, and takes online cycling maintenance webinars almost every week. Crystal’s mantra is ‘never stop learning’, which always opens up more opportunities, whether that’s learning about bikes, routes, technique, or community.

Crystal wants to get more involved in helping people on their bikes to overcome some of the worries cycling brings and believes that solidarity through shared experiences can be a powerful tool.

Diana has ridden bikes for as long as she can remember – her main love now being road cycling. Over the years, she’s taken part in sportives, cycled in the Alps and raced time trials, criteriums and the odd road race. She also cycles for transport day to day, either alone or with her children.

She discovered cargo bikes when her children were three years and 18 months and it’s been their main means of family transport for the past five years. At eight and six years now, Diana is moving them to a tandem for the little one and independent cycling for the older one … but she still loves her cargo bike.

She’s passionate about supporting more people to cycle, whether that be riding to the shops or competing in races. She leads free rides for women in her local area of Edinburgh as a Breeze Champion and also supports other Breeze Champions as area co-ordinator for East and Central Scotland.

She is a British Cycling tutor, delivering Ride Leader Award courses throughout Scotland, and is a Level 2 Road coach and runs her own business, Active Cycle Coaching. When she’s not on a bike, she loves to write, especially about bikes!

Emily is a triathlete who had to pare back her training when perimenopause hit. She has subsequently set up the Perimenopause Hub, bringing together experts in the field so no woman need feel as lost as she did. Having been a skier all her life, Emily only really took up cycling (and triathlon) in her 30s so she is very aware of the hurdles beginners might face. She lives in Norfolk with her partner and six dogs.

Gemma was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 24 in 2012; she went on to establish MOVE Charity in 2016 in order to provide much-needed support for those living with cancer. She is also a co-founder – along with Lucy Gossage – of 5K Your Way, Move Against Cancer, a community-based initiative to encourage those living with cancer and their friends, family and carers to stay active.

Gemma went on to become an international distance runner following her diagnosis. She brings a different outlook to the panel both from a professional and personal perspective.

Jesse is a nutrition and lifestyle coach and personal trainer based in Brighton, with 10 years’ experience coaching women. By understanding the barriers that women face – both physiologically and psychologically – she keeps her approach very realistic, sustainable and enjoyable. By keeping things realistic and enjoyable, women learn how to thrive rather than burn out.

Her core principles lie in behaviour change and empowering women to make positive changes to their nutrition and lifestyle whatever stage they are at in their lives. She believes passionately that with the correct education, practical tools and by adopting the right mindset, women can become confident that they will never have to try yet another diet or exercise fad again. No foods are off limits, and Jesse coaches her clients to be inclusive not restrictive and importantly feel confident in their choices and actions.

Having been a runner and suffering from amenorrhoea (loss of menstruation) due to RED-S (relative energy deficiency in sports), she also recognises the importance of fuelling correctly to maintain good health, performance and prevent injury via the use of correct sports nutrition and recovery strategies. She is a fuel and lifestyle coach for Her Spirit, which provides her with the opportunity to fulfil her passion in helping all women to gain access to the tools to help them become healthy and happy individuals.  

Keri is a scientist, and mum of three. Cycling, for her, started as a solution to repeated running injuries, and coincided with her husband’s love of the pastime. He surprised her with the gift of a secondhand road bike, but initially annoyed at being pushed into ‘his’ sport, the bike was left in the shed.

However, missing her regular runs caused her mental health to spiral, and in October 2016 she suffered a massive mental breakdown. She narrowly avoided being sectioned, and felt terrified. After spending a few months recovering at home while supported by her GP and family, she eventually dusted off the bike and joined a 10-mile British Cycling Beginners Breeze Ride. She’d never ridden a road bike or cycled as part of a group, but loved every minute of it. Ten months after that, she completed a 75-mile sportive and treated herself to a new bike.

She covered miles while living with a damning voice in her head, telling her she was useless, fat and slow, but she decided to challenge it. She's since ridden in time trial, at velodromes, MTB, commuted many miles, and cycled coast to coast.

Initially trained as a nutritionist, Lesley qualified as a homeopath at The College of Practical Homeopathy in 1995 and joined the register of homeopaths. She runs a busy homeopathic practice in south Croydon, as well as a student clinic to complement the training of homeopaths

She is a keen and regular cyclist, and has competed in various forms of cycling, including Trans Portugal, where she was the eldest of the seven female entrants.

Qualified bike mechanic and DJ, Lorraine Dixon is that person who can turn even the most dry of bike-related topics into a barrel of laughs.

Representing the Joyful Bellas and Fellas, Lorraine is known for encouraging beginners of all backgrounds, ages and abilities to join her cycling group in the Midlands.

Lucy is a cancer doctor and a professional triathlete. A 14 x Ironman champion, she entered her first triathlon as a dare while working as a junior doctor in 2006 – she refers to herself as an “accidental pro”. Lucy also co-founded – along with fellow panellist Gemma Hillier-Moses – the national charity initiative 5K Your Way, Move Against Cancer. She writes extensively on sport and her work as an oncologist. You can find out more about Lucy on her website.

Rachael Walker is an award-winning women’s cycling events organiser and has been racing bikes for more than 15 years, competing at a global level in Downhill and Enduro mountain biking.

She also loves a long-distance bikepacking adventures, which is what makes her the perfect Komoot ambassador. Komoot is a route-planning app that helps you find on- and off-road paths for cycling.

Silvi Vargas is a BMX racer and coach. She runs BMX-ercise classes for women and has worked as a mechanic for Evans Cycles.

She has fixed everything on a bike, hit massive jumps and created fun and welcoming environments in which women are able to push their limits and thrive.

You can find out more about Silvi on her website.

Vicky Balfour is a mountain biking coach, mindset coach and bike mechanic. She teaches bike mechanics and cycle maintenance, and runs Resilient Riders courses via her company Vicky Bikes. She is also mum to two children who have health difficulties and disabilities, who need special support to be able to enjoy cycling like everyone else.

The voice of adaptive and non-standard cycles, she aims to educate audiences about the various options out there enabling everyone to enjoy cycling.

Check out Vicky’s Instagram, Facebook page and YouTube channel.