Hell on Two Wheels: Ladies Night

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Last night's annual Winterfest fundraiser for the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition was full of pretty people looking fit and happy making bids on art, travel, bikes and other things they can afford with all the money they aren't spending on gas, insurance and parking tickets. It was nice to be among fellow travelers, if for a brief moment. But they are the converted, and when I originally pitched this column, it was in the proselytizer's hope of willing new butts onto bike seats.

In the past couple of weeks, I've been repeatedly reminded that cycling is still perceived as uninviting, even scary, with a number of otherwise able-bodied friends expressing safety fears, concerns about their level of fitness or dexterity, and swearing off cycling in San Francisco or even beyond. I imagine many of them rode bikes when they were even more awkward kids, purely for the joy of it. And I can tell you, it doesn't get any less fun just because you've grown up.

Cycling isn't just an environmental and public health issue, but a feminist oneOf particular concern is that of the five specific cases in recent memory, four of them were women. And the crowd at Winterfest reflected that gender disparity, at it was a bit of a sausage-fest, with my unscientific count estimating two guys for every girl. Even the new 90210 has figured out those favorable dating odds! That's not to say there aren't a large number of women who are confident and capable cyclists -- many could probably kick my ass on a ride -- but its clear that if the cycling community wants to grow its ranks, it might focus its efforts on convincing more women to take up cycles.

Unfortunately, there may be more at play than just a general lack of skill or understanding on the part of women who don't cycle -- larger issues of socially fabricated gender roles and its presumptions of normative behavior also seem at work. In other words, cycling isn't just an environmental and public health issue, but a feminist one as well. Way back in 1896, when cyclists were lobbying for the very paved roads they now have to fight motorists for, Susan B. Anthony declared "I think [the bicycle] has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives a woman a feeling of freedom and self-reliance."

Certainly cars did that, too, which is probably why misogynists felt the need to tell dismissive jokes about "women drivers." But now that (I hope) feminists see the interests of women as intertwined with those of the environment and public health, cycling might win some attention as a relevant issue. After all, an American woman's freedom to drive when and where she pleases isn't largely shared with women around the world, and it can be argued that the ease of and access to automobiles Americans enjoy comes at the cost of war, political corruption and environmental degradation to more women worldwide, and is a disservice to their collective interest.

But on a personal level, for both women and men, the unwillingness to ride a bike seems to boil down to a mixture of safety fears, a lack of confidence and a failure of the imagination. The good news is, all of these can be overcome. At the risk of getting all Oprah up in here, let's do a little visualization exercise, shall we?

Okay, take a moment, and a deep breath. Relax. Now picture yourself on a bicycle. Maybe a particularly stylish one like something from an artsy European film. It's a sunny day, and your riding through the neighborhood, a load of fresh produce in your basket. You're wearing fashionable clothes a size smaller than your old wardrobe (I know I am), and smiling. Dipping in and out of traffic with élan, you wave to the local shopkeep sweeping the trash from the sidewalk as you pass by. "Ciao, signore!"

Sounds fun, no? Again, it is! It is also cheap, and fashionable, and good for you. But how do you get there, past fears and preconceptions? It's really pretty simple: practice. If you can pilot an automobile at freeway speeds, you have plenty of coordination. If you can stand on one foot with your arms out to your sides to pass a field sobriety test, you have plenty of balance. And you don't have to start in the fast lane, weaving a fixie at twenty miles an hour down Market, or even buy a bike -- any avid cyclist would probably be happy to loan you one, and show you around town as well.

Or you can rent a bike by the hour right in the middle of Golden Gate Park, with its wide, quiet roads and car-free paths to explore. Or rent one for the day and mosey along the over 300 miles Bay Trail. You've certainly seen less-than-svelte tourists from the flyover states navigating the city's streets on rentals from Blazing Saddles -- where a set of wheels starts at $28. They even offer tours, guided by experienced riders who know scenic routes with low grades, quiet streets and mixed-use paths.

After all the discouraging stories I'd heard, I was heartened to read on a friend's blog that after biking casually for recreation only a short time, she's gained enough confidence to start incorporating her bike into her daily routine around Vancouver. If you need more inspiration, check out "Beauty and the Bike," where young English women encouraged to cycle gushed about the experience. And that's in a country where a study recently found that women cyclists were in more danger because they were deferential and accommodating to traffic laws and cars.

Beyond all the reasons to take up cycling you've heard before, you can add the opportunity to strike a blow against the patriarchy. And if you do decide to eventually take on San Francisco's traffic, go ahead and be as big a rule-flouting, stereotype-defying, post-feminist bitch about it as you like. It's the only way to ride!

Jackson West has ridden a bike around the San Juan Islands, up and down the Cascades, in Vancouver, Seattle, Brooklyn, Austin and all over the Bay Area. According to another cyclist he met at a bike rack, he is "proof you can be chic on a bicycle." Have any bike-related questions? Send an email!