Today, community fitness app, Her Spirit, and the UK’s leading bike shop, Rutland Cycling announce a new partnership to inspire many more women to cycle.
The partnership, announced from The Cycle Show at Alexandra Palace, will empower women to have the confidence and competence to cycle for leisure on or off-road or for purposeful transport to and from work.
Research by Sports England’s Active Lives Survey (May 2020-May 2021), revealed that 8.3 million adults cycle regularly in England with only 13% of these being women. To boost these numbers Rutland Cycling and Her Spirit are working together to help more women build a cycling habit and break down the barriers that are hindering them.
According to further research amongst Her Spirit’s community of 25,000 members the biggest barrier to cycling is a lack of mechanical information (60%), followed by concerns over route planning (21%), what to wear (11%) and road safety (8%).
To tackle these pain points, Her Spirit and Rutland Cycling are introducing the Frightened to Fearless programme, a series of cycling workshops supported by British Triathlon, and female-only events taking place this summer, which include free group rides from selected Rutland Cycling Stores, live-streamed indoor cycling sessions, mechanical tutorials such as learning how to repair a puncture and access to a dedicated Rutland Cycling specialist who is on hand to help women navigate cycle shop lingo and work out what to buy from saddles to lights or a brand new bike.
The Frightened to Fearless programme is built around a group of female cycling coaches who will lead social rides, offer support, inspiration, and guidance for women across all ages and abilities.
Mel Berry, co-founder of Her Spirit, says: “Cycling is healthy, fun and a low-impact form of exercise for all ages and easy to fit into your daily routine by riding to the shops, park, school or work. Our goal is to make every woman fitter, stronger and healthier and this partnership further strengthens our commitment to address the significant impact the pandemic has had on female participation in sports.”
Andrea Mulqueen, Commercial Director for Rutland Cycling, adds: “Rutland Cycling is delighted to announce our partnership with Her Spirit. Women are historically underserved in the cycling market and through this partnership we hope to remove some of the barriers to female participation by supporting members of the Her Spirit community with advice and expertise. Working closely with the Her Spirit community, we hope to open up cycling for both fitness and transport to a much wider audience of women who haven’t felt at home in the sport that we love, and also take learnings away on how we, as a bicycle retailer, can improve our offer to this important segment.”
