Brain Farts of a Bike Tart

Tuesday 3rd of August.  A colleague walks over to my desk and says he’s going to send me a link to something in the Guardian, and that I’m either going laugh or cry about it.  Okaaay.  This usually means I’m going to be highly irritated by something.

He wasn’t wrong.

There is an interview with model Erin O’Connor which is actually quite good.  She’s an ambassador for the Sky Rides and is a keen cyclist herself.  She was keen to spread the message that cycling is for everyone, that even she wears a helmet and that everyone has war stories about falling off their bikes, whether it be stupidly or heroically.  The message was positive.

So what does the Guardian do to back up this positive piece about women and cycling?  They produce a photo gallery of piece called ‘The best cycling gear for women‘. 

The best?  Really?!

The t-shirts are ok.  For sitting in the pub.

Then pannier bags are very, well, pretty. Practical too.

The poncho.  Just plain wrong.  Who on earth would be seen alive wearing that?

The Knog mitts, the only part of the gallery I agreed with, having had a look at them myself in the past.

But please, a ‘reflective sailor bib’.  £72 for a reflective sailor bib, which will probably only look trendy (to some) for a week.  Honestly.  And we’re supposed to be trying to make more women cycle.  Not less. 

The emphasis of the whole article is wrong.  This is certainly not the best women’s cycling gear.  It’s an expensive collection of some of the worst.  It makes me wonder if the Guardian actually looked at the more mainstream women’s gear out there on the market, saw how poor the offering was, and so decided to publish a gallery of g ear that very few people would actually be able or even want to buy.

The Guardian has failed to address the problem that is women’s cycling gear, with its pastel colours, flower patterns, poor cuts and sizing, when it could have tried to find the best of the women’s gear currently out on the market, such as my favourite brand of shorts, Pearl Izumi.  They could have even satisfied those with money to throw around and they could have featured the Rapha women’s range. 

The Guardian also did not try to present any gear from a practical perspective.  Ok, maybe not all girls want to go around wearing thin lycra.  So there are plenty of trouser options.

The way to make more girls cycle is to make them feel comfortable with what they’re wearing on the bike.

So come on Guardian – give us a gallery of women’s cycle gear that is affordable, practical, and that every girl across the country would wear, not just a minority of ladies in London.

And if you can’t find that gear…then make sure you let the manufacturers know – you have a voice and some weight in this battle.

Photo by PR on the Guardian website