The 100km ride: how girls are popularizing cycling culture around the world

In today’s world, it’s hard to deny the importance of developing cycling as part of urbanism. It is a huge snowball that is hard to stop. The bicycle is now used everywhere, take at least food delivery.

Passion for such a sport is a whole club of like-minded people. Here you will certainly help you with breakdowns, keep you company on a walk and support you if you decide to challenge yourself to ride the longest distance of your life.

There are many competitions and races. They all have different formats, messages and atmospheres. Today we will talk about the Women’s 100 race, which takes place in different cities across the country every year.

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Historical background

In 2013, the first women’s bike race was organized with the support of Rapha, an English cycling apparel brand. This was done to encourage girls to get involved in cycling and cycling culture in general. In addition, part of the mission was for women to unite and support each other during the course. You can invite your girlfriends who have not yet cycled in this format. As a result – overcoming 100 kilometers. The race is held without much hurry and fuss. The event is not about records, as it is customary in sports, but about communication, fun and pleasure.

co-organizer of the Women’s 100 Moscow bike race

Tells how it all started, what the route consists of, how safe it is and what kind of bike is best to ride.

Everyone starts somewhere

Six years ago, in 2016, my friend Tanya and I decided to do the first such ride: we heard about the initiative of Rapha, an English cycling clothing brand, and wanted to support it. They came up with the idea of uniting women on bicycles and organizing a race all over the world – on the same day. We wanted to be part of it. In my environment at the time, a lot of people were riding separately, and there were hardly any common rides, only races. But I don’t like to race, I just wanted to ride in good company, so we did our own race.

The first three races were mixed – there were both girls and guys. We didn’t want to forbid anyone to support us, and in the first few times it didn’t seem like we could do it on our own. At the same time, we saw how in other countries only girls come to the same race, so we decided to make ours a purely female race. Turns out we can do anything. This is a story about female solidarity and support, which we see and feel at every Women’s 100 race.

Scheme of the route

We have been organizing such a race in Moscow for six years now, and four of them were held outside the city. We used to get on an electric train and leave for the suburbs with our bikes.

Because of this, there were only a few participants, 33 at the most: many people find it difficult and scary to go out of town with their bicycles. Last year we tried to make the start and finish in the city, and 67 girls and women came. So this year we were inclined to do the route in the city too.

The trajectory was drawn by Nastya Koroleva, and it is cool. The section in the forest along Rublyovka is especially memorable. And a rest stop in the park “By the Water Reflection”. A perfect place to make a stop.

Safety comes first

I think the hardest thing is to come up with a safe route. With ten or two people, you can drive almost anywhere in Moscow. But when you know that there will be more than 100 people, it makes a difference.

We tear up at traffic lights, we are no longer so skittish at complicated highway crossings, which cannot be avoided in the city. It’s hard to come up with a safe route for the large number of participants, but we try.

We have to divide into groups of 20-30 people in order to pass more safely and not to interfere with other vehicles. Everything else is not so difficult – to agree with partners, to come up with a program and places of start and finish.

We are growing about twice every year. It’s also noticeable that more bicycles appear in Moscow every year. Someone is adding riding to running, for example. I dream that someday bicycling will become as popular as running has become.

Bicycling can be …

We try to allow participants to come on any bike they want. But we ride on road and cyclocross bikes, ride on motor roads and lay out an appropriate route, which is immediately mentioned in the announcement of the race.

And then each girl makes her own decision whether she is ready to ride 100 km on her bike or not. 80-90% of the participants were on bikes with road geometry.

Also this year there were 32 girls who rode their first 100km – well done, I’m so glad they believed in their abilities.

Why is it sometimes uncomfortable to ride with men?

In my opinion, girls and women are not always comfortable riding with men. Sometimes because of the speed, and also not everyone rides fast and keeps up with the group right away. Sometimes the discomfort can be psychological.

In general, it is not easy to find your own company, with whom it is comfortable to ride. At the women’s race you can get the support you need at the start, and also get acquainted with like-minded women.

And another thing…

For the first four years, it was just me and my girlfriend, but now there are seven of us in the team. We all represent different cycling communities and clubs, and some of us just ride on our own. Once a year we come together to work together to make a cool ride, come up with prizes for the final raffle and an interesting route. Without the team I wouldn’t have been able to make such a cool event.

Thank you: Ira Shcherbakova, Tonya Artamonova, Lera Vornik, Nastya Koroleva, Masha Galanina and Ksyusha Komarova.