On a quiet path in a sunny, grassy park, six women are playing an unusual game of limbo. All on bicycles, they lean as far forward as they can without dropping their gaze or whacking their heads on a foam pool noodle as they ride underneath it.<\/p>\n
The women, aged from their late 30s to early 60s, all pay fierce attention to this task. There are some wobbles, some stops and starts, but that\u2019s to be expected: many of them haven\u2019t been on a bicycle in years. Some never learned to ride at all. They are here to change that.<\/p>\n
This is day two of the Women\u2019s Learn to Ride class, put on by the City of Whittlesea in northern Melbourne. Last week, the women were fitted to bikes and began getting their balance by scooting along with their feet off the ground. Some started pedalling. Today, they are learning to turn, to keep their balance while navigating hazards such as low branches (or pool noodles), and changing gears.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s Learn to Ride instructor Mara Ferraro demonstrates how to cycle beneath a pool noodle at Mill Park leisure centre in Melbourne. Photograph: Eugene Hyland\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
When her students have finished a few rounds of limbo, cycling instructor Mara Ferraro explains the benefit of the \u201cpelvic lift\u201d \u2013 elevating yourself off the bike seat \u2013 to help with hill climbs, and to avoid being uncomfortably rattled by bumps.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the next phase for you that I think is mega, mega important in terms of your balance,\u201d Ferraro says. \u201cYour legs are becoming like suspension in the car.\u201d<\/p>\n
double quotation markIf we\u2019re going to calm the roads down, we need to get more women on the roadsMara Ferraro<\/p>\n
Ferraro\u2019s business, Cycle Strength n\u2019 Fun, conducts learn-to-ride classes for schools, councils, community groups and individuals. The 58-year-old self-described \u201cgrandmother wearing Lycra\u201d has taught adults of all ages, and is a fervent advocate for older people, and women in particular, to start cycling.<\/p>\n
\u201cSix or seven years ago, the attitude on the roads [to cyclists] was really bad. I think it\u2019s better now and there\u2019s lots more cycling infrastructure now. But I thought, if we\u2019re going to calm the roads down, we need to get more women on the roads,\u201d Ferraro says. \u201cNobody wants to run over their grandma, or their mum, or their sister.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others appear to agree: demand for her services has boomed in the past 18 months. She expects that to only increase as the fuel crisis continues and people seek out cheaper and more environmentally friendly modes of transport.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cSchools are hiring us, local councils are finding money for behaviour change as part of their active transport strategies,\u201d Ferraro says. \u201cIt\u2019s the golden age of people getting back on their bikes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018The feeling is great\u2019Oge, 39, builds her confidence at her second class. Photograph: Eugene Hyland\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Oge, 39, had never been on a bicycle until now. She signed up as part of a desire to explore new kinds of recreation: \u201cThings that I can do for me, self-care,\u201d she says. \u201cI started learning swimming last year, and now I\u2019m doing bikes. I\u2019m just picking up skills that I\u2019ve always wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Rabia, 40, decided to learn after her nine-year-old daughter, who has a disability, took part in Ferraro\u2019s children\u2019s classes. \u201cI thought if I learn then maybe I can help her, because she needs more time and patience,\u201d Rabia says. The health benefits of cycling were an extra motivation.<\/p>\n Rabia surprised herself by picking up the basics quickly. \u201cI never thought I was going to be able to do it on day one. And it was really quite exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n Rabia decided to learn to cycle to help her young daughter. Photograph: Eugene Hyland\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Sisters Vicki, 59, and Maria, 60, rode as children but realised how rusty they had become after a recent island holiday that required them to use bicycles to get around.<\/p>\n \u201cI did this to try to see if I can develop some skills and feel confident on the bike, because even though I can ride I don\u2019t feel super confident,\u201d Vicki says.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re a kid you just get on a bike and you ride, you don\u2019t think about it. And now having to think about that is strange \u2026 But the feeling is great. I love that feeling, just being free when you\u2019re riding.\u201d<\/p>\n No age barrier<\/p>\n It is an exhilaration that seems to linger, not just from adrenaline but from renewed self-confidence.<\/p>\n Jane, 67, and Karen, 75, speak to Guardian Australia a few weeks after taking part in a cycling refresher course in March, held for women over 50 by Stonnington council<\/a> and instructors from Bike it Better<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jane had not ridden a bike since Covid lockdowns and, when she tried to get back on it last year, she found that it\u2019s not entirely true that you never lose your ability to ride a bike. She hadn\u2019t totally lost the skill but what used to come instinctively just didn\u2019t any more.<\/p>\n \u201cI rode around the block, got to the bottom of a hill on the footpath, realised I hadn\u2019t put the right gear on early enough, so I just fell off,\u201d she laughs. \u201cIt must have looked so bad \u2013 a lady stopped her car and ran over to make sure I was all right.\u201d<\/p>\n Photograph: Eugene Hyland\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Jane says she was \u201cstunned\u201d at how much difference the refresher tuition made. \u201cThings like how to brake smoothly, how to brake in an emergency, how to turn with your knee out \u2013 all this stuff you did as a kid or when you were confident \u2026 I was just thrilled to bits with it. I came away feeling totally buzzed.\u201d<\/p>\n Karen also knew how to ride but her confidence was low and she was worried about her balance, which meant the electric bikes she and her husband had bought during Covid lockdowns were gathering dust in the shed.<\/p>\n \u201cThat first ride was challenging \u2026 It\u2019s hard to get back on it when you are in your 70s. You\u2019re thinking of all these other things that could go wrong. But once you get going, it\u2019s good,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n Secondhand solutionsInstructor Mara Ferraro says \u2018buying a new bike now is ridiculously expensive\u2019. Photograph: Eugene Hyland\/The Guardian<\/p>\n At the end of the Whittlesea course, all the participants will get to keep one of the secondhand bikes they are riding, which have been refurbished by the Eltham Men\u2019s Shed specifically for the program.<\/p>\n Ferraro says she wanted to make it as seamless as possible for the students to keep pedalling.<\/p>\n \u201cI identified many years ago, when we were running these programs, that one of the biggest barriers was not having a bike,\u201d she says. \u201cBuying a new bike now is ridiculously expensive, and trying to negotiate a secondhand bike, if you have no knowledge about bikes and what\u2019s best suited for you, is really daunting.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re a little bit old but, as a starting bike, to get you moving, I think they\u2019re adequate. And then if people really want to take it on and go look for a lighter bike or the newer one, then at least they\u2019ve got the experience of what it\u2019s like and they can build on that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a quiet path in a sunny, grassy park, six women are playing an unusual game of limbo.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-577247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}