Monday, April 9, 2012

Women Who Bike And the Women Who Influence Them

There's a lot being done to get more women on bikes. Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) has been hard at work on the issue and the League of American Bicyclists featured a forum on women and biking. And let's not forget the home-grown movement kick-started by Veronica Davis, Black Women Bike DC.

The first, most important woman in my life-the one I am named after-would sometimes bike with us as kids. I remember we had a great paved path that was used by everyone--dog walkers, folks just out for a stroll, and kids like me zipping over to a friend's house, to the beach, or to the library.

We lost my mom yesterday, early Easter Sunday morning. As I went through some old photos, I found these. My mom side by side with her older sister. Check out her starter bike. And then take a look at the close up and that--I see it as determination--as she focuses on her older sister's bike.

And though this blog is about bicycles, I have to confess: as a child, more than a bike, I wanted a pony. I was one of those little girls who doodled ponies and horses endlessly, read every book I could that was vaguely horse-related, and when I got my first bike, pretended my bike was in fact a horse. I even posted when coasting, as though at a trot on a horse. I was hopeless. And perhaps this is why: I love this photo of my mom more than any other.
Kay O'Boyle Ryan 

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