This piece first appeared in the April 2026 edition of BikeBiz magazine – not subscribed? Get a free subscription.
by Laura Laker
“I don’t think people understand how much fun they can have on a bike until they get on it”. Naomi Rumble is one of ten women with their names on hire bikes in London – and this is how her club, Together We Ride, gets people cycling who might not otherwise give it a go.
I joined Naomi and seven other women as Transport for London staff unveiled the ten public hire bikes (aka ‘Boris Bikes’ or Santander Cycles) named after these ‘unsung heroes’. Two women were unable to attend, one having been born in the 1800s, the other being on holiday. They have variously empowered other women to cycle by leadership, encouragement, storytelling and inspiration and, in two cases, they use the bicycle to save lives.
Naomi told me as we stood beside the sunlit Lea Valley Velodrome in east London: “It’s all about increasing diversity in cycling. Those that maybe never would have thought of getting on a bike, we say, ‘just get on a bike, join. We’ll explore London, explore the country’.”
The rides are open to anyone and range from entry-level to more than 100 miles, and the formula clearly works: their club on Strava has more than 600 members. Naomi herself started cycling through the club. At the time, with her hybrid bike, she struggled to find suitable cycling groups – until spotting Together We Ride online. As a Black woman, seeing other Black women in the club encouraged her and now, as director, she is that representation for other women.
It is a hard reality that cycling needs more women. For every cycling trip a woman makes in England*, a man makes between two and three. For every mile cycled by women, men cycle four to five (depending on age). To state the obvious, fewer women cycling means fewer people buying goods and services from the industry. It means fewer sales.
There are a number of reasons for this difference and, happily, a few solutions. Women are less tolerant of dangerous roads than men. They are also subject to dangers men don’t experience to the same extent, and are often unaware of. Research by the London Cycling Campaign’s Women’s Network found 24% of the city’s cycle network felt unsafe for women because it uses isolated paths where a hidden attacker might lurk. The choice is often to cycle on a busy road or not to cycle at all. We know which one women choose: a third give up cycling in winter.
Whether someone chooses to cycle or not depends on more than just bike lanes, though. Grassroots groups and role models help by encouraging new riders, showing them the quiet or traffic-free routes, what to wear, and how to tackle basic mechanical issues.
Samra Said is Chair of Cycle Sisters, a Muslim women’s cycle club. They run lessons, group rides and help build people’s confidence. They also bring new people into the industry. So far, they have trained more than 130 women as British Cycling-accredited volunteer Ride Leaders and 24 women as qualified National Standards instructors. They have more than 2,100 members across nine London boroughs – showcasing cycling to even more Muslim women as they pedal.
Samra adds, people want to cycle; they just need the right opportunities. “We often hear the phrase ‘hard to reach,’ but we strongly disagree with that idea. People themselves aren’t hard to reach as it’s more about the way organisations try to connect with them and whether the opportunities being offered truly meet their needs.”
As Samra put it: “Many women feel more comfortable learning from female instructors, especially those from similar cultural backgrounds. Instructors from diverse communities can also act as role models and ambassadors, helping recruit and encourage more women to participate in cycling.” These instructors are crucial for more Muslim women to cycle, and those instructors need a workplace that understands their needs, including childcare commitments and prayer times.
Harjit Kaur Lakhan is Chair of Sikh Cycle Club. She says: “Even though we’re called Sikh cycle club, we get together, all cultures and races, it doesn’t matter, and we just encourage people to get out and ride with us”. Her reasons for starting a women’s group were that “there were a lot of women who wanted to join the club, who were not so confident riding with the men because they’re at a different level. It doesn’t matter what pace you ride at, just come along, you’ll always find your level, and what we really look forward to is the cups of tea and the cake.”
Annahita Benbow runs NorthWest Pedal Express, a bike bus in Brent that picks up children from different locations and drops them at multiple schools in the area as it goes. She says: “It just makes it more accessible for people that perhaps aren’t keen mad cyclists and perhaps don’t have cargo bikes to pop the kids in. It’s fun, there’s music, hi-viz, sequins”.
As Naomi put it: “You don’t always know what you can be until you see it. And sometimes you have to also be the change.”
I was struck recently by adverts in a couple of magazines, for cycling products and events where the vast majority of faces – sometimes all of them – were male. Bluntly, as a woman, this doesn’t make me want to buy those products or attend those events. The industry can help improve its diversity (and customer base) by both diversifying its workforce and representing that diversity in its communications. It can bring new people on board via community groups and provide bursaries, fair pay and flexible training options. It can support groups locally and nationally that act as a gateway to cycling. The great news is, with more diverse faces and voices in cycling, the industry becomes stronger, and more attractive to more people, both customers and its workforce. Cycle Sisters produced a great report on how to achieve this. Search ‘Cycling for Diverse Communities’ if you’re interested in reading more.
