A temporary tattoo awaits a CycloFemme participant at a Manhattan coffee bar. photos: velojoy
posted by: susi
Last Sunday, women in 14 countries gathered for 164 rides to celebrate cycling under the unifying banner of the inaugural CycloFemme. Among the events, organized to “honor the past, celebrate the present and empower the future of women’s cycling” on Mother’s Day, were three here in NYC, including a social ride organized by design firm Language Dept. Beginning at a downtown cafe on a perfect spring morning, and wearing CycloFemme temporary tattoos on arms and calves, they pedaled at a (mostly) mellow pace up the Westside Greenway to Central Park for a few rounds of the loop, followed by a rest stop — and Instagram photo op — at Strawberry Fields and then brunch at an open-air spot on the Hudson River.
Jenn Cash (right) and fellow riders enter Central Park last Sunday on the CycloFemme NYC ride.
Click in for more photos of the ride, plus thoughts from participants on cycling in NYC:
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This is one of those ideas that’s so great it’s a wonder nobody thought of it sooner. So credit Sarai Snyder of GirBikeLove for launching Cyclofemme. Coming up this Sunday, May 13, Cyclofemme is a crowd-sourced global women’s cycling day, honoring the past, celebrating the present and empowering the future of women’s cycling.
Join in this opportunity to gather with family (it’s Mother’s Day!), friends and colleagues for a women’s bike ride of any type and distance, anywhere in the world, by organizing your own ride and registering it on the Cyclofemme website, or participating in one of more than 190 events already planned. Read more…
Our new series on women who are leading the way to encourage and support cycling in New York City begins with Ellen Jaffe, president of the New York Cycle Club.
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At the January meeting of the New York Cycle Club (NYCC) in Midtown Manhattan, guest speaker Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, delivered a wide-ranging update on the advocacy organization’s efforts on behalf of cycling. The crowd was engaged; club members peppered White with questions and voiced their own perspectives.
Business as usual, one would think. A leading cycling advocate talking to a room-full of road cycling enthusiasts. Probably an annual event on the NYCC calendar, right?
In fact, this was a first in the 75-year history of NYCC and the 39-year tenure of Transportation Alternatives. Inviting advocacy into the room — officially — is one indicator of how the oldest and largest recreational cycling club in New York City, with a stated mission of “having as much fun on a bicycle as possible,” is boldly embracing the shifting landscape of cycling under the leadership of its president, Ellen Jaffe.
Jaffe (right), a partner in the media production company Davis + Jaffe, has been an NYCC member since 1999 and took the helm in 2011. She overseas a 2,300-member, all-volunteer organization that counts among its myriad offerings a highly regarded spring training series for road cyclists of all levels, a robust schedule of organized rides and special events, and monthly meetings featuring noted speakers.
What the organization has not been involved in publicly is cycling advocacy.
“Issues have been addressed over the years, albeit with unevenness, as much due to the volunteer nature of our club as anything,” Jaffe says. “We became advocates last year in a way that we had not been accustomed to before.” Read more…
