‘It was a spectacle’: the forgotten era of women’s bicycle racing

hawkinspeter · 2018-10-12T12:45:33+01:00

Here's a book review in The Grauniad that might be of interest: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/11/roger-gilles-women-on-the-move-bicycle-racing-1890s [quote]Gilles’s book is a window into a virtually unknown time in women’s sports, and it’s important because it adds to the history of female athletes who have overcome so many obstacles to be able to compete. It’s also more evidence that women have always been more suited to sports than they’ve been given credit for, and that when the have the opportunity to train, they’ve always been just as capable as the men. “Women of today that are interested in athletics should know that back in the 1890s, 120 years ago, there were women in America that were facing the same kinds of challenges,” says Gilles, “and they were flourishing despite those challenges.”[/quote] "Women on the Move: The Forgotten Era of Women’s Bicycle Racing " by Roger Gilles

This topic has 9 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 8 months ago by hawkinspeter.

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October 12, 2018 at 12:45 pm #29037

hawkinspeter

Here’s a book review in The Grauniad that might be of interest:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/11/roger-gilles-women-on-the-move-bicycle-racing-1890s

[quote]Gilles’s book is a window into a virtually unknown time in women’s sports, and it’s important because it adds to the history of female athletes who have overcome so many obstacles to be able to compete. It’s also more evidence that women have always been more suited to sports than they’ve been given credit for, and that when the have the opportunity to train, they’ve always been just as capable as the men. “Women of today that are interested in athletics should know that back in the 1890s, 120 years ago, there were women in America that were facing the same kinds of challenges,” says Gilles, “and they were flourishing despite those challenges.”[/quote]

“Women on the Move: The Forgotten Era of Women’s Bicycle Racing ” by Roger Gilles
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October 13, 2018 at 5:16 pm #928825
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hawkinspeter

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:
The romance of a 4ft 11 Eileen Sheridan battling wind and rain to do an 870 mile LEJOG in 59 hours and 7 minutes on a 4 speed and indeed her 250.5 mile ’12’/446.5 ‘ 24′ in 1954, nor the Beryl Burton ’12’ can ever really be replicated.

Jasmin Muellur was inspired by Sheridan after going to listen to her at a meeting in Isleworth before her record attempt. there’s a nice page on Sheridan here https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/cycling-guide/eileen-sheridan

Before Sheridan there was the great Marguerite Wilson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDXgv3pqPcw and on rollers https://www.britishpathe.com/video/roller-racing who like Sheridan held all 21 of the RRA records, and a contemporary of wilson’s, Billie Fleming, who held the female year record, achieved in a snow riddled 1938 but still managed 29,603.7 miles, that’s 80 fricking year ago!

Here are some other amazing ladies of two (and occasionally three wheels) https://www.evanscycles.com/coffeestop/news/eight-women-cyclists-we-should-all-know-more-about

Contrast that to someone plodding a flat, wind-breaked loop with a motorhome and stuffing gels whilst using aero bike and kit or being driven upwind every day to knock out another 220 miles on a 3ft per mile road, meh, there’s no excitement or romance in that!

I’ll take the old days every time, technically modern stuff is amazing and it can and does help to get people riding but there’s also a lot of it that people think, no thanks simply because of what ‘sports’ cycling comes across as.

Ladies cycling would be far more popular if we had the likes of the ladies above inspiring them rather than next to nothing from the plastic hat brigade who do squat for everyday cycling.

Thanks for the informative links – I love reading about dedicated people excelling at what they love doing (and women’s cycling could always do with more exposure).

October 13, 2018 at 4:49 pm #928823
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Anonymous

The romance of a 4ft 11

The romance of a 4ft 11 Eileen Sheridan battling wind and rain to do an 870 mile LEJOG in 59 hours and 7 minutes on a 4 speed and indeed her 250.5 mile ’12’/446.5 ‘ 24′ in 1954, nor the Beryl Burton ’12’ can ever really be replicated.

Jasmin Muellur was inspired by Sheridan after going to listen to her at a meeting in Isleworth before her record attempt. there’s a nice page on Sheridan here https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/cycling-guide/eileen-sheridan

Before Sheridan there was the great Marguerite Wilson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDXgv3pqPcw and on rollers https://www.britishpathe.com/video/roller-racing who like Sheridan held all 21 of the RRA records, and a contemporary of wilson’s, Billie Fleming, who held the female year record, achieved in a snow riddled 1938 but still managed 29,603.7 miles, that’s 80 fricking year ago!

Here are some other amazing ladies of two (and occasionally three wheels) https://www.evanscycles.com/coffeestop/news/eight-women-cyclists-we-should-all-know-more-about

Contrast that to someone plodding a flat, wind-breaked loop with a motorhome and stuffing gels whilst using aero bike and kit or being driven upwind every day to knock out another 220 miles on a 3ft per mile road, meh, there’s no excitement or romance in that!

I’ll take the old days every time, technically modern stuff is amazing and it can and does help to get people riding but there’s also a lot of it that people think, no thanks simply because of what ‘sports’ cycling comes across as.

Ladies cycling would be far more popular if we had the likes of the ladies above inspiring them rather than next to nothing from the plastic hat brigade who do squat for everyday cycling.

October 13, 2018 at 12:47 pm #928821
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Spangly Shiny

BB indeed. It has been there

BB indeed. It has been there at least 15 years without any grafitti, respect.

October 13, 2018 at 10:36 am #928819
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davel

What a mural that is.

What a mural that is.

October 13, 2018 at 9:12 am #928817
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hawkinspeter

Beryl, I presume.

Beryl, I presume.

October 13, 2018 at 8:05 am #928815
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Spangly Shiny

dottigirl wrote:
Women’s cycling has gone backwards in the last fifty years.

October 13, 2018 at 7:12 am #928813
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hawkinspeter

dottigirl wrote:
Women’s cycling has gone backwards in the last fifty years.

Do you mean racing or does that include all types of cycling?

October 13, 2018 at 2:53 am #928811
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dottigirl

Women’s cycling has gone

Women’s cycling has gone backwards in the last fifty years.

hawkinspeter wrote:
Did you know that commenting on your own forum post makes it much more visible to other people?

Yep. Doesn’t appear in the sidebar until someone has commented.

October 12, 2018 at 1:03 pm #928809
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hawkinspeter

Did you know that commenting

Did you know that commenting on your own forum post makes it much more visible to other people?
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