Women’s MTB Network co-founder Candice Hansen echoes Jess’ vision for the network as a place of support for women riders. “I was falling and hurting myself a lot at the start, but I was doing hair[styling] for a local female rider, so one day I texted her to say ‘I hate this, I don’t know what I’m doing, I need help’.
“And she set time aside… I followed her on a trail and learned to stand up, lower my seat, all that stuff—she cleared it up instantly, and that was it. I went from hate to love in one single ride.”
The idea that there’s any place for division, or inequality, or that anyone’s got more right to have fun on a bike than anyone else has always seemed ridiculous. And today in the Arizona desert, amongst a diverse bunch of riders, we firmly established that as fact.
So if you’re an MTB brand that wants to reflect the real needs of riders everywhere, or looking to ride with like-minded women, or perhaps, like me, you’re a male rider sick of the lazy macho narrative—take heart. There are people, many of them women, who are ready to welcome you in.
