Women in Cycling

Today's guest is Pinar Pinzuti, the founder of Fancy Women Bike Ride; a woman-only bike event held in cities worldwide. Pinar's goal is to bring more diversity into the cycling world and empower more women to ride more often. 

Pinar has been traveling by bicycle since 2006 and using Warmshowers hosts around the world. She has tried all forms of bike touring; long-distance Cycling in South America, adventure cycling in Iceland, bike-packing in southern Italy, road biking in Spain. She loves discovering cities by bike and believes if you "go slow, you feel more."

As an avid cyclist, Pinar participated in many bike events and began to notice that she was often one of only a few women involved. As a result, she became shy and somewhat insecure when riding. Pinar's neighbor, who learned to ride a bike for the first time at the age of 39, came up with the idea of having a bike event for women only. So together, they held the first Fancy Woman Bike Ride in 2013.

They were only expecting about ten women to join the ride, but to their amazement, 400 women showed up! They invaded the roads of Turkey with their fancy clothes and decorated bicycles, smiling and waving to onlookers. Almost 50 journalists came to cover the event, which grew from there.

Pinar believes that Cycling is a compelling way for women to become visible in society and an entirely new way to interact with their city. Fancy Women Bike Ride is a grassroots event for women, organized by women to remember the liberating joy of Cycling and to inspire more women to ride more often. The more women who cycle, the more women will be encouraged to cycle.  

Pinar is also creating powerful ways for women to be seen in the industry. In addition to founding Fancy Women Bike Ride, she works closely with the Woman Cycling Initiative. Women in Cycling is a new initiative to help women get more visibility, impact, and leading jobs in the cycling industry. They seek to boost equality and diversity in the sector, shine the spotlight on women in the industry and provide networking, mentoring, and training opportunities.

Next year will be the 10th anniversary of the Fancy Women Bike Ride. Look for a local event in a city near you in September 2022. Besides creating more diversity in the biking industry, Pinar hopes to encourage women to dust off their bikes, join the ride, and then keep going for the pure joy of it.

You can follow Pinar, who calls herself a cycling brainwasher, on Instagram at @pinarpinzuti, Facebook, and Twitter at @pinarpinzuti. But beware, she will convince you to take up cycling!

Learn more about Fancy Women Bike Ride, Women in Cycling Initiative, Bike Italia, and Bikenomist.

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