Don’t buy magazines then, problem solved.

But you can learn to play the guitar at home, whereas much of modern mountain biking involves bikes into cars, 1-2-3 hour drive, a maximum of fannying about, a minimum of actual riding, then 1-2-3 hours home and more messing about.

The whole sport as portrayed in mags is moving inexorably towards golf in so many ways, the clothes, the equipment, the location, the excuses, the exclusivity.

…and the more money individuals spend on it, the more exclusive and alienating it becomes.

I agree with this.

Hence the rise of the “all mountain” category of riding. Gives rich, middle aged men something to spend their money on and it makes them sound a bit daring and brave when explaining it to the lads in the office. When in reality all it is is riding round a forest or hillside like everyone else, only with a bit more suspension.

We need more girls, how am i ever going to find a hot mtb’er girlfriend/ wife otherwise? Most of them seem to be lesbian or married.

its like all sports – women are useless at them! 8)

Why does mtbing alienate women & to what extent does this hold back the sport?

It doesn’t.

Is it?

that he thinks men mostly choose their riding discipline based on the type of bike which appeals to them aesthetically

Hmm, but why does that type of bike appeal to them? I suspect a predilection for big gnarr DH bikes and a predilection for DH riding are both symptoms of some other personality trait.

I think it does actually. I think MTBing would benefit from more women getting involved.

As it is, MTBing is a predominantly (White) Male sport/activity. Whereas cycling in general isn’t, to anywhere near the same degree.

I have never, on any of my trips to the Alps except the last one which was independent, encountered a woman as part of the riding group. I have only encountered women on those trips at all when they accompany husbands/partners and then they stay at home or go walking.

Should have been at Passeportes du Soleil this weekend then…sure, the male:female ratio isn’t great (my observations on that event and in the Portes du Soleil in general) is around 15:1, but there were still a large number of very capable women.

[smug]
I know, I’m married to one. Our honeymoon, almost 2 decades ago, consisted of 3 weeks riding in Chamonix.
[/smug]

The whole sport as portrayed in mags is moving inexorably towards golf in so many ways, the clothes, the equipment, the location, the excuses, the exclusivity.

I totally agree with this. And I think this is the sport’s biggest turn-off to new members, male or female. It’s presented as an activity that needs special equipment, special locations, special bicycles. It doesn’t. As a poster pointed out above, you just need to get out and ride off-road. The more of a faff it is, the less interest it holds.

I know several women mtbers and the one thing I’m sure about is that it’s impossible to generalise about why some do or don’t ride. I don’t know whether women are alienated (am inclining towards ‘not’) but if they are, then I reckon they’re put off by the sport’s image – portly men pushing £3000 bikes up hills while wearing backpacks and special gloves – rather than what it should be about. That said, in comparison to amateur road riding, mtb is technically and physically harder with less of a social network about it, so perhaps that also accounts for the discrepancy.

My OH often comments on how few other girls there are around when we visit trail centres. She enjoys riding bikes, but has absolutely no interest in bike fettling – which I think is a large part of the appeal to many involved in the sport.

I’m not sure that this means that MTBing “alienates” women. Could it just be that men and women have different interests?

It’s because they are at home cooking and cleaning, or crying, isn’t it?

Could it just be that men and women have different interests?

Hmm. Seems to me that women tend to favour activities that make them fit and healthy, whereas men seem to like stuff that is a bit dangerous and risky. Could this be owt to do with the female ‘need’ to be healthy to bear children, and the male ‘need’ to be tough and brave in order to provide for their family?

I reckon there’s a correlation somewhere.

How many blokes do you get at a Yogalates class?

One word: mud.

In comparison to skiing and snowboarding, mtb’ing is dirty are far less glamorous. Not much in the way of apres-bike. Plus you have to ride uphill 😆

Surely you could replace the word ‘mtbing’ with ‘sport’ in the OP’s question and the male/female split would be pretty much the same?

Is the m/f split in mtbing not just a small part of a much larger picture?

I’ve no idea why but depsite being 2011 I think social conditioning plays a massive role. I’m not sure it’s any more complex than that.

Football is massive but this is the first time I can ever recall seeing coverage of the women’s world cup (been in the papers for the last few days). If football is only just leaning this way than I think it will be sometime before mtbing does.

Why does shopping for shoes, then watching Bridget Jones’ Diary whilst eating a tub of Ben and Jerry’s alienate men?

Is it possible that mountain biking simply doesn’t appeal to so many women?

Where I live there are a lot of horses. I see many horse riders out on the downs and due to my niece’s involvment I have seen a fair amount of competition too. Out on the downs the vast majority of horse riders are women and at the pony club type events the majority of riders are girls. It is only when it comes to head to head racing and polo that I have seen men in the majority. Why are men & boys so alienated from horse riding unless it is overtly competitive?

Could be no one is being alienated, thay are just doing what appeals to them.

See GlitterGary now you are stereotyping in a huge way! I can’t stand chick flicks, not a fan of shopping for shoes (unless it’s trainers or some form of sport shoe). I think it’s just one of those things, woman either love it nad take it up, or meet a bloke who takes them out and they hate it! Or dare I say it I have a lot of friends that MTB but as they have children they are normally the ones that get left at home to look after kids whilst OH is out playing. So yes now I’ve said it!! I’ve given up trying to persuade woman to ride as there are too many variables as to why they don’t.

“I’ve given up trying to persuade woman to ride as there are too many variables as to why they don’t.”

Munqe-chick – nail on head!

One word: mud.

Think there is some truth in this to be honest. In places like California, Canada and France where women seem to ride in greater numbers the weather is a lot less shitty and the riding less filthy than in the UK.

My wife will happily join me for a day at Glentress or similar so long as the weather’s not too crappy.
I’m not suggesting all female UK mountain bikers are fair weather riders but I’m sure a good proportion of them are.

Im a girl who rides a bike.

I have encouraged many women to ride bikes.

I have never been able to encourage any of those women to like mending or maintaining their bikes.

Bikes that dont work well are horrid to ride.

The funny thing is I hate maintenance, all the blokes I ride with hate maintenance, all the blokes in my club hate maintenance – yet on this forum everyone’s really into it! How come I never meet you people on the trail? Oh wait you were in the garage sanding your brake discs with unicorn wee 😛

My road bike has had two wheel steering for the last month, I managed to change the rear wheel bearings last night. I hated it.

Well I asked various women I know why they do/do-not take exercise, and the ones who’ve tried and disliked off-roading, their thoughts. Some of the responses are:

“I don’t like sweating”
“I will look horrible”
“I don’t like being dirty; mud is horrible”
“It’s physically too hard, much harder than road cycling”
“It’s all men, showing off”

My personal thoughts, looking across to athletics for instance, are that the sport would benefit from a prominent, British female role-model. Then young women can think: “Hey, I like bikes, that could be me”. I wonder if this would happen if DH made it into the Olympics?

I ride horses and mountain bikes and the former is dominated by women and the latter by men. But in the higher echelons of competition there’s a more even split, though skewed towards men in both cases. Presumably because more men tend to be obsessive enough to compete at high levels, whilst more women have a more balanced view of life…

I’m an engineer and find the minutiae of the workings of bikes curiously interesting – however I still don’t enjoy doing the maintenance. If it wasn’t for the fact that cleaning, lubing and servicing a bike means it runs better and lasts longer then I’d never do anything other than ride it!

“I don’t like sweating”

LOL how lame 🙄

It starts from an early age, 12 yr old daughter is in the minority by doing any sport, so it is esy to see why peer pressure discourages them. She complains that in PE at school the girls just stand about talking. In the local schools mtb xc series she is only one of 4 girls in her age group competing, but there are heaps of boys. It is also noticible that with each step in age group the numbers fall off with both girls & boys. I don’t know if there is a correlation that she is also in the local athletic club with a core of similar age girls, and the club is run by 2 very commited women who obviously inspire the girls.

my mrs reckons it’s because you just dont get many girls that enjoy a bit of suffering in the same way that men do. she may be right, if you go in a gym you dont see that many girls giving it loads.
personaly i just think its down to the fact that men and women dont like the same things.

I love mountain biking, but I let Mr Toast take care of the maintenance side of things. I think he actually finds it physically painful watching me fumble around dropping allen keys and ponderously examining Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance whilst trying to change some pedals. I tend to ride alone though, so I know one of these days I’m going to come a cropper when my chain breaks or I get a puncture. I know what to do in theory, but the idea of actually fixing it terrifies me. Actually, that’s a lie – the idea of riding around on the bike I’ve fixed terrifies me. I’d be half expecting it to explode in a ball of flame, Michael Bay-stylee.

I see a lot of women out on their bikes – far more than are represented in magazines, or on forums. I can see why women might feel alienated by the magazines and forums, but I think most people who are into mountain biking, both male and female, got into it through friends or family, or off their own bat. I certainly didn’t start reading biking magazines or going on biking forums until I’d been biking for a while.

“I don’t like sweating”

LOL how lame

Women are put under a huge amount of pressure to look good 100% of the time, and generally being covered in sweat, mud, and in some cases blood, bruises and scratches doesn’t really help with that. Sweating and scars on a bloke shows how manly and grrr you are. The same on a women shows that you’re a bit weird, obviously take no pride in your appearance… and in the case of bruises, it possibly shows that you’re a victim of domestic violence, because no-one in their right mind would put themselves in a position where they’re getting bruised. Same with martial arts.

buzz-lightyear – Member
My personal thoughts, looking across to athletics for instance, are that the sport would benefit from a prominent, British female role-model. Then young women can think: “Hey, I like bikes, that could be me”. I wonder if this would happen if DH made it into the Olympics?

Aside from all the gender conditioning type responses, I reckon this is a big factor.

A lot of those middle-aged overweight gear-obsessed overbiked bubbles of testosterone who might put girls off the sport would have ‘grown-up’ in MTBing with Peaty/Warner/Palmer et al as the saleable public face of MTB and that may have coloured their view of the sport.

While there are some great female DHers around at the minute (and they’re even British!) they don’t really get the media exposure to break out beyond the MTB ‘scene’. We all know who Atherton and Moseley are and how good they are, but not sure how many non-bikers would have heard of them.

Possibly also a childhood thing. Most (sweeping generalisation?) boys grow up messing about on bikes in a way that I don’t remember girls doing when I was a kid. We all crudely modded our bikes and attempted to use them for inappropriate purposes (I was a road bike with cowhorn bars off-roader for example). I think it’s just this lets-get-muddy-bike-as-plaything ethos that male MTBers carry through into adulthood that women are missing?

Ramble over.

slainte 😀 rob

Ooh, look at him with his fancy blue text!

Show off.

So you’re saying that women are soft?

Women are put under a huge amount of pressure to look good 100% of the time, and generally being covered in sweat, mud, and in some cases blood, bruises and scratches doesn’t really help with that.

I disagree 🙂

Women are put under a huge amount of pressure to look good 100% of the time, and generally being covered in sweat, mud, and in some cases blood, bruises and scratches doesn’t really help with that. Sweating and scars on a bloke shows how manly and grrr you are. The same on a women shows that you’re a bit weird, obviously take no pride in your appearance… and in the case of bruises, it possibly shows that you’re a victim of domestic violence,

So they’d rather just sit back and ad to the rising obesity population. I think further away from biking, a lot of women in general just can’t be bothered with exercising for some reason. I agree there is pressure to look good, but it’s gone too far.

because no-one in their right mind would put themselves in a position where they’re getting bruised. Same with martial arts

I have a 13 year old sister who is always covered in bruises on her legs from sailling, she might start to get slightly more concious of it as she gets older, but i certainly don’t really agree with this. People need to lighten up a bit, scars and bruises are a good talking point if anything. 🙂

As I’ve read this, I’ve begun to realize that MTBing is alienating me too, after 20 odd years of doing it, admitedly not very well!
I still like the riding, but the bikes and technology, and the prices are getting completely out of hand.
Time was you just had a “bike” and rode it in the hills, they are still the same hills, but now not just any old bike will do. See all the “what bike for” threads.
I’d suspect that all the different types of bike, and the cost is alienating any newcomers, not just the women.

At risk of being contrary, before this thread I’d been of the opposite view – namely that recent technological improvements, greater suspension reliability, better brakes, etc., had actually opened up the sport, whereas previously people were turned off by the old threaded headsets, steel bikes which rusted, tyres which didn’t grip and magical exploding suspension.

You reckon newcomers feel anxiety about having to have the right bag, gloves, helmet etc.? Maybe. Someone recently asked me in a panicky way about what helmet to buy, was going to spunk £70 on some Giro, I just pointed her to a pi$$pot for a tenner and she was delighted with it. Funny.

Anyway I know quite a few people who’ve spunked £1500 on a nice smooth running Stumpjumper and because they’re so inherently enjoyable to ride got heavily into the sport quite quickly thereafter – far more quickly than I did because I was initially doing it for years on a $hitty old Raleigh Max. Not sure what point I’m making, but there you go.

Time was you just had a “bike” and rode it in the hills, they are still the same hills, but now not just any old bike will do. See all the “what bike for” threads.

There are people who like to shop carefully for their purchases. In NO WAY AT ALL does this stop you grabbing any old cheap bike and heading for the hills!

Mrs Toast has hit the nail on the head!! As a big generalisation men are into engineering and technology and woman aren’t. Mr MC fixes and maintains all my bikes and they are in NINT condition, I wouldn’t! He’s injured at the minute and had to stand over me on Sat to watch and ensure I cleaned my bike properly after my mud near winteresque ride. But part of my lack of maintanence is due to never having been taught/allowed to do anything having started MTBing at 13! Mrs Toast has said some very valid things there is such a huge pressure on woman to look good all the time that wearing MTB kit which doesnt’ really fit and a sweaty helmet isn’t going to encourage some, however I’m the kind of person who wears make up once a year so that shizzle doesn’t bother me! Again soo many variables as to why people don’t. I agree there are a lot of woman out there who are lazy and don’t do exercise but they are the kind of woman who wouldn’t do any sport not just MTbing!!

As Kitebikeski says thats what I was like as a kid, bullied at school because I loved sport! Luckily I kept up my MTbing.

AGree with COlournoses’ comments boys grow up messing around on bikes, when I was doing that at 13 it was what got me bullied as I wasn’t into shopping and nail polish.

The other half of the original question begs another question in return; although XC racing exists and DH racing exists, can what STWers do be classed as ‘sport’?

I’d call it more like a leisure activity really.

Why is there such an issue with females exercising in this country? Is it all about Image?
I would much rather see that than a woman wobbling along in her heels and stupid clothes etc.

Making some pretty big generalisations…..

Most of the (cycling) women I know who do MTBing wouldn’t really care if the sport vanished over night, they’d find something else to do. Most of the men would be quite miffed. I’d venture as far as saying that most women just are not that interested in sport in general, so picking an expensive, dirty, maintenance hungry, travel requiring one is less likely.

Do we need more women – who cares – who’s “we”? I MTB because I like it, i don’t care who else does, or if I’m the only one in the world. Is it holding the sport back – again, I don’t care, I don’t care if the sport stays where it is or goes backward to fewer riders. In fact I’d prefer fewer riders in some respects.

When I started kitesurfing I was one of 2 or 3 people on my local beach doing it, we had masses of space, a close knit group and lots of fun. 5 years later the beach is clogged, loads of people involved, parking difficult, beaches getting surfing banned (local authorities were tolerant of a small number, but 30+ on the beach forms a hazard that needs supervision, and cash expenditure etc), along with the increased numbers come increased numbers of retards intent on owning the beach and making life difficult for others or assuming positions of authority. Not that any of that has anything to do with women per se, more that popularity of a sport isn’t always a good thing.

No thanks.