made a huge impact on me personally, and I can’t say enough how much it has helped me grow as a rider.
The other theme that came up often was that of wanting to be viewed and respected as a rider, rather than just being seen as a girl on a bike. The necessary change for this must come from both sides. For the female rider, it comes from the realization that we can be just as good as the guys, and there is no reason we shouldn’t. We mustn’t sell ourselves short, and we really need to raise the level of expectations for female riders. The only way this can happen is to just keep putting the work in. I see a lot of female riders really leading the way in this movement, and I have to commend them. In order to be respected as riders, we must just keep pushing ourselves.
Of course, there are some things that need improvement amongst the male population to further this endeavor. Respect. I have to say, I really do find it upsetting when I make a significant improvement and yet the only comments I get are “I’d hit that.” While you may think this is a compliment, it isn’t. Sure, I don’t mind that you might find me attractive, but that’s not what I want to hear, and it’s really not relevant. I don’t put the work in and push myself so you think I’m pretty. I do it because I love to ride, want to become better and want to be respected as a rider. It is a bit disheartening when I reach a new milestone and the great majority of responses I receive are on my appearance rather than my abilities. Again, I recognize that this is a two-sided issue. To gain the respect we wish to have, we do have to keep working hard to be able to compete with the guys. Nonetheless, as we continue striving to get to that point, the positive support on our riding, not our appearance, will truly help.
Juliet Elliott
London, UK
It’s amazing how much fixed freestyle has progressed over the last year or two. If you look back at the first Bootleg Sessions video, you can see how quickly people have improved. Everyone was just fannying around doing wheelies in car parks not so long ago; now they’re doing 180s down big stair gaps, grinding handrails and doing better lines.
As a girl within the fixed gear freestyle “scene,” I’ve always had a lot of encouragement and support. Generally there are a hell of a lot of boys and not so many girls; boys like girls so they tend to think more girls riding is a good thing! There were four of us competing at the last competition I went to in Rotterdam. The standard of riding varied somewhat as it also did in the men’s competition, but like with the guys category people were stoked on how the entrants were riding relative to their own ability.
I always ride with guys and that’s fine by me, but I get more stoked on seeing girls do tricks as I can relate to it. It’s a shame there aren’t more girls having a go, but you can’t deny that generally speaking girls are less up for hurting themselves or trying scary things. Things are changing slowly, but we’re not there yet.