Femme Biking? Femme Attitude!

Just reposting this link from a friend's blog, in which she discusses the connections - the parallels - between cycling boldly, and being boldly feminine. I hadn't made the connection myself but now that she has, I find myself sitting back and applauding. I also know the cyclist she's talking about - the 'femme cyclist' - and I've watched her firmly and confidently take the space she needs to take - riding smack down the right tire track in the middle of a snowstorm, when the roads were buried in snow and even the tire tracks were dodgy.

Femme Biking? Femme Attitude! (AKA: What is Femme – Part II)

It's true, that cyclists shouldn't have to feel like they need to apologize for being there. As long as they're obeying the rules (and really, that just makes sense: that way everyone knows what to expect from everyone else), cyclists shouldn't constantly feel that they're 'inconveniencing' drivers. Yet we do. At least, I do: when I ride in the through lane, not the rightmost, right-turn-only lane; when I have to come out into the street to avoid potholes, drain covers and roadkill; when it takes me longer to make that left turn than it would a car. I feel like I must be annoying and holding up all the drivers around me, and I feel that I should be ... acting more invisible, rather than less. Squeezing over dangerously far to the right. Not taking up my space. This post reminds me not to feel like that.