WE Bike NYC is organizing ten women from five organizations to ride 262 miles on bicycles from New York City to Washington, DC to represent their communities at the nation’s largest annual bicycle advocacy event, the National Bike Summit on March 3, 2014. WE Bike NYC is a group based in New York City open to all women, female identifying, and gender nonconforming people who enjoy biking or think they might. WE Bike NYC aims to break down barriers to cycling by offering social rides, training rides, mechanics workshops and ride scholarships.

            Representatives from Gearing-Up, Black Women Bike DC, Washington Area Bicyclist Association: Women and Bicycles, and Women Bike PHL will join WE Bike NYC on this adventure! While in DC, WE will advocate for women of all backgrounds to have a seat at the table that sets national transportation policy. Despite being woefully under-represented in decision-making, the number of women who commute to work has increased 56% in the last year. Lower income individuals (earning less than $30,000) accounted for 28% of bike trips in 2009 — more than 1.1 billion bike trips overall. Our goal is to support the League of American Bicyclists’ efforts to include underrepresented cyclists at the decision making table through the inclusion of ten voices that would not be able to attend the summit without the financial support generated by this ride.

           This trip will be the kickoff event for continued work in 2014 to create more opportunities for women to have a voice in the national cycling and transportation conversation. On Tuesday, December 17, WE Bike NYC will launch #webiketodc, a multimedia initiative, to highlight the importance of increased inclusivity in the cycling community through rider stories, web videos, cycling tips, and sponsored content. For more information on how you can support us, please click on our IndieGoGo link here.