Wednesday, May 30, 2012

"Ride for a Season with The Singletrack Sisters"

The Singletrack and Skinny Tire Sisters of Western Colorado are back for another fantastic season of riding!

Here in the Grand Valley of Grand Junction, Colorado, biking is a huge deal. We are a mecca that folks from across the country...even Canada flock to throughout the year. The Grand Valley offers biking much like Moab, but without the whole tourist hype. Most folks that ride here, really know what they are doing. Here's an article from The Denver Post yesterday that explains our valley a little!

For some reason in the mountain biking industry, women just don't seem to exist on the trails nearly as much as men. Here is a great little article (written by a dude) that explains the phenomenon a bit more...Why No Y? That may be true across the country, but here in the Grand Valley women ride. This brings me back to last week, while sitting in The Hot Tomato after the weekly group ride at the Kokopelli Loops grabbin a slice of Ganny's Pesto pizza and a New Belgium Cocoa Mole brew, a feller sitting next to me from Wisconsin who comes out every year to ride asked, "Are there were many women here who ride?" He seemed to be quite in awe at the number of women in the pizzaria wearing jerseys and spandex. All I could do was look at him with a funny smirk and giggle, "Oh yeah! There are A LOT of ladies who ride!" He went on to explain with exagerated "O's" and "A's" that there are NO women that ride where they're from and how nice it was to see them out.

The women here ride anything and everything, through any weather and any season! I started riding with the group last year because they sounded exactly like the type of people I had been yearning to ride with. Before them, I didn't really know anyone to ride with. I quickly discovered that I could learn a lot from these women and make a bunch of new friends in the process! My friend and coworker Julie came along for her first time on the Weekly Mountain Bike Ride and explained her experience in her blog for Singletracks.com, My First Group Ride With The Singletrack Sisters.

As you may know from my prior posts last year, I have taken it upon myself to design the logo, posters and various other graphic items for this group of women.  Last year they wanted a general poster aimed at informing women of the Grand Valley that this new women's riding group existed. Now the group has grown (based off the members of their Facebook group alone) to over 300 ladies. Judging by that number and knowing that not every woman in the valley who rides is on Facebook, it was time to get a ride calendar out there for all to see when the rides would take place.

If you are ever planning on coming to Grand Junction, Fruita or Palisade to ride, don't be afraid to join in on the group rides! There are also many great discussions, events posted and valuable information that you can find by joining the Singletrack Sisters Facebook Group! If you have any questions about riding with the Singletrack Sisters or riding in the Grand Valley, feel free to visit their website, www.singletracksisters.com!

Here's a little video from the Sister's ride along the Palisade Rim Trail a few weeks ago!

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