Why don't more women use indoor cycling?

nikocyclo
nikocyclo Posts: 8
in Women's cycling forum
I noticed a new Rouvy activities targeted on women and I can’t help but wonder what is preventing indoor cycling from reaching its full potential among female riders. Is indoor cycling viewed as too intimidating or exclusive? It would be great to have a conversation about this issue and explore ideas that could increase female participation in indoor cycling. What do you think?

Comments

  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,310
    I thought it was the opposite... there seem to be more women than in outdoor cycling. Rouvy might be a bit less gender balanced than Zwift... the demographic seems to be slightly older too.... at 50yo, I am normally bang on in the middle of the demographic curve, whenever I do a race there
    left the forum March 2023
  • davidof
    davidof Posts: 3,110
    nikocyclo said:

    It would be great to have a conversation about this issue and explore ideas that could increase female participation in indoor cycling.

    Why?

    Maybe women have more common sense than to ride a bike indoors?

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  • N0bodyOfTheGoat
    N0bodyOfTheGoat Posts: 6,049
    I could see less women wanting to race on turbo trainers, because as far as I'm aware, there no requirements by turbo apps to reasonably prove you are a woman.
    ================
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  • DeVlaeminck
    DeVlaeminck Posts: 9,060
    I suspect most indoor cyclists on certain platforms like say zwift come from being outdoor cyclists first so the gender mix will reflect that.

    I've always assumed peloton was the exception - targeting more of a spin class type demographic - and that that would mostly be women.

    I've absolutely no evidence to back up those assumptions.
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  • davidof
    davidof Posts: 3,110
    Maybe if they put the bike in a swimming pool it would attract more women?

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  • photonic69
    photonic69 Posts: 2,732
    davidof said:

    Maybe if they put the bike in a swimming pool it would attract more women?

    I'd go.

    Might have to shave my legs and wear a bikini, or just identify myself as a non-binary dolphin.


    Sometimes. Maybe. Possibly.

  • joeyhalloran
    joeyhalloran Posts: 1,080
    I suspect it's route to entry. As above not many people start turbo riding before cycling outside. Getting on Zwift or similar requires having a bike in the first place. I suspect women are better represented on Zwift than in many 'traditional' cycling environments like clubs runs, racing, etc... But I may be wrong.
  • nikocyclo
    nikocyclo Posts: 8
    ugo.santalucia said:

    I thought it was the opposite... there seem to be more women than in outdoor cycling. Rouvy might be a bit less gender balanced than Zwift... the demographic seems to be slightly older too.... at 50yo, I am normally bang on in the middle of the demographic curve, whenever I do a race there

    Do you think that age could play a role here? Young women are more attracted to new technologies?
  • nikocyclo
    nikocyclo Posts: 8
    DeVlaeminck said:

    I suspect most indoor cyclists on certain platforms like say zwift come from being outdoor cyclists first so the gender mix will reflect that.

    I've always assumed peloton was the exception - targeting more of a spin class type demographic - and that that would mostly be women.

    I've absolutely no evidence to back up those assumptions.

    This is really interesting point of view. Thank you for sharing that!

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