52 Cycling Voices - 23: Yewande Adesida

I first met Yewande at the London Nocturne about two years ago when she took part in the fixed gear race. She was riding for Velociposse at the time, and was enjoying her new adventure in cycle racing. Yewande has really made progress in her short time in cycle racing - taking a bronze medal at the sprint race at the British Universities and College Sports (BUCS)  track championships, competing in the National Track Cycling Championships. In between all that, she even found time to do some modelling for some big-name cycling brands after a recommendation from Ayesha McGowan, bike racer from across the pond.

Yewande Adesida, aged 25

From: London

Occupation: PhD Student at Imperial College, London

(Photo by SRAM)

I got into cycling properly when I stopped rowing about three years ago and then I thought about which sport to get into.  

I had been a rower for about six years and gone as far as I could, so wanted to find a sport that I was better suited to. 


I chose cycling. It wasn't completely new to me as it was part of my cross training when I was rowing, so I had done bits of it here and there.

I always knew I wanted to do track cycling so I worked on getting my accreditation at Herne Hill and the Lee Valley velodrome.  

There wasn't anyone in particular who inspired me to do more serious cycling. I always just knew that I wanted to compete and race so it was just about me getting to that point where I could do that. 

I took my time about which club to join. Then me and a friend heard about a women's racing team called Velociposse, which was looking for riders, so joined that one. They were very friendly and wanted to encourage more women into cycling. My team mate Eeva Sarlin was quite enthusiastic and encouraged me to have a go at fixed-gear racing. 

At the London Nocturne in 2017

The 2017 London Nocturne was my first crit race on a fixed-gear bike. I was a bit scared as there were a lot of sharp turns. 

I got dropped, but then I did what I could to try and get ahead of the group I was with. The race was interrupted due to crash and I also ended up hitting the barriers. I was okay, and am still really glad I did it, as the support from the other racers was great.

I raced for Velociposse until November last year, then joined a team called SES Racing, a mixed team that focuses on track sprinting and being competitive.

With them I went to the National Track Championships in Manchester at the start of this year, doing the sprint race and the keirin. Competing at the National Velodrome in Manchester for the first time was a really good experience and I really enjoyed it. It was also really tiring. I had never raced a keirin indoors before so it was nice to do well in that event and work on that for next year. All round I had a really good experience.

I finished 10^th overall in the Keirin. I was not expecting that at all, as I had raced four times, when normally I would only race twice, so it was really good.


I had done the individual sprint, which I normally do. I’ve raced that in competitions before, and I equalled my personal best in the flying 200m and came 13^th overall and was able to qualify for the match sprinting, even though I knew that that would be a tough.

I was probably a lot more nervous for the sprint because I had expectations for how I wanted to do, but I was less nervous for the Keirin because I was going into it to learn and have fun.

Yewande does some road racing too

I had been pretty nervous about racing at the Nationals with the top riders, but the people with me from my new club were really supportive, and really helpful. I don’t think I was as freaked out by the whole situation as I would have been this time last year. I have been working on my confidence, and my thoughts going into races in the past couple of months, and that has definitely helped.

I saw a sports psychologist that was available to me through university so I would go for a session every few weeks and it’s been really helpful so far.

My goals this year are to focus on sprinting and see what happens. The BUCS is my main target but I'm hoping to do well at the National Sprinters League too over the next few months. 

Before, I had been doing endurance races, but now I’m going to stick to sprint events. I will probably race on the road, but not as much as last year.

My season so far has been pretty quiet compared to last year because I've only been doing sprint events and I also had a hip injury. It was actually quite good to have a break from racing and focus on the rehabilitation stuff, but I'm back to full training now, which is good.

Things are quite busy these days because I juggle my cycle racing and training with coaching, as well as studying for a PhD in wearable technology in rowing. 

Living in West London means it takes a while to travel across London with my track bike to get to the Lee Valley Velopark in Stratford, but I am very motivated.

My most memorable day on a bike was probably last July when I won my first crit last year at a Full Gas summer series crit on the road circuit at Lee Valley. 

I had been racing for over a year and the closest I had come to winning was getting second place in a crit. The previous month I did a race at Cyclopark, Gravesend, and had been about to win it, but then I crashed and ended up in a ditch. So winning the Full Gas crit was a great feeling. 

When cycling, I never go out without Jelly Babies. I really like them. I think they’re not too sugary - or at least they don’t taste too sugary - so they are quite easy to like, and being quite soft they are easy to eat.

I think the British Cycling #OneInAMillion campaign is a good way of trying to increase the numbers of women doing cycling because it’s a great confidence booster and also a way to keep fit, and explore cycling. I definitely see the benefits of the campaign. If more people can experience cycling then it’s great.

Yewande (second row, right) with some women of colour who cycle

I think the Women of Colour cycling group set up by Jools Walker and Jenni Gwiadowski has been quite encouraging so far, too. At the first meet-up I’d never seen so many women of colour before, so it was nice to know that they existed. 

I think it sends out a really good message that there are other women of colour in the sport, and women of colour should not be afraid of getting into cycling because it shows that we exist. The group creates a positive environment for people to grow in the sport.

I have hardly seen other women like me doing cycle racing, and often I am the only woman of colour at a race. It was similar with rowing too. I used to feel uncomfortable about it, but I don't think about it so much now. Hopefully there will be more women of colour racing.



Getting to model for SRAM and Rapha was a real shock, but a pleasant one - especially with SRAM as I didn't expect to be featured. It was great to be involved with both campaigns and work with talented and enthusiastic people, and most importantly be a part of creating more representation in the bike industry - there have been lots of positive responses. 

Modelling for Rapha (Photo by Rapha)

It's hard to feel a part of a sport when you don't see people that look like you on a start line, in social media or in advertising, so to work with brands that are working to change this was such a great opportunity.

I would encourage more women to get into cycling because it’s great for boosting your confidence, learning a new skill, meeting different people, and getting to explore different places that you might not have gone to otherwise. And you get to eat lots of cake!

Instagram
@yewie_a

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Women of Colour cycling group - is it necessary?

Look Mum No Hands! Cafe in London holds various types of events and regular meet-ups. One group they have formed is a Women of Colour meet-up. The first meeting was held in December of last year, and another meeting took place a few days ago. It will now become a monthly event.

First Women of Colour cycling group at Look Mum No Hands

I went to the first one, as I was a little curious to see how the meet-up went, and as someone who likes to meet different people in cycling I was looking forward to meeting new folks. Also, being an experienced bike rider and someone quite involved in the cycling community I was looking forward to sharing lots of information about the cycling scene and giving tips to anyone wanting advice.

This group was an initiative borne out of an article written by a woman who bemoaned the fact that she hardly saw any women of colour when she took part in the Ride London 100 last summer. She also claimed to have encountered white MAMILS (middle-aged men in lycra) who gave her "uncomfortable gazes" at the cycle event, or "microagressions" from white males as they overtook her when commuting.

This was then picked up on by the likes of Jools Walker (aka Lady Velo), Jenni Gwiazdowski and Ayesha McGowan, an Afro-American bidding to become the first black female professional racer, who felt that there was a need to group together black women who don't feel that they can get into cycling because they don't see anyone who looks like them.

As someone who has known Jools since 2011, when I interviewed her at the Tweed Run cycle ride for Cycling Weekly magazine, I felt I would support her cause, so I attended the event. (I arrived a bit late as I had been at fitness class that evening.)

There were quite a few women, including Ayesha McGowan who linked up to the meeting from her home in the United States via Skype. Although I missed the early part of the meeting it seemed that a lot of the women talked about how they never received encouragement to get into cycle riding, and felt uncomfortable when they did group rides because they didn't feel they identified with anyone.

Some felt they were ignored, and didn't feel confident about getting involved; others talked about being passed over by marketing companies to become brand ambassadors, or that black women cycling are not represented in the media.

While I believe every word of what the women say, I still find it hard to say that there is a racial or discrimination problem, or even that black women are excluded from getting into cycling.

That has not been my experience at all, and I have never perceived any barriers to entry or discrimination.

No one in my family was particularly into cycling apart from me. My dad bought a Peugeot bike in the 80s and I had a go on it a few times, but generally my parents didn't like me cycling. I have two sisters, neither of whom ride a bike and have never shown a particular interest in doing so even though they are aware of all the activity I do on two wheels.

I grew up in an area where we were the only black family. There were local people who were happy for me to join their cycling groups, however I didn't have the means to join in as they would meet up far from where I lived.

My dad wouldn't let me use his bike, and in any case living in a remote village in Yorkshire with no public transport, where the nearest cycling group was 10 miles away, meant I couldn't join in. My parents were certainly not going to let me cycle all the way there. And there was no way they would encourage me, as a teenager to ride on public roads. They were quite against the idea of "serious cycling".

Over the years I did bits and pieces of cycling, as described in my 52 Cycling Voices, and eventually got into regular club cycling almost 20 years ago and have really enjoyed it since. Various people have given me support and encouragement with my cycling - men, women, black people, white people, including MAMILS!

Through cycling I got into journalism and testing out kit for brands. It is true that I have only seen a few black men out cycling, and practically no black women, but I never saw it as a problem and I assumed that if they were interested in cycling they would have come along to the different activities. After all, I was taking part - and if I could take part, anyone can. The number of black women in cycling is slowly increasing now though.

The thing is, I still can't say that the lack of black people cycling should be a barrier to entry.

In fact the biggest barriers I have faced were from my own folks! My parents did not want me to ride, thinking it was too dangerous. My dad always used to say people who cycle on public roads just want to kill themselves!

My mum couldn't understand why anyone would want to ride more than a few miles if they could travel around by car. Black women that I met when I moved to London found it a bit strange that I would like to ride a bike. At dinner parties, mentioning bike riding was more of a conversation stopper!

Dinner party host: "Did you find the place okay?"
Me: "Yes, I cycled over - it was quite straightforward."
Dinner party host: "Hmm.... I never understand cyclists - they always get in the way on the road."

When I was growing up, getting around by bicycle was seen as something you did because you didn't have access to a car. Doing recreational bike riding as a child is fair enough. But cycling around as an adult was just a sign of failure - that you hadn't managed to find a job that paid you enough to buy a car! Moreover, people wanted to show off their wealth by having a decent car. Not a Ford or a Hyundai - an Audi or BMW at least!
My parents just didn't understand the concept of cycling as a sport, and they were not the only black people to think like that. It just seemed to be a cultural thing to not specifically opt to ride a bike as a mode of transport or for leisure. Some black men would consider it - my dad was among those since he did buy a racing bike - but black women would never dream of doing it.

I would say this cultural tendency was a bigger barrier to entry for me, than any white MAMIL! I too have done the Ride London 100 a few times, and never got any strange looks from anyone. In fact for a while I joined a chain of guys who didn't mind me being there and I hung on until my legs turned to lead after Leith Hill!

Finish line of the 2017 Ride London 100 

People have been saying "if you can't see it, you can't be it," meaning that you can't become something if you don't see people who look like you doing it. I can't say I identify with that phrase at all.

Fair enough, if I had seen other black women cycling I may or may not have found it inspiring. In any case, there were no such sights when I was a child. (If there had been, what is there to say that another black woman is "like me". Just because we are both black doesn't mean that we are the same, or have anything in common!)

How would a white man feel if they were told that they looked like Nigel Farage or Prince William or Brad Pitt! Or white woman being told she looks like Katie Price, or Adele or Fiona Bruce. No one would ever lump all these people into one unit and say that they look like each other. So why folks refer to black people in similar terms just has me at a loss. Anyone who says black people all look like each other would be accused of being racist, but yet this is the premise that is being used when discussing getting into cycling. And as for forming a group based on people's colour - really?

I still got inspired into bike riding when I saw a few of the young local men on road bikes around South Yorkshire, or the men on TV riding the Tour de France.

These Italians, Spanish or Irish guys who looked nothing like me still made me dream of riding up a mountain pass in Europe - and I eventually did so for the first time on a Graham Baxter Sports Tours training camp in Spain in 2000. I was the only black person in the party of around 60 participants, but it didn't bother me one jot. And I had fun on that trip.

At no point did I ever feel that I should join a group of other black female cyclists, or black cyclists. I have only ever been interested in joining groups of pleasant people I can get on with, who have similar interests to mine. I find it hard to see how being black and female would be the basis for forming any group.

There are various statistics around cycling. According to Cycling UK, in 2017 4% of the population rode their bike more than once a week, and 5% rode between two and five times a week.

White people were three times more likely than people of South Asian and Chinese origin to cycle more than three times a week, rising to four times more likely than people of black origin.

Another Cycling UK survey reported 8% of women in the UK describe themselves as regular cyclists (compared with 20% of men). So the figures for black women who cycle, will naturally be very low.

There are various explanations for the low number of women cyclists; it can be because of such issues around confidence and negative experiences on the road from motorists - things which aren't race-specific.

A survey by Transport for London did cite family responsibilities such as caring for children and other family members as a barrier to cycling for some ethnic minority women.

I am not querying these statistics, but for me the bottom line is and will always be about not allowing reports and statistics to bog me down, and just getting out there and doing the thing I want to do.

As for the other points around representation, brand ambassadors or finding cycling groups where one can feel comfortable, there are various responses to that.

Transport for London marketing photo

On representation: Many years ago, when I first got into racing, British Cycling published a full-page photograph of me in action in their events calendar. I was wearing full club kit, with my race face on. It was quite a shock to see my mug plastered next to "March", but one can't say I was invisible!

Some years after that I was photographed along with a few others as part of a marketing campaign for the old Sky Rides. I regularly see photos of black women in Transport for London's marketing materials on cycling.

Plus, as a writer for the former Time Inc magazine, Cycling Active I was regularly featured in photo shoots to accompany the feature articles I wrote.

So I find it hard to say there is no representation. In fact, considering that black people make up only 5% of the UK population, and black women represent an even lower number than that, it wouldn't be realistic to expect to see loads of women of colour in a campaign - particularly as so few ride a bike anyway.

If black women would want to see themselves represented more in cycling campaigns, then more black women need to get out on their bikes. The facilities are available for them to take up cycling.

There are Breeze Rides, Cycling UK rides, Regional women's cycling groups on-line forums, and a Velovixen forum specifically for women cyclists. There is no reason for any woman to say there are no opportunities to cycle - regardless of race.

I, myself set up a women's local cycle racing group with some other women in 2010. We appealed to women of all levels to join, and we organised rides for beginners too. We marketed this on-line and through the cycling media, but no black women turned up. Now I was racing at the time, and was regularly photographed racing, as well as writing updates about the races in the cycling media; therefore one can't say I was invisible.

So much for "If you can't see it, you can't be it"! There was every possibility for those black women who wanted to try cycling, to have a go - particularly as we had groups for beginners.

As for ambassador programmes - that is extremely competitive for anyone who applies. With hundreds of applicants, the odds of being selected are always going to be stacked against you, particularly as marketing managers want to see specific evidence that an individual's cycling activity fits with the essence of their brand, as well as them having a social media following. There are plenty of white people whose applications are rejected!

Getting into club cycling and doing it regularly is not especially easy for anyone, regardless of gender, race or the level people would like to achieve. You may well have to go out of your comfort zone at times, as well as reading and researching around the subject.

That is just part and parcel of trying any new physically demanding activity. I am not saying that prejudices and issues don't exist in society, but I am inclined first to remember that we have a responsibility to put in the effort if we want to achieve an outcome, and we shouldn't be so quick to attribute difficulties in progressing, to society somehow excluding groups of people.

So from a personal standpoint, a specific cycling group for black women isn't really necessary. Such groups that set me apart because of my colour give me a feeling at best that I have some sort of special need because I'm not like other folks (which I don't believe is the case), and at worst someone is trying to bring back Apartheid!

I won't completely rule out going along to these meet-ups if there are specific people I would like to talk to there.

However, I am not interested in joining a moan-fest of people talking about being downtrodden, excluded, second class citizens, the struggle, blah blah blah.

At the meet-up there was talk of organising rides, and I would be happy to do some - though my rides will be defined by the terrain, route and level/speed, and not by people of a particular race or colour. They will be open to any woman (or man even) who wants to come along.



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52 Cycling Voices: Jenni Gwiazdowski

52 Cycling Voices: Ayesha McGowan

52 Cycling Voices: Maria David

Photo shoot in the Chilterns

London women's circuit racing

52 Cycling Voices - 22: Jenni Gwiazdowski

Jenni is well-known in the cycling scene in London, having made her name through the London Bike Kitchen that she runs and it featured on BBC Radio 4's Women's Hour last year.

In addition, she mans the desk at the WheelSuckers podcast along with Alex Davis. Oh, and she's the author of How to Build a Bike: Simple Guide to Making Your Own Ride. I have known of Jenni for a few years but funnily enough, it was only recently that I got to speak to her at length when I went to a women of colour cyclists' meet-up at Look Mum No Hands! So while there, I thought I'd find out a bit more about her.

Jenni Gwiadowski, aged 39

From: San Diego, California, USA

Lives: London

Occupation: Founder and Director of London Bike Kitchen

Jenni at Look Mum No Hands!

Well we always biked when we were kids…but I’m originally from San Diego, California where there is a strong car culture. The minute I turned 15 I got my license, started driving and I didn’t really touch a bike again until I was 24 when I was living in Japan (My mother is Japanese and my father is Polish.)

I moved to Japan to teach English, and the school I was at gave me a bicycle as my transport – an old sit-up-and-beg bike - and I was like, "What is this? I haven’t ridden this since I was a kid." But then riding it became the smartest way to get around as I was in a small town in the countryside. Cycling turned a 20-minute walk into a 5-minute bike ride. 

It was fun, I was on my own schedule, and I was outside. It wasn’t until I moved to London 11 years ago, that I started to identify myself as a cyclist, because I feel like here you are definitely in a minority and you’ve got to stick together.

You really, like stick up for other cyclists as well, and connect with other people who ride.

When comparing cycling in the different places I've lived, San Diego is very similar to London in terms of volume of cars. I really like cycling on the continent, as I feel like drivers are way more respectful over there. 

In Japan people are very respectful. You don’t need infrastructure because the infrastructure is in their minds. Everyone is really respectful, and you can ride on the pavement and it’s fine because people just do that….and you can ride on the road and it’s totally fine because the cars are really polite and everyone is just aware – almost hyperaware. Whereas here it’s like you’re on your own. You’ve gotta fend for yourself.

I’m the founder, director and benevolent dictator, and janitor at London Bike Kitchen. I set it up about seven and a half years ago and we opened a year later.

I guess my reasons for starting it were personally selfish. I really wanted to learn how to build my own bike and there was no classroom space to learn how to do that. So I thought, I’m just going to set it up. I’m going to make it so I can learn how to build my own bike. 

Director, benevolent dictator and janitor outside LBK - Jenni does it all! 

I was pretty sure other people wanted to learn as well. But I also realised I love bike riding and when I used to send my bike off to the bike shop to get fixed I was not really sure what they were doing and I felt disempowered by that experience. 

So I thought to myself,"Well I can change a puncture, I can now change my brake pads, I feel good about being able to do that. What if I can do more? Surely that’s gonna make me feel better." That was an additional incentive to become a mechanic and set up this space where it’s all about education.

I consider myself a mechanic now but there are different areas of expertise when it comes to bike mechanics. There’s definitely some things that I can’t do, like I can’t do hydraulic disc brakes. The ironic thing is we do a class on that, so I have to attend our own classes! But I can be great with quarter pins – like old bike stuff. So although I do consider myself to be a mechanic I am not some all-knowing all-seeing mechanic, though I know my way around a bike.

London Bike Kitchen is aimed for everybody, but right at the very start I knew I wanted to do a separate women’s night because I just don’t see other females working in the bike industry, especially not as mechanics and you don’t see a lot of women riding bikes. And I feel like they’re related. 

It wasn’t actually me who started the sessions for women, it was another person who had seen a blog post I wrote even before Bike Kitchen opened in 2011 and they contacted me and said they wanted to set up this women’s night, and they were gender variant and didn’t identify as being female, but they weren’t male either. So I told them they could take ownership of that project and decide how they wanted to present it. 

So they decided to call it Women And Gender-variant, kind of playing on the WAG acronym which is pretty derogatory I think, but I don’t know it because I’m American. But here, wives and girlfriends is not considered a good thing. So they helped create the space and we experimented with how often we should do it and how long it should be, what should we cover, what are the logistics of it. 

It took us probably about a year before we figured out the magic formula of twice a month - every second and fourth Monday from 6.30pm until 9pm. We have a set schedule that comes out every six months that lists everything that we are covering, so it gives people a sense of security when they come in – because it’s a really foreign environment. 

Going into a bike workshop is weird for most people – it’s going to be really weird for women, so we are trying to remove as many mental blocks – as many barriers as we can.

The first year we opened we were getting like one, maybe two people coming, and it was really sad. But we kept pressing on, because we thought this is a good idea and we just have to find the right way to do it. 

Now we’re getting maybe 10 people coming to each session, so we're doing okay now. Our space is pretty small so it feels really crowded, but it works.

Being featured on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour helped raise the profile. They got in touch with us because of our WAG nights. I don't listen to Woman's Hour so I wasn't really star struck. But it was great having all these different women in the cycling world come to the shop!  

Wheelsuckers Podcast with Ned Boulting

With Alex Davis I form half of the Wheelsuckers podcast. I’m the stoker, Alex is the Captain. She steers the whole thing while I’m just the engine in the back.

It’s really fun. It’s hard work but we form a good team. Neither of us would be able do it alone. I think Alex does have the hard work, with all the editing, but I think she likes it!

We are always researching ideas for who to invite as guests on the Wheelsuckers Podcast, since we are both active on social media so we’re always kind of aware of what’s going on. The most interesting podcast we did was the one with Ninon Asuni. She's a very knowledgeable bike mechanic and one of my personal heroes. Currently we're hoping to interview Dr Rachel McKinnon, the first transgender woman to win a World Championship race. We hope to interview her next year. That will be an amazing opportunity. 

We also like to interview Ayesha McGowan [who is bidding to become the first African American female to race for a UCI road team] every time she comes into town. I remember seeing her when the BBC did a video on her and I was like…."this woman’s amazing"….I need to follow her, and then suddenly a year later I’m interviewing her - WTF?

On the back of Ayesha talking about under-representation of women of colour in cycling Jools Walker and myself organised a women of colour get-together at Look Mum No Hands!. I thought it was great.

The first women of colour meet-up

Before our first meet-up me and Jools were so nervous. We didn’t know who would turn up or what we were going to be doing. We had no plan. We just wanted people to get together and talk. That’s all it was. 

It's been so nice for people to come together and share their thoughts, ideas and hardships. you know we will definitely be meeting up again, and getting some rides out of it.

It’s hard to say where my favourite location is to ride as there are so many great places. I did have a really amazing bike packing trip last summer. 

We were in the forests of Burgundy off-road for four days, and it was amazing just camping and cycling. 

You don’t go very far on a mountain bike but you don’t need to because everything around you is beautiful.

Then we’d pop into the town and get some food, and we'd always get a bottle of wine.

Whenever I go cycling, I never go out without my Happy Bottom Bum Butter chamois cream. It's great. I can't live without it! 

To anyone who wants to get into cycling  I'd say get some cycle training. Four of us do free cycle training in the London area. 

If you are not based in London, your local authority may run cycle training sessions. Otherwise find a friend who rides a bike and just go out with them and make it fun. 

Always do baby steps. Don’t go out thinking you have to know everything at once; you’re always going be learning. 
Hashtag never not learning. That’s my saying. You will always be learning. 

Twitter/Instagram: @money_melon
Twitter/Instagram: @LDNBikeKitchen
Twitter/Instagram: @WheelSuckersPod


Other Cycling Voices
Alex Davis

Ayesha McGowan

Rochelle Gilmore

Tracy Moseley

Geraldine Glowinski

Emily Chappell

Michelle Webster

Carolyn Hewett-Maessen

Niusha Doyom

Maria David