Trek Ladies Night: Bicycle Safety

Anyone who knows me knows I care deeply about community, sport, women's participation, enjoying and being safe while participating.  So, April 13 I held a Ladies Night talk about Bicycle Safety at my local Trek Store.  We discussed our local laws of cycling, statistics of bicycle crashes and what we can do to avoid them and then talked about specific areas of town or questionable circumstances we've been in that we'd like to handle better. I think everyone went away with some new knowledge and a greater sense of community.
 
We broadcast the event on Facebook Live and we had 50 women attend! There were swag bags for everyone and we gave participants an opportunity to give back to the Tucson community and “Wheels for Kids” through raffle prize drawings.  Our local Trek Bicycle Stores are drop sites for Wheels for Kids, an organization that provide bikes at no cost to partner organizations, who then distribute the bike to local kids and families in need. Misty at the Trek Store decided this organization would be beneficiary of our Trek Women's Bike Night and it was a perfect fit. We raised $175 for Wheels for Kids in under 2 hours! In addition, several of the ladies decided to donate their children's outgrown bikes.  Raffle items for donations included helmets, Saris PINK Bike Rack and bicycle lights.
 
The event was such a success and I answered so many questions about bicycle safety, laws, skills and training that we are already planning future events. In addition to a weekend social ride to a local coffee shop, we'll have a clinic to teach bicycle handling skills. 
 
I love doing events like these and I hope, as a professional, I can be a role model for these ladies, young and old alike.