New Female Cycling Website: Cycling Information by Women for Women

Ottawa, Canada, July 19, 2008 --(PR.com)-- When Laurel-Lea Shannon, a health and fitness writer, took up road cycling six years ago, she noticed that most of the cycling information on the web and in magazines is written by men for men. “As a woman cyclist, a lot of that information isn't relevant or interesting to me,” she says. “ Instead of being frustrated, I started a website: Women's Cycling.ca — a resource for cycling information that's tailored by women for women.”

Let’s face it, women are different from men ─ especially when it comes to cycling. Women tend to have longer legs and shorter torsos than men. This makes women particularly well-suited for the sport of cycling but it also means that they require special equipment ─ like bicycles that are designed with a different geometry than a man’s. If you’ve ever seen a small woman perched precariously on the saddle of a man’s bike, straining for the handle bars and pedals, you get the picture.

But it’s not just their physique and the equipment that make cycling different for women. Women ride for different reasons than men, more for social and health benefits than for competition. Recounting why she took up the sport, Laurel-Lea continues, “I got interested in cycling because I was concerned about my health. Heart disease runs in my family. I realized I was on a slippery slope ─ if I didn’t start doing something more vigorous than walking for daily exercise, I knew I could be in for problems as I aged.”

What she hadn’t counted on was how much she would enjoy cycling. “It’s so much fun. Many women feel cycling is unsafe. But if you join a cycling club, it’s safe and you meet new people. And the health benefits of cycling are amazing,” Laurel-Lea says. “I’m in the best shape of my life. I weigh less than I did when I was 18 years old, and even better, I’m healthy and fit.” Because she benefited so much from cycling, Laurel-Lea wanted to promote the sport to other women.

Women’s cycling.ca is the only website for female recreational cyclists that covers such a broad range of topics: every topic from how to prevent female genital discomfort caused by poor bike posture and badly fitted saddles to how to change a flat tire.

The website has training tips, nutritional advice, health and fitness news, bike maintenance articles with audio clips from a female bike mechanic, and it promotes cycling advocacy. The informative and entertaining articles are in-depth and include interviews with female cycling coaches and competitive cyclists like Triathlon Canada's 2005 Masters Female Duathlete of the Year Diane Stibbard.

Women’s Cycling.ca offers something for every woman who is already a cyclist or who is considering taking up this enjoyable sport.

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