Photo by Karissa Hally
SheWolves
Women have long fought to create spaces for themselves. Whether it’s through the feminist movement, an all-ladies scrapbooking meet-up or a writers group for women of color, women seek each other to build a safe space to talk, support one another and do what they love.
The SheWolves bike crew was born out of this long tradition. Three years ago, Angie Beaulieu and Magz Lemaster came together to build a biking community for female-identifying individuals. Every third Thursday of the month, the SheWolves come together in their cycling caps emblazoned with their crew name on the flip side of the brim, and take to the streets of San Diego in their bikes.
The group came as a response to the male-dominated bike scene in San Diego, though the scene is the same across the country. Countless articles documenting female-centric bike crews that have sprouted up in response to the sausage fest of a scene in cities like Los Angeles, Long Beach, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Toronto and beyond are just a Google search away.
“We wanted to create a safe space for women to feel comfortable riding their bike,” says Lemaster. “They didn’t feel safe or confident in the male-dominated rides. There weren’t enough girls. We’d asked women and they’d say it felt intimidating or uncomfortable to ride with the guys. Or they get hit on. Girls will come out to ride and the guys are like wolves. Guys, back up. Give them room to breathe.”
Seeing a lack of women on rides or at bike races and events pushed Lemaster and Beaulieu to start the SheWolves, which has grown from a group of about four to 15 to 20 riders. As Lemaster puts it, “I rode with all these guys and it was great, but I felt like I was missing something.”
Beaulieu, co-owner of Retrogression bike shop in North Park, adds, “I always push the SheWolves and other women to do these bike races. I’m not sure why they don’t show up. It might be a confidence thing, or maybe they just don’t know about it. Or they think, ‘well, I’m not going to win so why bother.’ It’s not about winning. It’s about being involved and showing other women they can do it.”
Through the SheWolves, Beaulieu and Lemaster aim to empower women and boost their confidence on two wheels so it stays with them when they’re on two feet. To keep the space safe, they refrain from politics because they believe it alienates riders. They keep it simple: girls riding bikes, drinking beer and hanging out.
Even so, when the SheWolves first formed, they didn’t feel the warmest welcome in the local bike community. A few people, both male and female, felt their group was too exclusive or didn’t understand the need for an all-female ride to exist.
“We had a rough patch there,” says Lemaster. “It’s like, you have like 14 rides. Let us have one!”
The SheWolves represents a wide range of woman. There’s service industry workers, a zookeeper, teachers, business owners, a physician and a fish monger, to name a few. It includes trans and gender-neutral individuals, as well as gay and straight riders. Lemaster identifies as gender-neutral and uses they/them pronouns. They also have an annual co-ed ride for which they invite their male supporters.
“We had to try and explain that we feel excluded on regular rides,” says Beaulieu. “But for every guy that’s a hater, we have 50 dudes who fully support what we do and think it’s rad. And our co-ed anniversary rides prove that with 80-plus riders showing up.”
Sexism in the bike community doesn’t just exist on the streets. It’s in the shops too. Beaulieu says people often ignore her when she offers them help in her shop, opting to speak with her husband Dave, who owns the shop with her, instead. Or they’ll call her “honey,” “mansplain” basic information on bike maintenance to her or comment on her bike having the color pink on it. She once had a fellow shop owner explain to her that she needed to take a bike apart before shipping it in a box, even after she told him she owned a shop and worked on bikes.
Insert eyerolls here.
“This is why when a woman comes into my shop, I try extra hard to make them feel comfortable,” she says. “Because I feel the sexism myself in bike shops.”
The sexism female bike shop owners and riders experience make the need to create a community for them by them even more vital.
“Everyone involved makes you feel so welcomed and important,” says Gia Hanrahan, a member of the SheWolves who, along with other members of the crew, has been empowered to raise money for AIDS/LifeCycle, a seven-day fundraiser bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles that supports HIV/AIDS research and awareness. “SheWolves has been my savior.”