Across Wales, women are discovering the love of jumping on their bikes and hitting the road together.
It’s all thanks to Breeze Cycling – a UK wide programme that offers fun, free and inclusive rides for women of all abilities. Launched in 2011 with help from The National Lottery, Breeze aims to close cycling’s gender gap.
The beauty of Breeze is that no rider gets left behind. A simple bike ride has evolved into communities of women across Wales and the UK who support and understand each other.
In Ciliau Aeron, volunteer Breeze Champion, Nia Richards, has led 386 rides over the past decade. In that time, she has welcomed a community of female riders of all ages and abilities, helping them escape from their challenges in life.
For Karen Davies (53), Breeze has helped her manage health conditions, including arthritis and anxiety.
After undergoing a hysterectomy in 2018 that triggered early menopause, Karen struggled. Since then, she has battled with health challenges including a bad back, crippling arthritis in her feet, as well as anxiety.
No longer able to run, she bought an e-bike and joined the Breeze rides as a low impact way of keeping fit. And while Karen has always felt self-conscious of her weight, she never feels judged by the other riders.
Taking to the roads with the girls reduces her anxiety levels and she enjoys an enduring feelgood factor, long after she’s popped the bike back in the garage.
I often feel anxious about my weight, I am a size 22 and although I can’t wear what the other girls wear, I never feel overweight on the bike. There is never any judgement, and I never feel out of place. Through Breeze, I’ve met women who understand health challenges like menopause. Without these rides, I am much more anxious.
Siara Lloyd is showing no signs of slowing down. She is 66 and discovered the love of cycling around ten years ago. Having joined a local club with her husband, she has since clocked up countless miles of riding across the UK and on holidays in Spain.
But recently retiring to New Quay and leaving her much-loved club behind, Siara was keen to meet new friends and explore Ceredigion. That was six months ago, and she now heads out with her ‘Breeze girls’ once or twice a week, often adding in extra rides and lunch dates with her new circle of friends.
Retiring to a new place can feel quite isolating but through Breeze, I’ve met brilliant people. I tell everyone that it’s been my best find in New Quay. I feel part of the community, the mileage is just right and we stop for coffee and a chat en route. It’s something I can do on my own without my husband. It gives me independence.
Just 57% of women in Wales took part in sport or physical activity in the last four weeks, compared with 64% of men (National Survey for Wales 2022-23.) This gap shows why it's important to create more opportunities for women to get active.
And that's exactly what Breeze is doing. Breeze is built for women and led by women. Creating opportunities where women can be with other like-minded women means they can feel safe and comfortable taking part in sport.
Each Breeze ride is:
Ffion Morgan, Development Manager, Beicio Cymru says: “The success of the Breeze programme is driven by its incredible volunteers across the country - women who are passionate about helping others to cycle and who truly understand the challenges they face.
At its heart, Breeze is built on community and connection - two powerful elements that keep women coming back week after week.
“The programme is highly adaptable, shaped around the needs of both volunteers and participants. Each group looks a little different, whether it’s off-road or on-road rides, long or short distances, daytime or evening sessions, Breeze offers the flexibility that women value most.
“Other sports could take inspiration from this model, using its core ingredients of community, connection, flexibility, support, and inspiration to design similar initiatives,”
If you want to get more women taking part in sport, you can create sessions, just like Breeze, which are built especially for them.
You can:
Together, we can create more opportunities in sport for women.
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