Counting Women, the Tumblr Method...

Fernand Leger, Les belles ciclistes

It has been said for a number of years now that the health of cycling could be determined by the percentage of women riders. The greater the number of women tooling, or zipping, around any given country, state, city or town, could be used to predict how vibrant, and important a part of the overall transportation scene, bicycling was. 

For a long time, cycling was seen as, primarily, a male dominated activity. Women on bikes were few and far between. I am not talking about the great bicycling boom when everyone rode; no, I am talking about the period of time when transportation came to be dominated by the automobile. Over the last couple decades, however, the number of women riders has continued to expand. Membership roles, street counts, and other survey methods tell us this is so. The recent League of American Bicyclists report, Women on a Roll, shows that numbers are up significantly.

I tell you though, all those methods seem to undercount when compared to the Tumblr method. Looking through my feed the other day, I could swear that women make up, at minimum, an 80% (maybe even 90% on any given day) share on our roads and trails. Imagine that.