The Tour de France Femme starts Sunday, July 23; read the book by Kathryn Bertine, who fought to bring the race back for women. Inspiring athletes and adventurers, past and present, make up my summer reading list. And one musician biography, for those who remember the ’80s.
Athlete and activist Kathryn Bertine wrote Stand: A Memoir on Activism, and she lives in Tucson! Although this book is a couple of years old, Bertine’s message is critical for anyone trying to change patriarchal systems, also known as “we’ve always done it this way.” Bertine gathered a small team of professional female athletes to challenge the Tour de France organizers, gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures on a global petition, and worked behind the scenes to get to the 8-day stage race we will cheer for next week. There’s still work to be done to make it 21 days to equal the men’s race.
Kathrine Switzer is Marathon Woman, and she shares her story of becoming the first woman to run the Boston Marathon and the fight to include women in the race. A classic book combining feminist activism with the hard work of marathon training.I love hiking and biking in northern Arizona and Ladies of the Canyon, by Lesley Poling-Kempes, shows what it was like to hike and ride horses through this region in the mid-19th century. The author took a deep dive into the archives and uncovered stories of women who traveled into canyons and across Monument Valley. Women with long skirts and cinched waists ride cowboy style through the desert heat, creating lives for themselves in the wild west.
The Forgotten Botanist: Sara Plummer Lemmon’s Life of Science and Art, by Wynne Browne, tells another adventure story from the 1800s. Sara taught herself botany and explored the southwest with her husband. She scaled cliffs and crossed deserts to collect and name new plant species in Arizona, California, Oregon, and Mexico. She was also an activist in women’s suffrage and forest conservation. The famous cycling climb in Tucson is up to the top of Mount Lemmon, named after Sara who was the first white woman to reach the peak (hiking, not cycling).
In Why Sinéad O’Connor Matters, Allyson McCabe, looks at the life, music, and complex public image of the artist. After a childhood of family abuse, a teacher/nun introduced O’Connor to the guitar. She took control of her own music before she was 20 years old, and famously criticized the Catholic church for hiding child abuse (denied at the time, and later proved to be true). Her song writing and voice won awards, but popular opinion often turned against her. McCabe argues O’Connor was held to a different standard than the male musicians of her time. Read while listening to “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”
Photo of books titled: Stand, Marathon Woman, The Forgotten Botanist, Ladies of the Canyon, Why Sinead O’Connor Matters
Mary Reynolds writes and bikes in Tucson, AZ, and is writing a book “The Quake That Drained the Desert.”
This is a special guest episode with All Bodies on Bikes with Ellen Noble
“Ellen Noble is a retired professional cyclist living in Western Massachusetts with her boyfriend, Adin, and our dog, Winnie. Since her retirement, she has filled her life with many odd jobs — the best of them being bike race announcing and commentating. Ellen recently launched a podcast called This One’s For You, to share inspirational and encouraging stories about triumph and resilience. We’d love it if you gave it a listen!”
To Read
Everyday exercise matters
“If anyone asked if I get enough exercise, my answer would be unequivocal: Yes, I make a point of carving out time to sweat, get my heart pumping and move around.I probably would not mention that I prefer to drive the half mile to pick up my coffee instead of taking a 15-minute walk. Or that using the drive thru sounds infinitely more appealing than actually getting out of my car. Or that you’d rarely spot me choosing to trudge up the stairs at the end of the day.None of these shortcuts on their own feel like that a big deal. After all, I worked out today, right? But added up these are slowly sapping a sometimes overlooked source of metabolic health.It’s a concept that goes by the name non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT, for short.”
“Get ready for a thrilling journey as we take you behind the scenes of the long-awaited return of the women’s Tour de France in 2022. Witness the advances and setbacks that led to a historic moment in women’s cycling. The film takes you on a wild ride of bravery, connection, and adrenaline-fuelled exhilaration. You’re steered by Emily Chappell, who stirs compassion as she skilfully narrates. Former competitors such as Denise Kelly and Marilyn Trout (former pro cyclists for Team Canada), Maria Canins (two-time winner of the Tour de France Femmes for Team Italy), plus CANYON//SRAM Racing’s Elise Chabbey, Kasia Nieuwiadoma, Pauliena Rooijakkers, and Ronny Lauke all weave a thought-provoking storyline together. As the title suggests, Out in Front is about riders who have the strength and courage to break away from convention. This is encapsulated in CANYON//SRAM Racing’s success in the 2022 Tour de France Femme (where they topped the Teams Classification, and placed Kasia Nieuwiadoma 3rd on the overall podium in the process) and through the recollections of Kelly, Trout and Canins as they look back on their experiences of women’s cycling in the 1980s. It becomes clear that ‘where women belong’ in cycling has changed for good. The 2022 Tour de France Femmes was the first official race after a hiatus of more than 30 years, marking a seminal moment for gender equality in cycling. In the creation of this film, as well as in sponsoring female teams, ambassadors, and a host of initiatives to inspire women to jump on the saddle, we are explicitly committing to long-term investment in women’s cycling. This way, the ongoing efforts of female athletes both on and off the bike, are acknowledged, promoted, and celebrated, showing the younger generation of women that there’s a place for them in cycling.”
Starting July 1, 2022, I began a half-year commitment to buy-nothing*. What that meant for me was no buying clothing or shoes or accessories, with the following exceptions: 1) I could replace worn out sports clothing items or underwear; 2) I could buy from my favorite consignment shop Wearovers, provided that I brought items to consign at the same time. I then re-upped January 1, 2023, for another half year, until July 1, 2023.
First of all, before the lessons learned, here’s how it went:
July–December 2022 went very well. I accidentally ordered a pair of cute but contraband pajama bottoms to go with the needed replacement underwear, but that was about it. I enjoyed feeling liberated from asking myself time and time again, “do I need that? Do I want that?” It was a relief to have buying clothing off the table as an option.
But as I rang in the New Year, my resolve weakened. I ordered a pair of teal-blue Chaco’s sandals. Why? Because my sister and niece had pairs (purple and tan, respectively) and I really liked them. Sigh. And then I ordered a pair of work shoes– blue suede Dansko patti shoes. In my (feeble) defense, I wanted a more comfortable supportive shoe for teaching, and these fit the bill. But there are still those sandals, purchased in January.
Teal blue cute Chaco slides.Blue suede Dansko Patti shoes.
Then as my birthday approached in April, I decided I just wanted some new things. I bought two long-sleeved colorful shirts and a chocolate brown jacket. Then in June I bought a(nother) black jacket for work.
Forgive me, readers, for I have purchased. Not a lot– certainly less than I would have if not for that pesky buy-nothing plan I made ages ago. But I didn’t follow the plan completely.
Still, doing this for a year wasn’t for nothing. I’ve learned some things.
First: I now know I have a more-than-ample supply of clothing for a bunch of occasions; I’ll do Rent the Runway if I have a gala to attend, but otherwise I’m all set. Even after a bit of Marie Kondo’ing, I’ve still got lots of sources of sartorial joy.
Second: I like wearing a smaller number of favorite mix-and-match tops, bottoms, jackets, scarves, etc. Wearing my current favorites slightly more often has not drawn gasps from colleagues or students. Focusing on what I have and how I feel like accessorizing has been kind of fun. I’ve even brought some older favorites back into rotation, which always makes me feel virtuous.
Third: I thought that browsing online would be harmless– an idle pleasure or brief downtime activity that wouldn’t tempt me overmuch. WRONG. This may seem absolutely obvious to all of you, but I thought that the fact of my resolution would shield me from too much exposure to fashion commerce. Browsing is NOT a good idea when one is on a buy-nothing plan.
Fourth: the Internet never forgets you and what clothing or shoes or accessories you once liked or even looked at. You will keep seeing these same items, over and over, while engaging on other online work. For instance, after briefly browsing summer sandals a week ago, I have been besieged with cute summer sandal ads, that keep getting bigger and bigger, even as I was reading a Smithsonian magazine article.
Here are some ads that kept popping up.
Shoe ads: top left includes a pair I bought in person, top right are others I might like, and bottom is a bigger view of the original ad. All obscured my view of the article I was trying to read.
I silently acknowledged the cute sandals, and returned to my reading. But the sandal ad people were having none of it. Their second salvo came across my laptop window:
Three more ads, with as-yet-unseen-by-me cute sandals, throwing in a cream-colored boot and brown suede shoe just for fun.
When I steadfastly refused to click, the advertising bots switched tactics and showed me some sneakers. They are relentless. Moral of the story: when you browse, be prepared to be followed around by those selfsame items, entreating you to buy them.
Five: a buy-nothing plan about anything (clothes, books, home goods, etc.) will likely have some fine print attached, because life is complicated. I’m going to resume my buy-nothing plan for the rest of 2023. What I like best about it is that it provides an occasion– namely the end of the six-month period, which is what I’m doing– to consider if I need or want to replace anything, or if there’s something special I really want to buy. Slowing down the process of purchasing has been great for me and my bank account. For me, it’s not really buy-nothing, but rather buy-slowly. That’s fine with me.
Readers, are any of you doing buy-nothing plans? How are they going? What have you taken away from them? I’d love to hear from you.
Lately I have been thinking about changerooms. Particularly pool change rooms. I live in southwestern Ontario, where our summertime is pretty brief. In my town, our public, outdoor swimming pools have a truly short season – they open about July 1st and close on Labour Day (the first weekend in September). If you ask me, that’s a lot of money in infrastructure that is only staffed 2 months of the year. (I would like to see public pools open longer and offer more programming, but that is a different post.)
So doing aquafit in summer is particularly fun! You go out into the bright sunlight (usually) and get to enjoy the light along with the exercise.
One part, though, has been a bit of a shocker. I think all of the changerooms at public pools in my town are just large rectangular rooms with a bench running along the side. There are no lockers, no cubbies, no little walls to duck into for privacy. And of course, the changerooms are organized based on binary gender – there are male and female options only, although some offer “family” changerooms, which are just a small area with a locking door.
This is not a new topic on our blog; we have written about getting naked in public spaces here and here. I found Kim’s reflections in A Tale of Two Locker Rooms to be especially helpful in thinking about what I even have to say about this.
I have to admit I am not big on stripping down naked with a bunch of people coming and going. My body is bigger than many others’. I have had more than one kid comment about it in a way that made me feel uncomfortable, but not nearly as uncomfortable as their mother gasping at their comment did. I have body image issues. Truly, I’d like to meet the woman that doesn’t.
I prefer a small spot with a curtain or door to pull shut, so I can strip down, dry off and pull my clothes on while my body is still damp and often a little sticky. I find it hard to do that gracefully when I’m around people, honestly.
Several of our bloggers mentioned the inspiration they felt watching senior women stride around naked in these change spaces, and I admit I have felt that too. I love their quiet confidence and often I have seen a group of older women chatting and slowly getting dressed.
I also have been fascinated when in swimming situations in Germany. When in east and central Europe, I have often said I didn’t know if I felt more embarrassed by being naked, or being seen as a North American prude by covering up my naked self.
This week, though, the giant empty rectangle of changerooms jarred me more than it might have in the past. For one thing, the insistence on binary gender is pretty bizarre to me. Where are we asking people who don’t identify as ‘male’ or ‘female’ to go. I don’t like the messaging there.
As well as binary gender concerns, I also have gotten used to my new, all-gender change space at my winter pool. It has pretty fancy, large change rooms with doors that lock, and glass windows everywhere in the space. I had never used a large, all-gender change space before, but I have gotten used to walking around a corner and into a male face.
So when I went to my summer, echo-y rectangle change room, the room felt… kind of naked. Like there was nowhere to step aside and that just… was not great. I’m still thinking on this – like Kim and others say in past posts, what should be wrong with a naked human form? I mean, we all have them…
We are in the midst of a heat wave and getting a workout in is the last thing on my must do list. So when it is simply unimaginable to think of movement, I have enjoyed my breaks in front of my fan scrolling the news for positive events. Today I have collected for you some cool links offering good news for women in sport.
First out of the gate is this great story on the latest decision in Caster Semenya’s fight to participate in her sport without testosterone suppressing hormones. “Olympic champion Caster Semenya wins appeal against testosterone rules at human rights court” is the banner headline on the CBC News website. While this doesn’t mean Semenya can immediately return to her preferred running distance, it is considered a landmark decision because the judges believe Semenya’s human rights have been infringed by the sports authorities.
Second, let’s hear it for Christine Sinclair’s amazing achievement as the top scorer in the world. This story looks at Sinclair’s brilliant career and tremendous contributions to women’s soccer. Plus she’s Canadian!
Still with soccer, have you seen this wicked ad from France about women’s abilities on the pitch? The creators swapped out the women’s faces with men’s to show how skilled the women are and how bias influences perception. The ad agency’s goal was to show gender was not a factor in skill and should not be factor in supporting men over women as players.
The CNN story included this lovely quote: “For the majority of soccer fans (and that’s the problem), the general consensus is that ‘men’s soccer is better, faster, more interesting than women’s.’ We also know that soccer videos have a great success online,” an Orange spokesperson told CNN over email. For their campaign, “it was essential that during the first half of the video, viewers would think they were enjoying male actions and the only way to make believe that was to… reshape women into men!” As a way to garner interest in the Women’s Soccer World Cup now underway in New Zealand and Australia, the ad really made people stop and think.
Fourth and last for soccer, the Women’s World Cup will pay its players at least $30K US in this competition. It’s not on par with the Men’s World Cup player payments, but it’s a start. A group of players led the charge last year in their petition to FIFA; in addition to seeking a prize pool equal to the men’s, they also asked for the prize money to be paid directly to the players. While FIFA did not give parity, the global governing body for international soccer increased the prize money by three times the amount awarded in 2019 and they agreed to pay a chunk of the money to the players. The gold medal team members will earn $270K each in US dollars.
I had so many reasons not to participate in CityShred in Toronto on July 16th, described as, “the EPIC group-training experience that challenges you to push your limits, work as a team and SHRED limited beliefs, together is BACK for the BIGGEST SUMMER SHRED TO DATE.”
My gym, Move Fitness Club, shared the information with its members, explaining that they were going to have a booth at the event and encouraging us to join in the FUN!!
The athlete in me was intrigued by the idea of a different, intense, workout, to shake-up my very regular routine. If some of my workout buddies would be there, all the better. The other side of my brain worried pictures of the event hinted at a much younger, influencer, crowd. Also, there are certain activities I know I have no interest in participating in – I don’t want to climb walls – for example. The pictures of previous CityShred events seemed more of a very intense conditioning workout than an obstacle-style course, which I imagined I would love. Also, I have long believed that shaking things up doesn’t have to mean doing things OUTSIDE of my comfort zone. It can mean amping things up and new things WITHIN that zone. So if I went to the event and I could do most of it and decided not to do the odd thing, it would still be worth it.
Planning to participate in the event, for me, meant considering my usual workout schedule for the week and switching some things around. I didn’t want to do the usual Saturday conditioning class at Move, the day before CityShred. Sometimes parts of my body are still sore after my Thursday (run), Friday (strength), Saturday (conditioning) workouts and, not knowing what was ahead for me on Sunday, meant I was being cautious. It’s one thing to do my usual long run on Sunday. Another, to do new things, with sore muscles. For a routine-oriented person, like myself, changing up my overall schedule can be a bit anxiety inducing but is also part of the point – something different.
Speaking of potentially sore muscles, I also made sure I did some “runner’s yoga” on Saturday.
Details for the event said that it would take place from 8:30 am to 2:00 pm. It was at Varsity Stadium in Toronto, which is a huge football field that is part of the University of Toronto. The doors would open at 8:30. They encouraged people to get there early as the first 400 entrants would be given the swag bags and there were TLF Athletic Apparel Outfit for participants, while quantities lasted. The workout was supposed to go from 10 am to 12:30 pm, with a “burpee challenge” at 9:30 am, which I wasn’t planning to participate in because I didn’t want to burn myself out before the main event. Looking back, I think I should have participated in it, even for the personal challenge, which involved pairs doing as many burpees as they could for 10 mins straight. The winning pair completed 400+ burpees and won $2000. I wouldn’t have jumped to near 400 burpees, but I might have had fun trying.
On Sunday, I awoke with a feeling of anticipation, at 5ish. That’s not far off from when I typically get up for my long run, around 6. I had my coffee and a protein bar, organized my things, relaxed and started off on foot to the event (according to Google, it’s 4.9 km) around 7:30 am. I arrived at Varsity Stadium at 8:20ish and there was already quite a long line up at the entrance. As I waited, my friends started to arrive and joined me in line. Laura, Kat, Sanu and I were in the line together. Rose, Marina and her sister arrived a bit later and met us inside at the Move booth, which was staffed by our wonderful and long-time coaches, Barb and Bethany, as well as with new staff member, Sara.
It seems the line to get in took much longer than the organizers anticipated. The people working the swag desk seemed a little overwhelmed at the volume of people trying to get their right size. We didn’t get past the registration/swag pick-up/outfit pick-up until almost 9:30 am. Those of us who arrived earlier were able to snag these items, but anyone who arrived even 10 min after us seemed to have lucked out. The swag bags contained the typical fitness event items, of different hydration packets, protein snacks, coupons for products sponsoring the event. If you were able to get the swag bag and outfit, those items alone covered the entry fee of $40.
Once inside the stadium we had time to walk around the booths and try some samples. I enjoyed one of the products so much that I bought some online later to use at the office. Polar Joe is marketed as a functional iced coffee with a good amount of protein. I have been looking for something to tie me over in the afternoons at work, so that I don’t feel the need to go out and buy another Americano Misto that day. I certainly was their target audience!
After bits of samples of energy snacks and drinks (and trying not to enjoy too much before the workout which wouldn’t have been good for my stomach) the warm-up appeared to be underway, about 11:15 am, so a bit later than anticipated. Our group got ready to go on the turf. While fun, the warm-up turned out to be a series of gym spotlights, with trainers talking about their coming-to-fitness stories, before doing a bit of a warm-up. It felt a little stop/start/stop/start and it would have benefited from the use of the big screen because it wasn’t always easy to see what the trainers were doing enclosed within a circle of people. The stories were inspirational, for sure, but I would have liked a more continuous warm-up to keep the energy going and think organizers might consider telling their stories during the workout rather than before each segment.
At this point we joked we needed to think of this event as a “fitness festival” more than an intense fitness workout event. As a fitness festival it was ticking a lot of boxes. Swag, samples, inspiration, bits of movement.
After the 30 minute warm-up we started off as a group running the track 2 times before getting into groups in a line behind several rope ladders (on the ground on the turf) for a series of drills. There was another set of track running in between drills. We were encouraged not to bring our water bottles on the turf to avoid tripping hazards. For someone, like me, that was a bit of challenge, not having my water bottle with me, while exercising, particularly in muggy weather. Luckily, while muggy, it wasn’t particularly sunny, so it was manageable.
Bethany commented how amazing it was to see everyone (organizers said 1500 were there but seemed more like 800 in person) running together around the field. The feeling in the crowd was collegial. It didn’t feel super competitive, which is great. It felt very motivational for all levels. It felt mostly like an easy jog for me. Our small group is fairly homogeneous, given that we are a women-focussed gym, but the overall group did seem diverse. More diverse in colour and gender, than in age. I would say the age range was mostly somewhere around 30 with some much older (like me) and some a little younger. Even though I am much older than 30-something, I didn’t feel like I stuck out in the crowd. It felt as though if you were there to participate and have fun you were welcome. It’s possible, that if this type of message was more widely broadcast, these types of events would attract more older life athletes.
The drills were the toughest part, in the way I enjoy. They reminded me of our Move’s outdoor conditioning workouts, which we did a lot of during the pandemic and which I loved. This part did feel a little more competitive for me in the way that I grew conscious of trying not to hold people up on the ladder behind me. People were good about running around others, if necessary, when sprinting, etc. There were side shuffles, hops, bear crawls, sprawls, and did I mention sprinting?
When we left around 1 pm, I felt like it was a good workout, although not my toughest by far. I thought I would want to still go to my regular gym class the next day and signed up for my usual 6:30 am class. But, as the day went on, reality set in and I felt my legs stiffen up. I realized I would be better off giving them a break the next morning. That’s one of the things I’m trying to get myself to accept. It doesn’t come easily to me, but my legs would benefit from a rest day. I keep reading about the benefits of rest days to make sure my brain understands it and makes peace with the concept. I do notice, after days of intense workouts, my body seems to get a bit more agitated, without a rest day, and that seems to defeat the purpose of the mental health boost I have always gotten from the exercise itself. Rest, here and there, seems to be the key for balancing agitation at this stage of my fitness journey.
Our little group of gym buddies enjoyed the day together and we all commented how nice it was to do something together outside of the gym. I’ve mentioned before, and I’ll mention again, one of the reasons I enjoy my routine so much, is the friendship and community I derive from the small group of regulars (and coaches) I see regularly.
All in all, the “fitness festival” was a great way to spend half a Sunday and was indeed a little shake-up to my routine.
Nicole and 3 friends in workout gear before the fun began at CityShred.Nicole and friends from Move Fitness before the workout startedVarious people watching the burpee challenge before the main workout
Nicole P. lives in TO with her husband and two dogs and is likely going back to her exercise routine this week.
Today is Virpazar to Stari Bar. There are hills, heat, some bad directions, a cute dog on the road, and also, of course, cheese sandwiches. Thanks Cate! Enjoy.
Happy Wednesday, dear readers! It’s mid-July and I’m in a slow-news-day mood. So herewith my very short photo essay about a trip my bike bottle took with my friend Norah’s bike bottle to western Massachusetts last weekend.
After arriving Friday in a swell of weekend-escape-motorists, Norah and I went out for dinner in Northampton. No need to take the bike bottles; they rested at our rental place, ready to go to work Saturday morning.
And go to work they did. We biked around Florence, MA and lunched at a local diner.
Norah’s bottle (left) and mine (right), discussing which tunes to play during our diner luncheon.
The bottles ended up deferring to the diner soundtrack, which was mainly 80’s hits. I think the bottles’ tastes are more eclectic.
As we pedaled down the local bike path, we saw a family of deer coming out of the brush and trees nearby. It didn’t occur to me to offer them some of my gatorade. Was that rude? My bottle was silent on the question, but it’s usually pretty circumspect.
Fawn and doe (a deer), on the side of the bike path outside Northampton, MA. I hope they weren’t looking for their car keys.
After rolling into Northampton proper, we locked up the bikes and helmets, (FYI I use this ridiculous and super heavy but secure lock for my fancy carbon e-bike) and went in search of iced coffee. We were soon successful, and everyone (Norah, me, and our bike bottles) sat in cool comfort while Norah and I sipped and enjoyed the cafe scene.
Norah’s ginger lemonade and my vanilla iced latte, mostly finished and certainly towered over by those majestic water/gatorade-carrying companions, our bike bottles.
We headed back up the path to our rental place, swigging from our bottles as needed. And it was needed– the whole week was hot and humid. We all did our jobs– bikes, bottles, and owners of the aforementioned– until we made it back for showers and evening plans (a dance concert at Jacob’s Pillow in Beckett, MA). In case you’re interested in dance, here’s a youtube video of one of the pieces we saw. It was mesmerizing.
They wouldn’t let us bring the bike bottles to the performance. There was cold water available outside the theater, which was nice. But it wasn’t a substitute. Still…
The next morning, it was raining. I mean RAINING. A real deluge. So we packed up, took our bags and bikes and bike bottles to yet another cafe for food and beverages, and wended our way home. And there our story ends. For now. Until the next bike bottle adventure…
