Women Involved Series: Tina McCarthy (Wheel Women)

Having experience running her own design business, many of those skills have
carried through into building Wheel Women into one of the most talked about
women's cycling groups in Australia in just 2 years.
Motivated by a loss of fitness and too many years of
inactivity, Tina returned to cycling in her late 40's after a health wake-up
call while riding with her son.
Though once a very fit part time running coach and veteran of many 10km fun runs, returning to cycling and then taking up the challenge of being a cycling coach seemed almost a natural progression.
But it took a lot of rides and a lot of learning before Tina realized she needed to ditch the design and get on the bike as a full time coach.
Though once a very fit part time running coach and veteran of many 10km fun runs, returning to cycling and then taking up the challenge of being a cycling coach seemed almost a natural progression.
But it took a lot of rides and a lot of learning before Tina realized she needed to ditch the design and get on the bike as a full time coach.
Tina lives in inner city Melbourne, Australia with her
husband, teenage son and 2 lovable rescue dogs!
Check out Wheel Women on their Website, Twitter, and Facebook!
Tell us about Wheel Women and what you do!
Tell us about Wheel Women and what you do!
Wheel Women is a social and
recreational women’s ride group with a non-competitive focus. We ride because
we can…no lycra necessary!
The aim is that we encourage
all women to ride bikes, we don’t care what kind of bike or what your ability
is, we just want to encourage the fact you give it a shot and get out there.
We are there to guide
riders and teach the skills required to build confidence so you ride more
often. We don’t race, we don’t even compare Strava (I have banned Strava posts
on our Facebook page), and we always ride as fast as the slowest rider.
The environment we encourage
is really supportive, so it doesn’t matter if your haven’t touched a bike for
20 years…we’ll help you along the way.
There is no such thing as a dumb
question in our books, so we encourage women to ask all they want to know. We run programs to build
skills, have private lessons available for those who feel a bit uncomfortable
in the group and we run regular rides every week…there is really something for
everyone.
What inspired you to use social media to share your
experiences?
I think social media is
really easy to use, and it’s so accessible too. It seems that one of the
largest groups to use social media is exactly our target age group so it works
well to disseminate info. It also is a great way to make everyone feel involved
– we post photos all the time of the day’s activities and we can get messages
to everyone so quickly.
I think also social media
allows us to be imperfect – we can make some mistakes, we don’t need glossy
fabricated photos of perfection…we can just be us!
I think the social media
aspect of Wheel Women has really helped us grow too – it is very viral and word
spreads quickly.
What has been the most interesting thing since you've
started blogging?
I think the blogs are quite
differnet to the Facebook or Twitter scenario. I can just write what I feel and
being able to do that is often a more powerful tool – I get to speak from the
heart.
Probably the most interesting
thing has been having the blog shared on Total Women’s Cycling website in the
UK…I was so happy that happened and it also created a real buzz about what we
do at Wheel Women.
Any time we get interest from
overseas I get excited…I think we have a long way to go in Australia with
women’s cycling and what we are doing with engagement. When we get interest in
Wheel Women internationally it kind of validates what we do and lets me know we
are on the right track. That feels good.
Why is it so important for you to encourage and
inspire other women to take up cycling?
I’m not sure what it is that
makes it important for me…maybe it’s because I can see what could happen if
they got on a bike. Endorphins make excitement infectious…you just want to
share the fun with everyone!
I was at a lecture recently
by eminent Australian molecular biologist Professor Suzanne Cory. Just to quote
her:
‘A walk along any shopping
mall will open your eyes to the dangerous obesity epidemic, fueled by sugar
hits and lack of exercise’.
She commented that ‘we are in
danger of complacency, of taking health for granted’. I know I did…I sat on may
arse, put on weight and had a wakeup call when I went on that first training
ride with my son’s school. I was a ticking time bomb for mature inset diabetes
and heart disease. There is no question I was obese.
Riding a bike has changed
that for me – I’m fitter, stringer, healthier and I’ve lost a lot of weight. I
know the answer to so many of our health issues is at hand with the simple
gesture of getting on a bike and riding. But we need to encourage women to do
it and make it attractive, not intimidating and above all, FUN!
I had been thinking so long
along the same lines as Professor Cory – every time I walk into the mall and
see people sitting around eating crap food, or making the choice of inactivity
of activity I weep for the future of their health and their children’s.
Nothing makes me feel more
satisfied than seeing one of our riders get caught by the ‘bug’ and really
embrace cycling. It can be life changing and I love seeing that happen!
What do you love about the Wheel Women community? What
has been one of your most inspiring moments?
I just love meeting all the
new riders, seeing them through their riding journey and seeing what they can
achieve. It’s amazing what women can do when you give them a comfort zone to
challenge themselves.
I think probably one of the
most inspiring things was seeing 50 women front up for this year’s Around The
Bay In A Day ride…it was great seeing so many in the team kit and taking on
their own personal challenge.
But really, I think the best
moments are when I see a new rider join in and just get the bug, buy a new bike
and see them out there with the group each week. But I also love it when I’m
out riding on my own and I see one of our riders out with their family – they
have role modeled enough so the whole family wants to ride! That’s pretty
awesome…that is the change maker!
Why do you feel some women are apprehensive about
getting involved with cycling? What do you feel could change that would
make women less leery to trying it out?
I think it’s the bloke
thing…it seems intimidating. But lots of women can be intimidating riders too.
The full lycra kit, the fancy bikes…when you first get into cycling that can
seem pretty scary! It’s like looking at warriors.
In my opinion, so many bike
companies focus on the upper end of cycling, the elite level. The advertising
brochures state that they have a bike for everyone, but the pics are still of
the elite, or the perfect rider.
We aren’t perfect at Wheel
Women – we have bumps and lumps where we don’t want them, we are short, tall,
overweight, skinny, old and young. We are just real women having fun on bikes…I
think that is what attracts so many to Wheel Women – there is no bullshit. What
you see in the pics is real – they are our riders!
If bike companies and stores
could recognize this, then maybe we might see a few more women less afraid.
What would you like to see happen with Wheel Women in
the next 5 years?
World domination!! Actually,
what we really want to see is Wheel Women in every state of Australia – we have
a very clear philosophy and we stick to it like glue. I make sure all our
coaches adhere to it like crazy and never waver from it.
If we could get Wheel Women
up and running in every state then I think we could have a real chance at
getting a whole lot more women riding, mainly because we seem to resonate with
many women because of our grass roots focus and our very real image.
We’ve had interest from
Sydney and Adelaide and we’d love to take it there. But I also see no reason
why we wouldn’t go international at some point – it has the potential to. We
just have a serious shortage of coaches who are prepared to fit to our way of
working. They need to recognize that on every ride and session we do, it’s the
attendees ride, not the coaches!
We also are very strict about
taking away discussion about anything competitive.
What would you like to see
happen with women in the cycling world in the next 5 years?
I’d like to see a really
global movement, not based on the elite end. I think there is some seriously
GREAT stuff happening in the US at present for everyday women cyclists and I am
currently trying VERY hard to find a way to get there to investigate more and
bring back to Australia more info. I
BADLY want to go to the Women Bike Forum run by the League of American
Bicyclists, and I want to go and talk to various groups in the USA.
If we could work together on
an international level we could really get some great stuff happening as far as
sharing, learning, exchanges, and of course promotion of the cause at the
non-elite level. There seem to be so many fragmented groups all over the world
trying to create the same changes, but none of us are working together.

What would you say to someone
who is completely new to cycling but wants to take it up?
“I’d be really happy to go with you if you like, and we can go for an
exploration ride. It won’t be fast and we’ll have fun…I’ll buy you a coffee if
you give this a shot!”
I’d also be stressing the
fact that because I ride a lot, I’m not elite and I ride with anyone, I don’t
care how fast or how slow. I just want to see you smile on the bike!
It’s worked so far….and that
seems to be the way lots of riders get started with us.
Tell us something random about yourself that people
may not know!
Ooooh, that’s scary….letting
the secrets out. Okay, here are a few things:
I make fresh orange juice
EVERY morning
I love reading books by
Haruki Murakami
Aside from a degree in
Design, I also have a degree in Indigenous Knowledge Systems (meaning I have
studied Australian Aboriginal culture).
I am a Japan-ofile…I love
anything and everything Japanese!
Thank you for keeping it real for women of a mature age! I have just bought my first bike (no never owned one as a kid). I'm a little scared but up for a challenge
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