About US
WE ARE JOYRIDERS
We are a group of women who are passionate about cycling and want others to experience its joys! You don´t have to be sporty, slim or wear expensive gear to ride a bike with us.
Our dream is to get many more women and girls on bikes. At the moment, over 70% of regular riders are men - let´s change that! We are creating an atmosphere where every woman feels supported, and many of our riders have become friends.
Bring your own bike, or take one of ours. There is no charge, neither for the bikes nor for the rides.
Our beginner rides are slow, we ride at the pace of the least experienced rider. The rides typically last two and a half hours, breaking for coffee, cake - and lots of chatting - in the middle. Two experienced volunteer ride leaders look after participants. Our groups are incredibly diverse. Our oldest rider so far has been over 80 , the minimum age is 16.
For more advanced riders, we offer intermediate and commuter rides.
OUR STORY
We started as a small group in Walthamstow in 2016, and have since then spread our wings and helped thousands of women enjoy cycling as well as each other´s company. We have groups all over London, in Manchester, Oxford, and Cambridge with ambition to spread the joy of cycling across the whole of the UK.
We have won numerous awards, such as Club of the Year (2019 London Sports Awards), Best Physical Activity and Health Project (2018 Waltham Forest Feel Good Awards), and all our three founders have been named as Cycling UKs “100 Women in Cycling”.
LEADERSHIP
MARIAM
CEO
For Mariam, being Dutch, cycling is basically in her genes. She has cycled as long as she can remember - at least since the early 80s! She moved to Germany in her childhood where she continued cycling as a way of transport - to school, then university and work. Living and cycling in London for the past 13 years, Mariam has made it her mission to make cycling more accessible for people from all walks of life who wouldn't have considered cycling in our beautiful city. After getting involved with JoyRiders Mariam trained as a Ride Leader, then as a Cycling Instructor - and turned her passion into a career! Mariam's is a JoyRiders' Director - and became CEO in April 2023.
VIEVE
Mentor (Retired CEO)
Vieve is a confident and assertive cyclist. She became a cycling instructor because she felt – after 50+ years of city riding – there was a lot of knowledge and experience she could pass on. Cycle instructing is Vieve's 5th – or 6th – or, possibly 7th career...! Vieve trained as an Officer in the Australian Regular Army in the 1980s, completed an MBA in the 90s while working as a trouble-shooter / fixer in a corporate environment. In 2001, she started her own management consulting business in Australia, moving it to the UK in 2005. She has worked - and cycled - in more than 20 countries in Asia, Oceania, North America and Europe. Vieve was CEO of JoyRiders from 2020 - 2023 and has now retired - but is still around to mentor, and help out with rides.
ANNETTE
Director
Like many people, Annette learned to ride a bike as a child but didn't ride as an adult until moving to Munich, where cycling soon became her main form of transport thanks to the citywide network of safe cycle routes there. On moving to Oxford, Annette was determined to carry on cycling but first had to build her confidence riding on roads – something she'd never done before! It took a long time to find her own routes around the city, so she was inspired by JoyRiders' ethos of women sharing their local tips with other women and offering some camaraderie and support while they get started. Having discovered JoyRiders' Tips & Tricks videos online during lockdown, Annette trained as a Ride Leader and started the JoyRiders Oxford group in early 2021.
SARAH
Director
Sarah is a former scientist and journalist who joined JoyRiders in 2021 - and got the Brent JoyRiders' group up and running! For many years Sarah worked as an editor at Nature magazine, the science weekly, where she edited and contributed stories on everything from astronomy to zoology. As mother to three young daughters Sarah believes in raising girls to be whatever they choose in life - whether that is a Nobel Prize winner, an Olympic athlete, or a parliamentary candidate (Sarah worked previously for the 50:50 Parliament campaign to encourage more women into politics). Since moving to Brent in 2015 Sarah has been involved in the local community, both as a governor at a local primary school, and in helping the Brent vaccine efforts. She joined JoyRiders during lockdown and wants more women to discover the joy and freedom of cycling.
FELICITY
Director
Felicity began cycling during childhood and hasn’t stopped. She has been a lifelong cyclist using the bike for transport, commuting and holidays. She moved up to South Manchester from London 30 years ago and has relished exploring many of the country lanes and urban routes the area has to offer. Felicity began working life as a scientist then ran her own ecommerce business while bringing up a family before training as a teacher. In February 2021 she saw an advert for leaders for Joyriders Manchester and having just retired from teaching it was the ideal time to get involved. Felicity and the Manchester team are passionate about passing on the love of cycling to women and giving them the confidence to get out there to ride and explore!
CAROLYN
Founder (Retired)
Carolyn founded JoyRiders toward the end of 2016. Out of necessity, she began cycling with her children on the school run. She noticed very few others doing the same. In particular very few women from Muslim communities cycled, despite Muslims being 21% of Waltham Forest's population. Carolyn started asking women why they didn’t cycle, discovering that most wanted to cycle, but there were too many barriers preventing them. So, with support from Waltham Forest Council, the Hornbeam Centre and Awards for All, In January 2017, JoyRiders was born! Carolyn has moved onto working for We Are Possible - leading their Car Free London project, but we'll never forget her enormous contribution!