In the last couple of years Ridley has made a big push to be more inclusive of both women and men in cycling. From the pro team side that has manifested in matching sponsorship of both the Lotto Soudal men’s & women’s teams, plus the women’s only WM3 Pro team of Marianne Vos. Then, while their top bikes had been offered in small sizes, last fall they introduced a complete new women’s road line-up that packs top-level performance into bikes geared for women that want to ride fast. Now Ridley are trying to take a step further with a new online platform to support the women’s cycling community at all levels. Dubbed La Ridley, the new site seeks to bring together riders by creating a unique resource for women combining covering everything from behind-the-scenes race stories to how-to videos. Their key is a blog style platform with current pros, former pros, everyday riders & commuters contributing, who each bring their different perspectives on riding with plenty of insight to share for riders of all levels…
La Ridley presented to us a few key types of articles on the new website that highlight their main contributors. Peloton Talk mostly follows Lotto Soudal Ladies pro rider Isabelle Beckers as she offers a different look at women’s professional racing from behind the scenes. Having jumped into pro-level road racing after a longer career in athletics and triathlon she offers an interesting outsides look into the women’s peloton. How To mixes topics as broad as how to pick a new bike and keep it clean, to how to understand things like cycling speak or the usefulness of compressions socks. Lotto Soudal Ladies offers more insight here, but the whole range of contributors are geared up to take on topics near and dear to them. Hot Spots offers a collection of their riders offering up something like place to ride reports. While they certainly aren’t women-specific locales, they give each contributor with her different perspective a chance to share places they enjoy riding.
La Ridley isn’t revolutionary in offering up a platform for women to share their stories and contribute to building community, but adding up stories from women all across the cycling industry it could continue to grow into a great resource for women (and men) who want to read about our sport from a different point of view. Ridley’s recent tagline plays on their Belgian heritage #BETOUGH, and the way they figure it who knows better how to be tough than a bunch of dedicated women cyclists.
