Why cycling is cool for girls

Bike maintenance classes go hand-in-hand with fashion tips in pilot project

For teenage girls, cycling just doesn’t cut it – the helmet messes up your hair and what do you wear?

Lynn Marshall of sustainable transport charity Sustrans is hoping to change this. As a newly appointed cycling officer at Portobello High School she will encourage girls to take up cycling, as part of a pilot project. 

Sustrans was awarded £230,000 by the Bike Hub to get girls aged nine to 16 to cycle to school at least once a week. Portobello is one of four secondary schools in Scotland trying out this initiative first.

Some of the activities Lynn will bring to Portobello include bike maintenance classes, help with setting up a bike club and support with running cycle events. She will also offer fashion tips and hair advice.

“The problem is girls don’t see cycling as very cool,” said Lynn. “I want to show them that you can look good and feel good when getting about on their bikes.

“If we can get girls to be more active in their everyday journeys, it will have a huge impact on their health as they enter adulthood.”

But it’s not just girls who will benefit from this scheme. Boys can take advantage of various bike loan schemes and new cycle storage and lockers made available through the funding. This pilot project will be evaluated at the end of the two years with a view to developing this type of intervention in Scotland.