The Yas Cycles Ladies Race Team was born out of a passion for cycling and a want to encourage other women to get out and enjoy riding a bike. As a team, we started off just riding together each week on the organized weekend rides from the Yas Cycles shop, and the occasional rides at the Yas Marina Circuit during the week. When you ride with others, you tend to push yourself a lot more, and this in turn makes you stronger as a rider. The more we trained together, the more we improved as a group and that’s how the race team was formed.
Since forming the team back in October last year, we have taken part in races all across the region and have had some amazing results. At the Al Wathba APR Series held at the Al Wathba Cycle Track, Abu Dhabi, the GMS Yas Ladies have made regular appearances on the podium during the first series, which started back in October. The team also took third place for their first Emirates Team Time Trial at the Al Qudra Track back in January. Shortly after that three of our girls took top ten finishes in the Mini Dubai Tour on the 30th Jan. Some really amazing results, in such a short space of time, and this is something that we all find very motivating.
Aside from the team, as women cyclists we wanted to encourage other women to get onto a bike and enjoy cycling too. This is why we created our GMS Yas Ladies Group Ride at the Yas Marina Circuit every Sunday night. The group is open to all ages and abilities, and is there to encourage women to ride safely and confidently with others. There are many women who you see on the track cycling alone, whether through choice or simply because they don’t know anyone who they can ride with, so it’s great to be able to offer a group ride where ladies can ride with others and gain confidence in their cycling together. I think as women we unfortunately tend to have the mentality that we may not be good enough, or strong enough, yet when you see some of these ladies on the bike, they are amazing cyclists! Those who are just starting out as riders get stronger and more confident each week, and this is truly inspiring. You can see from the rate that the group is growing that this is something that women cyclists are hopefully benefiting from. When I started cycling back in June last year, there wasn’t an option for me to join an organized women’s only ride in Abu Dhabi so I think that this a great concept.
Back to racing, with the season in full swing and a busy race calendar a head, the Yas Cycles ladies hope to keep up the momentum as a team, and continue doing well in what we enjoy best. Cycling is a great way to bring like-minded individuals together, making it accessible for everyone to take part. We hope to see a big rise in the amount of female cyclists out there in Abu Dhabi this year. We are sure that with the right support and encouragement, this will definitely happen.
Words By: Amy Carter
