Gay Cyclg Lover

Contents:

• GAY CYCLG GROUPS IN THE UK
• GAY CYCLG LOVER
• MEET OUR GROUPS: GAY OUTDOOR CLUB
• GAY CYCLING IRELAND
• GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI
• GAY MOSW · CY GUI

GAY CYCLG GROUPS IN THE UK

Wdy Cy Cyclg Club (WCCC) is Chigo's LGBTQA+ (lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer, alli) cyclg anizatn that is open to all and enurag mararie through bikg and social events. We’re OutdoorLads, the UK’s largt outdoor activi group for gay, bi and trans guys. Wh hundreds of gay cyclists  our club we’ve always got a ri near to you.

On this page we’ve summarised everythg gay cyclists  England, Wal and Stland want to know before their first ri. What typ of ris n gay cyclists jo? For example, we equently see gay bikers, mounta bikers or BMXers try their hand at road bikg (and then of urse fallg love wh ).

GAY CYCLG LOVER

We’re all gay, bi and trans folks that jt enjoy ridg together. Our missn is to brg cyclists together om across the UK’s LGBT and gay cyclg clubs, who we often work llaboratn are a natnal group, wh a foc on ridg our Natnal Parks and Areas of Outstandg Natural Bety.

Gay Cyclg Lover. gay lycra.

The Gay Outdoor Club (GOC) started 1974 when a uple of iends livg London placed an advert the newspaper to see if there were any like-md people who shared a passn for the outdoors. The club is registered as a charable pany and operat on a not-for-prof basis, wh the objective of providg facili the terts of recreatn or other leisure time occupatn of dividuals who have need of such facili, pecially but not exclively, gay men and women, wh the aim of improvg their ndns of life. We wele members verg the full spectm of genr and sexualy, and although gay men are still the majory, we have around 100 members who intify as women.

MEET OUR GROUPS: GAY OUTDOOR CLUB

Of the 978 rirs the men’s pro peloton, none are this statement is te on the surface – not a sgle male rir at WorldTour or ProTeam level publicly intifi as gay – ’s starkly implsible as soon as that surface is scratched. Estimat on the proportn of UK and US people who are gay or bisexual range om about three to seven per cent. If we take the low-end timate for men, three per cent, then you would expect there to be about 30 gay or bi rirs the pro peloton – enough for a whole WorldTour squad.

The qutn, then, is not whether there are gay pros but why none of them feel ee to be open about who they really are. As a gay man who has worked sports media sce the mid-Noughti, I n appreciate why a rir might feel pelled to keep their sexualy a secret. Even magaze offic – surely ls laddish than race paddocks – I’ve lost unt of the sually homophobic ments I’ve heard.

GAY CYCLING IRELAND

Generally the have not been tentnal sults but rather thoughtls so-lled banter, “gay” ed as a pejorative term, and beg gay only ever mentned terms of speculatn or cheap humour. Ryan (not his real name) is a gay rir who traed among top-flight pros and peted several UCI rac before droppg out of the sport a few years his mid-20s, he has agreed to speak to CW on ndn of anonymy. “None of the rirs I traed wh would be explicly homophobic an abive way, ” Ryan tells me.

” He explas that securg ris on teams was “all about who you know” and spected the nnectns would be harr to foster as a gay rir, possibly to the triment of his reer. He hop his story will make rirs “more aware that how they act has an effect on others” and that gay rirs g through the ranks today will feel ee to be wholly themselv. ” Cyclg behd society The personal ttimony om Ryan chim wh rearch showg that most LGBTQ+ sportspeople have experienced homophobia; many end up feelg ostracised and suffer related mental health problems.

“It was jt the gay jok, beg asked nstantly ‘Are you gay?

GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI

“When to homophobic banter, needs to be taken more serly by erng bodi. I didn’t want to prume this was te – part bee I uldn’t thk of any Brish exampl – so I arranged a ll wh US rir Tayler Wil (TrekSegaedo), who has been openly gay for almost her entire pro reer. “I thk there are many reasons for that but personally I’ve never been on a team that hasn’t had at least one other gay rir – I didn’t have to thk twice about g out.

” Buttrsed by strength numbers, beg gay has never been a e for ncern eher among fellow rirs or wh team directors, explas the 31-year-old. The Catch-22 for the men is that fear and uncertaty around how an openly gay rir might be treated is staed by there beg none.

“I’ve asked a few male cyclists why they thk there are no openly gay men, ” she says, “and their rpons really surprised me. The guys I talked to were all between 20 and 26 and om untri that I thought were super-progrsive, but there was still some homophobic reactn.

GAY MOSW · CY GUI

“One guy said, ‘I don’t thk [a gay rir] would survive bee ’s such a hard sport’, ” Wil lghs at the illogily. The equatg of homosexualy wh femy and weakns for her betrays that “homophobia and misogyny go together” as a symptom of “men tryg to domate everythg. ” Other male rirs told her that they would be unfortable to have a gay teammate bee “you know, gettg changed together on the b and stuff.

” Rejectg such anxieti pot blank, Wil lls out the homophobic tenncy to “over-sexualise what means to be a gay man”. As a gay woman who has never had to nceal that part of herself the sport, Wil regnis that mt be “credibly hard” for gay male pros, and urg men who feel secure their sexualy to “step up, speak out and make a more welg environment”.

Reprentatn matters “I wasn’t yet openly gay when I first met Tayler [Wil], ” says former pro Molly Waver – speakg to me om Bristol on a break om her studi to bee a paramedic.