You know what they say about riding a bike? Once you know how, it’s a piece of cake. Just grab your fluorescent strips, hoick up your trousers and off you go. And, boy, can you get to places quickly. Which makes an awarenessraising bike ride an attractive alternative to the fearful demands of a marathon — less training, more speed and an impressive distance covered. It couldn’t be simpler.
Unless you are doing it in temperatures of 35C (95F), on uneven terrain, in an equally rocky political climate. In the Middle East. In which case, you may be slowed up a bit. Especially if you’re a woman. Tradition means that the sight of hundreds of women on bikes is nothing short of extraordinary. Over here, it might raise minimal interest. Over there, it’s unprecedented.
The 260 women who were pedalling 300km (186 miles) from Beirut through Syria and Jordan to the West Bank last month took all this in their stride. For these women — students, businesswomen and architects from 35 countries, including South Africa, America and Denmark, as well as the rest of the Arab world — hopping on to their bikes was as much a display of freedom as a call for peace.
Now in its second year, the Follow the Women bike ride was set up by the Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Detta Regan, 59, from Berkshire. Through her work as an international youth organiser, she came up with the idea of women cycling for Middle East peace. “Initially, I envisioned it as women in hijabs (Muslim headscarfs) and European women showing solidarity together. It’s a modern conference, but on bikes,” she says.
In practice, it is a considerable feat. This year the borders proved a logistical nightmare for Palestinian cyclists from the occupied territories who need special permission to enter Arab countries that don’t recognise Israel — a wider regional peace agreement has not yet been negotiated owing to the continuing IsraeliPalestinian conflict. So about 100 Arab women riders were forced to drop out before crossing Jordan’s Allenby Bridge into Israel. The ride hoped to include an Israeli women’s contingent but the politics on both sides proved insurmountable. Undefeated, Regan wishes to take the event all the way to Iraq next year. An objective unimaginable at present, but given her dedication, it would be foolish to dismiss it.
Biking to Baghdad might be out of the question for now, but this didn’t mean this year’s event was risk-free. The spectre of terrorism and the nearby war with Iraq loomed large. Heavy security surrounded the cyclists and Syria’s international motorways were closed to traffic as they weaved their way to the country’s capital, Damascus.
Another barrier for some of the participants was closer to home. Yasmeen Bteibet’s traditional Muslim family in Amman, Jordan, had mixed reactions to the news that she would be joining the bike ride. The 20-year-old, who recently finished a degree in sociology, began stealing hours after university to train. She was attracted to the event for political reasons. “We need to change the image of Arab and Muslim people in the world,” she says. Although one of her brothers supported her decision, the other, the youngest, warned her that it was too dangerous. Bteibet trained in a hijab, which she tied tightly to prevent it from obscuring her view. It did, however, make cycling hotter.
Arab women who cycle as children rarely do as adults. “Because of religion or tradition we don’t have the habit of biking just as people in the West don’t have the habit of eating babaghanoush (aubergine dip),” says Palig Avakian, an athletic 35-year-old who works for Areeba, the Syrian mobile phone company. And most of the rented, three-gear bikes from the shop Beirut by Bike were designed for men and had hard saddles, but the women soon figured out a more comfortable remedy. As well as padding the seats, Avakian hoped to find padded cycling shorts in the Syrian souks.
In her conservative home town of Aleppo, women in public are usually fully veiled or wear long coats, according to Sharia, or Islamic law. Despite this, Avakian revealed that there are hundreds of women-only gyms and sports halls in the city. She trains three times a week and boxes. “Gyms are one of the few places where women from different backgrounds, religions and nationalities mix freely,” she says. “As a woman, I can enjoy my body and my bike. Veiled women, too, can enjoy their bodies.”
The gyms have become the new hammams, public bathhouses, which are segregated along gender lines.
The rewards of physical activity for women who don’t normally incorporate it into their daily lives has motivated others to join the bike ride . “It’s a liberating experience for everyone,” says Regan. She recalls the reaction of a Palestinian rider from Ramallah who trained for the ride last year alongside Israeli tanks. “On a bike she said she felt free for the first time in her life. Women feel empowered because cycling makes them stand up against people who said they would never do it. I know Jordanian women who have gone against the wishes of their fathers and husbands and formed a cycling club.”
For one trim 29-year-old who took part in a 40km leg of the route, a husband is no obstacle. Asma Assad rode without a helmut or a hijab, but she’s no stranger to the saddle. She cycles at home with her two oldest children, Hafez, 5, and Zein, 3, a little girl who’s still learning. More fortunate than most, they have the gardens of the presidential palace in Damascus for practice since her husband, Bashar Assad, became the Syrian President. First ladies rarely cycle in the Middle East, but Assad, a British-born banker from a London-based Syrian family, cited it as her favourite sport. Taking part in the Follow the Women bike ride was, she says, “real women power”.
Fancy it?
Entry The next Follow the Women bike event is April 2007, so plenty of time for training. The entry cost is €150 (£102) and participants pay for their own flights. Entries must be in before March 2007.
Equipment A good-quality mountain bike costs from about £500. Bikes can be hired at the event: $165 (£94) for the whole journey.
Training Most of the cycling is on tarmac and you don’t need to be superfit, but Elaine Wealleans, the UK co-ordinator, says some training is important. For background reading: Bicycle Touring: How to Prepare for Long Rides, Steve Butterman (Wilderness Press) and Effective Cycling, John Forrester (MIT Press).
Planning The course passes through Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the West Bank so you’ll need visas — organised by the country co-ordinator.
Further details can be found on the website www.followthewomen.com
