Women’s History Month – Inspiring Female Advocates and Adventurers

Pop quiz: What’s a velocipedestrienne?

If you guessed a French pastry, you’re way off! If you suspect something related to bikes, then you’re on the right track!

In the 19th century, a woman who rode a bicycle (or velocipede) was bestowed with this fancy title. And since March is Women’s History Month, it’s the perfect time to remember some brave and inspiring women who paved the way for velocipedestriennes and active wahine everywhere!

Women’s History Month – Inspiring Female Advocates and Adventurers

by Sara Stover

Pop quiz: What’s a velocipedestrienne?

If you guessed a French pastry, you’re way off! If you suspect something related to bikes, then you’re on the right track!

In the 19th century, a woman who rode a bicycle (or velocipede) was bestowed with this fancy title. And since March is Women’s History Month, it’s the perfect time to remember some brave and inspiring women who paved the way for velocipedestriennes and active wahine everywhere!

The Picture of Free Womanhood

Susan B. Anthony was more than just one of the pivotal leaders in the women’s suffrage movement of 1869 – She was also a bike enthusiast!

In an interview with reporter Nellie Bly, Anthony revealed her stance on cycling. “I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world,” she said. “It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel… the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.”

Around the same time, 5000 miles away on Hawai’i Island, young Victoria Kawekiu Lunalilo Kalanikuiahilapalapa Ka’iulani Cleghorn was named heir to the throne of Hawai’i by Queen Liliuokalani. The year was 1890 and 15-year-old Princess Ka’iulani was adjusting well to her destiny as ruler of the Hawaiian Islands… in between mastering the skills of horseback riding and surfing.

The would-be queen was eventually sent to England to receive her education in language and the arts as part of preparations for her royal duties. While in school, she learned of the Hawaiian monarchy’s overthrow. A distraught Princess Ka’iulani immediately traveled to Washington D.C., imploring President Grover Cleveland to defend Lili’uokalani’s honor and restore the Hawaiian’s independence.

Although the Hawaiian monarchy remained unrestored, Ka’iulani worked alongside Lili’uokalani to secure the voting rights of the Hawaiian people. Before her death in 1898 at only 23 years old, the Princess hosted a luau for a delegation of commissioners sent to the islands by President McKinley and, along with leaders of the community, advocated for the right of Hawai’ian people to vote.

The Princess was part of a new generation of young women around the globe who were defying the norms, following their hearts, and taking a stand against injustice.

Head Over Wheels for Cycling 

In 1889, a teenager named Tillie Anderson immigrated from Sweden to Chicago, IL, where she soon fell head over wheels for cycling. A seamstress by trade, Anderson saved up her money until she had enough for a bike.

It wasn’t long after that that Anderson began racing, performing so well that her beau (and eventual husband) Philip Sjöberg decided to shift his focus from his own racing to coaching Anderson. Trained by Sjöberg, she went on to win first place in 123 of 130 races, most of which were six-day events. Each day, the women cyclists would ride two hours on a banked velodrome track, covering eight laps to a mile as fast as they could.

As both a strong cyclist and a strategic racer, Anderson was a stand-out among her male competitors on the track-tested endurance events. Unfortunately, her racing days were numbered. By 1902 Anderson and her fellow female athletes were barred from bike racing after an accident involving two women cyclists. It would be another 70 years before women could officially participate in bike races once more.

This didn’t stop five African-American women from setting out on an epic journey by bike in 1928. Trail blazers Constance White, Ethyl Miller,  Leolya Nelson, Marylou Jackson, and Velma Jackson biked an astounding 250 miles over the course of three days, all the way from New York City to Washington, DC at a time when cycling was a male-dominant, white-dominant activity.

When asked what motivated them to embark on their ride, they responded that they were motivated by “the love of the great-out-of-doors!” There is little documentation available about their adventure, but their motivation for riding is a timeless one that many of us can relate to.

Spreading Aloha and Advocating for Active Transportation

The 1970s was imperative for women athletes everywhere. Across the globe, females began to race bikes again. And in Hawai’i, Chicago native Dr. Donnis Thompson was setting the stage for a flourishing wahine sports program at the University of Hawaii.

In 1961, she started and coached the university’s first track and field program for women. Once she had enough funds, Thompson introduced the women’s volleyball to U of H. And by 1972, she was heading the university’s entire athletics program, expanding the catalog of sports offered to female student athletes from two to eight, and growing the number of women’s athletic scholarships from a scant few to 30.

Thompson would later become the first woman to serve as the state of Hawaii’s Superintendent of Education. And the former University of Hawaii women’s director of athletics was known not only for being a champion for female athletes in Hawaii, but for adopting and perpetuating the Aloha spirit. In fact, Thompson was famous for having women’s volleyball coach Dave Shoji bring boxes of pineapples along when they travelled as gifts to officials and opposing teams.

Born in 1929, Ellen Fletcher escaped from Berlin on the Kindertransport trains. Her teen years were spent as a Jewish refugee in the London of World War II, where she biked to her job at a factory.

Eventually, Fletcher moved to Palo Alto, California, where her start in cycling advocacy began. As a mother concerned for her children’s safety, she was an ideal fit for the role of safety chair of the local PTA. There she realized that there was no better way to protect school kids from the danger of automobiles than to reduce auto traffic around schools’ yards.

Fletcher was also an advocate for clean, sustainable transportation long before there was notable support for cycling and other forms of active transportation, as well as a member of Palo Alto’s Citizen’s Technical Advisory Committee on Bicycling, which would eventually become the Palo Alto Bicycle Advisory Committee (PABAC).

By 1974, she was the PABAC’s chairperson and a driving force behind an innovative bikeway concept: A street where automobile access would be limited (but not restricted), in an effort to provide cyclists with a safer alternative to routes with heavy automobile traffic. This concept grew into the first “bicycle boulevard” in the U.S.

Fletcher’s tireless efforts to make transportation safer and more sustainable continued throughout her life. At 83 years old, despite suffering from lung cancer, she rode her bike to City Hall for a hearing on bicycle improvements. And in 2012, when the transportation activist passed away, almost half of Fletcher’s memorial attendees biked to the service.

The Bicycle’s Role in Women’s Rights 

Women’s History Month reminds us to recognize the important individuals who advanced women’s rights and women’s health. And we hope that the stories of these wahine athletes, advocates, and adventurers inspire more freedom, self-reliance, self-respect, courage, love for the outdoors, and drive to create a better, safer community for all of us to move and live in!

A Tribute to Mayor Kenoi

Here at PATH, we are saddened by the passing of our friend and incredible advocate for active living and safe streets, former Hawai’i County Mayor Billy Kenoi.

Mayor Kenoi understood the importance of creating safe, accessible, and attractive places for all of us to walk, run, hike, and bike on Hawai’i Island. When PATH approached Mayor Kenoi about creating a collective of public health, active transportation, and city leadership that would build upon Hawaii County’s walking, biking, and community connections, Mayor Kenoi jumped at the idea.

A Tribute to Mayor Kenoi

Here at PATH, we are saddened by the passing of our friend and incredible advocate for active living and safe streets, former Hawai’i County Mayor Billy Kenoi.

Mayor Kenoi understood the importance of creating safe, accessible, and attractive places for all of us to walk, run, hike, and bike on Hawai’i Island. When PATH approached Mayor Kenoi about creating a collective of public health, active transportation, and city leadership that would build upon Hawaii County’s walking, biking, and community connections, Mayor Kenoi jumped at the idea. And that was how the Mayor’s Active Living Advisory Council (MALAC) was born in November of 2013.

Mayor Kenoi served from 2008 to 2016, and over the course of his administration, he was instrumental in making the Queens’ Lei walking/ running/ biking path a reality, championing the Bike and Pedestrian Safety Campaign, and approving the establishment of the Hawaii Island Bikeshare pilot project. Additionally, it was under his administration that MALAC worked to incorporate complete design of streets into our roadway improvements.

Today, Mayor Kenoi’s legacy of active living and safe streets continues. MALAC introduced Vision Zero under Mayor Kim’s administration. And Mayor Roth’s administration has also committed to creating accessible, safe, and attractive places for people to walk, run, and bike on Hawai’i Island.

We here at PATH send our deepest condolences to Mayor Kenoi’s ohana. Our hope is that, as a community, we can all honor his memory by embracing Mayor Kenoi’s motto when faced with any challenge:

“If can, can. If no can, still can!”

5 Ways to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions with Bikeshare Hawaii

One of our favorite quotes when it comes to setting new goals comes from motivational speaker Zig Ziglar: 

“If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” 

On the other hand, if you aim at something specific, chances are that you’ll hit it! How are you doing with your New Year’s Resolutions? Are you on track to make your resolutions a reality in 2021? 

Here are 5 ways that Hele-On and Bikeshare Hawaii Island can help you keep those resolutions:

5 Ways to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions with Bikeshare Hawaii

How are you doing with your New Year’s Resolutions? Are you on track to make your resolutions a reality in 2021?

Here are 5 ways that Hele-On and Bikeshare Hawaii Island can help you keep those resolutions:

1. Help you save money 

Looking to save up for a vacation (finally!) or a new house? Or do you just want to find better ways to cut down costs and pay off debt in 2021? Consider using the Bikeshare system for transportation in conjunction with using the Hawaii County Mass Transit buses.

With your MT Hele-On monthly bus pass, you get unlimited rides for $60 on all bus routes throughout the month it is purchased for. And Bikeshare membership for Hawaii MT pass holders is FREE! You can find more information on purchasing monthly MT passes here: www.heleonbus.org/hele-on-fares

With the Bikeshare Subscription Plan, you get unlimited 30-minute rides for $15 per month or unlimited 60-minute rides for $25 per month, making Bikeshare Hawaii a cost-efficient option for recreation and transportation.

2. Help you decrease your carbon footprint

Road transportation accounts for as much as one-fifth of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide, but we can work together to change that! Experts predict that there would be an 11% reduction overall in global carbon emissions by 2050 if bikes make up 14% of travel.

If you want to live sustainably in 2021 and develop more environmentally-friendly habits this year, then reducing your amount of travel in a gas-guzzling vehicle is a fantastic way to accomplish that!

Minimizing your carbon footprint can be as easy as taking a Bikeshare bike to pick up food on your lunch break, or using the Bikeshare system as your first and last mile transportation option, in conjunction with using the Hawaii County Mass Transit buses.

Taking the Hele-On buses is an easy way to go green, since mass transit helps decrease our island’s greenhouse gases and toxic emissions by minimizing single-automobile usage. Check out their bus schedules and maps for more info on how you can work bus rides into your daily commute.

3. Help you save time. Even though the holidays are behind us, life can be just as busy as ever. Whether you want to manage time better so you can have more ZOOM calls with family or get more workouts in, biking is a great time saver.

By riding a bike on weekdays, you can transform your commute to work into a WORKOUT, so why not make your cycling do double duty? And in the case of getting around Kona or Hilo, your bike might just be able to transport you around town faster than a car, since the bike lanes are often less congested than our roads.

Did we mention that you won’t have to worry about finding a parking spot? Just dock your bike at the Bikeshare kiosk when you’re done and be on your way.

4. Help you get fit and stay healthy. Let’s face it, staying healthy has never been more of a priority! We’re all looking for more ways to take a proactive approach to our health, and cycling is one of the top low-impact cardiovascular workouts for any fitness level.

Riding a bike offers plenty of health benefits, including:

  • Reduced risk of arthritis, diabetes, high cholesterol, and other diseases. According to a large-scale research study in Finland, individuals who cycled for over 30 minutes per day had a 40% lower risk of developing diabetes.?
  • Decreased blood pressure and body fat, with the average person burning between 450 to 750 calories per hour of cycling.
  • Increased muscle strength and a stronger heart.
  • Improved joint stability and mobility.
  • Increased aerobic fitness, balance, and endurance.

Being outdoors on a bike also has an abundance of physical and mental health benefits, including increased doses of vitamin D through exposure to healthy amounts of sunlight.

5. Give your mental health a boost. One of the best resolutions you can make this year is to take extra steps in caring for your mental health, and doing so doesn’t have to be complicated! Spending as little as 20 minutes outdoors has been proven to reduce stress levels and improve your mood, enhancing your health and wellness.    

And cycling is a particularly effective mood stabilizer, since your levels of dopamine and  serotonin increase as you ride. Whether you need to blow off steam, relieve anxiety, or boost your mood, stress relief is just a bike ride away. So grab a pass, hop on a bike, and take advantage of the mental health benefits that biking can offer.

A Few Helpful Tips for Keeping your New Year’s Resolutions: 

  • Be SMART! SMART is an acronym that stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. Whatever your 2021 resolution, you’ll increase the chances of sticking to it by setting SMART goals.

What baby steps will you take this week and within the next month to achieve your goals for 2021? Defining these steps by setting some smaller goals each week and month will help you measure your progress and move toward your 2021 goal.

Begin by assigning specific, realistic dates to the small goals. Then, as you accomplish these, you will gain confidence and realize that heck yeah, you really do have what it takes to achieve that ultimate goal!

  • Remember WHY your goal matters. Your goals may appear realistic on paper, but as we learned from 2020, obstacles can arise that require us to pivot. And when those occur, it’s tempting to throw in the towel.

If the going gets tough, find motivation by reminding yourself why that goal was important to you in the first place. Be proactive by putting reminders of your WHY where you will see it daily, so you can read it when you need an extra dose of encouragement! Whether you put a post-it note on your fridge or make a motivating quote your screensaver, these reminders can renew your focus and keep you progressing toward your goal.

Whether your New Year’s Resolution is to spend less, get more exercise, increase your daily dose of vitamin D, decrease pollution, or reduce stress, our Bikeshare bikes are your vehicle for reaching your goals.