25 countries took part in CycloFemme day, May 11th

With the statement "We Ride Together," bicycle riders worldwide united for the third annual CycloFemme to honor women's cycling. Celebrations ranged from small rides with friends, mothers, and daughters, to riders exploring cities with special Bike Share collaborations in eight US cities, to community rides with more than 100 participants focused on empowering women and young girls, to professional athletes racing in the Amgen Tour of California.

As rides began in the east, images of women, men and children on bikes flooded social media channels from Australia, Japan, Germany and the UK. More rides followed as the positive momentum spread all around the globe in celebration of women riding bikes.

"Women are the wheels of change," said Lisa Mullins after Central Arkansas' third annual CycloFemme ride. "When mothers ride, children will ride. When mothers choose to commute by bicycle, children learn sustainability. When mothers lead an active lifestyle, families are healthier. When mothers fight for safe routes to school, for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and the future of their cities, politicians listen."

CycloFemme is proof that the power of the bicycle as a vehicle for change and a tool for empowering people and communities is a universal theme that transcends cultures and continents.

"We had 40+ people on bikes—men, women, Americans, Rwandans, Europeans—all there in support of CycloFemme, in support of women cyclists in Rwanda." said Kimberly Coats of Team Rwanda after their second annual CycloFemme ride.

The ride in Rwanda started in Kigali, at the midpoint, the group was joined by young boys and girls from Adrien Niyonshuti's Cycling Academy before joining a much larger group for post-ride festivities.

"We were joined by the Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, Oda Gasinzigwa, the Minister of Sport and Culture, Protais Mitali and the President and Vice President of the Rwanda Cycling Federation." said Coats. "I was humbled. It was a Sunday morning and here were the Rwandan government officials coming out, taking time out of their morning with their families to support and advance the sport of cycling among women in their country. The crowd numbered well over 100."

In Birmingham, Alabama, Joyce Cross, 73, embarked upon her very first road ride. Joining a dozen skirt-wearing riders on a 10-mile cruise called Le Tour de 'Ham, in celebration of CycloFemme, Cross rode on her flats and knobbies, with purple shoes that matched her Liv/Giant Lust mountain bike frame.

"It was congenial and inspiring to ride in a group of powerful women," Cross said. "Everyone should try it!" Her daughter, Kim Cross, 38, pedaled a beach cruiser beside her, beaming.

"She's proof that it's never too late to start," said the younger Cross, who founded Magic City Cycle Chix, a Birmingham-based women's cycling group with more than 750 members. "I call her the excuse-buster, because women half her age see her on a bike and think, 'If she can do it, maybe I can too!' "

In just three years CycloFemme has become a tradition in many towns and among many riders.

"This year we truly closed the circle of riders, from Bike Share users to professional athletes and everyone in between. The enormity of impact that this one-day celebration has is not only evident in the number of rides and riders, but diversity of participants, and in the roar of our unified voice on social media" said Sarai Snyder, Co-Founder of CycloFemme. "We believe that when you bring women together around a shared passion, like bicycling, regardless of what type of bike they ride, that natural connectivity and leadership forms. Moving forward we intend to create more frequent opportunities for women to gather and ride locally, connecting globally for greater support and positive momentum."

CycloFemme is a creative initiative of Girl Bike Love + Language Dept., fiscally sponsored by The League of American Bicyclists. CycloFemme is a global day of celebration to Honor the Past, Celebrate the Present, Empower the Future of Women in Cycling. The mission states "Teach women to ride, and they will change the world."