Submitted
Ariel Kent
By Ariel Kent
The sisterhood of shred is about women who love to ride bikes. The sisterhood of shred is a group of women who push each other and motivate each other to try harder and work for their goals. The sisterhood of shred isn’t privatized — the more women the better! Young to old, experienced veteran to never-evers, the sisterhood of shred is about women encouraging other women within the sport of mountain biking.
If there’s one thing that sets women apart from the men in the sport of mountain biking it is that we’re few and far between. On any given day you’re going to see more men on the trail than women. It fact, it wasn’t long ago when you’d almost never see a woman on a bike. In the last five years that’s changed. Changed so drastically, in fact, that the bike industry as a whole has increased women-specific bike sales exponentially. Between this season and last season the amount of women riding bikes at Killington has doubled, I estimate. So it makes sense to encourage these women to connect with each other and ride with one another.
Don’t get me wrong, riding with the guys can be fun, but women riding with other women encouraging each other just takes on a different approach.
The sisterhood of shred is about bringing women together who love to ride; it’s really fun and it’s truly that simple. Yeah, the technology is better adapted to a woman’s frame today than it was on the past but I think the growth can better be attributed to women simply discovering the experience mountain biking offers. The thrill of pushing yourself to the limit, the kind encouragement of other ladies and that feeling of self-accomplishment is what the sisterhood of shred is all about. We ride weekends, we ride weekdays. Some of us are climbers (I myself am just discovering the fun in climbing), some of us are downhillers. Some of us are roadies too but we are all part of the sisterhood of shred and we all want more ladies to ride with.
Ariel Kent is a local Killington mountain bike. If you’d like to learn more about the trails in and around Killington or go for a ride you can reach out to her through email at ariel.r.kent1@gmail.com
