Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Women's Cycling in 1926

One Sunday in May, 1926, at the beach boulevard in Scheveningen (the Netherlands), a small group of women participated in the first bicycle race for women in the country.
No small feat, in this conservative and religious country at the time; women were meant to be sitting in church on Sunday morning and definitely not participate in such a male activity as cycling!
So, ahead of the Second Large Field Course (men only, of course) there was the ladies match; ladies in long black skirts, cycling on standard heavy duty road bikes.
The second picture is of a similar race in France, 1925 - in France races like these for women were very common. Interestingly, both Dutch and French women wear berets.

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