As part of Women’s History Month, we’re featuring four different women’s clubs with a strong presence on Zwift. Looking to join a women’s club? See our Women’s Clubs on Zwift post!
When was your club founded?
Back in 2022!
How did your club come to exist?
All of our founding members were freshly racing together in the 2022 season when an iconic local event neglected to offer an amateur women’s category. We rallied the local community, caused a bit of a ruckus, and drove a change. As such, Ruckus Racing was born. Now, we are a race team and development ground run for women, by women.
Have any/all your club members ever met up IRL? If so, please tell us about it!
Absolutely, and it’s one of the most important parts of what we do. Zwift is a great way for us to stay connected through the off-season and build community beyond Vancouver, but magic happens when we clip in together outside.
We host team rides, public group rides and clinics, and community workshops. There’s something really powerful about being able to ride with the same names you raced beside on Zwift in the real world. Riding together IRL is about building a visible, welcoming space for womxn in cycling.
Do most/many/any of your members also ride outdoors?
Yes, all the time! We meet once or twice a week on Zwift for team interval training in the off-season, but when the weather allows, we do our best to transition these sessions outside in the winter and spring.
Year-round, we also meet for our Friday morning coffee rides, a team ritual that usually is more of a social pace, but we sometimes can’t help but add a lil’ bit of spice. Starting in March, we scale up our in-person rides together leading up to races!
What do you see as the biggest hurdle for women to start cycling?
We feel as though female-identifying athletes are often dichotomized. We’re either there “just for fun” OR there to compete at our highest level. But what we know is that competing and pushing our limits is fun. Hence, our motto “having fun, taken seriously”. We’re here toeing start lines, welcoming new racers and building stoke to show that women can be playful and still bring our all to a race.
We also see how cycling can be a really intimidating sport to get involved in on a competitive level, especially as an amateur or someone newer to the sport, and so we do our best to create opportunities for the local womxn’s cycling scene to feel a sense of community and support. That looks like running race skills clinics, hosting weekly group rides out to the local crit races, and giving newer riders a chance to ask the team questions and get involved.
Is the answer the same for women starting cycling on Zwift?
Zwift can actually be a really approachable entry point, because there’s significantly less social pressure when you’re joining a virtual event and riding with strangers from your living room. It removes a lot of the barriers that can make outdoor group riding intimidating at first.
That said, the platform isn’t immune to the dynamics of the real world. Women’s representation still isn’t always that strong. Especially in races, you might find yourself as one of only a few (or the only) women in the field. That’s why initiatives like women-specific events and communities matter so much. When riders log on and see other women racing, hosting rides, and building clubs, it changes the experience to one that feels more tangible and welcoming.
Related Post: Women’s Clubs on Zwift: Inspiring, Inclusive, Fun >
Do you have thoughts/ideas/dreams for how we (we as a collective humanity, not necessarily Zwift – but it can include Zwift if you want) get more women riding?
Honestly, one of the biggest shifts we’d love to see is a collective realization that it doesn’t have to be that serious. Most people riding bikes, whether on Zwift or outside, are doing it recreationally, even if they are pinning on a race number. We’re not all going pro. Cycling culture can sometimes make it feel like you need everything dialed before you start: understanding zone training, chasing FTP gains, tracking nutrition to the gram, or owning all the “right” gear. But none of that is required to get on a bike and enjoy it.
For many people, the magic of cycling is much simpler… being outside, finding community, and discovering what your body can do. And often, once you start riding, the performance side comes naturally if you want it to. Plenty of people end up loving the training details, and that’s great too. We sure do as a race team! But you don’t need that focus to get started.
What is a fun fact you’d like to share about your club?
We’re based in Vancouver, Canada, but a big portion of our team are from England! So, Percy Pigs have become a bit of a currency on the team… IYKYK.
If you had a magic wand to change one thing about the Zwift product OR the Zwift community, what would you wish for?
We put this question to the team to see what the people really want! In no particular order…
- Custom playlists that match structured workouts so that the ragers hit when the intervals get brutal
- Voice-to-text and/or group calls in Zwift Companion so you can talk to your riding buddies more easily
- The ability to design your own kit!!!
- A super small training view so that we can watch Netflix more easily
Follow Ruckus Racing:
- Instagram: instagram.com/ruckusrcng
- Zwift Club: zwift.com/clubs/73ccccb8-36b1-444a-bf61-19b671e92954
- Upcoming Zwift events: zwift.com/events/tag/ruckusracing
