Last year we began a campaign to celebrate women’s cycling here at the Co-op, with special features online and events in our shops. Why? Because in the wonderful world of cycling, women’s cycling takes a back seat. (Read more about how and why we’re celebrating…)
This week we’re highlighting the incredible Billie Fleming, who single-handedly proved that you don’t need to start all that young or have the best gear in order to be one of the greatest endurance athletes the world has seen.
In December 2016, an amazing woman from Nottingham named Kayjsa Tylen successfully beat Billie Fleming’s record of 29,604 miles. She’s now 39 and said she did “practically no exercise” until she was 26, so there are already some parallels between her and Billie Fleming! Kayjsa smashed the record with 32,326 miles.
In 2015 a group of women in the Scottish Borders organised a 365-stage event (1 every day) to encourage as many women as possible to get out on bikes and attempt to follow the routes that Billie Fleming took. You can read more about their cycling exploits on their Tribute to Billie website.