Breakfast with Bristol24/7: Zoe Banks Gross

Zoe Banks Gross is on a mission to not just get more people on bikes, but to get more diversity on the bike lanes. Louis Emanuel meets her for porridge.

Zoe Banks Gross is a cyclist. But she is also a woman. And she also a mother. And she is also mixed race. And those four things, she says, are all too rarely combined in Bristol where it is the middle-aged males in lycra (better known as mamils) who dominate the limited cycle ways that the city apologetically offers its two-wheeled community.

“Here, what you see is a lot of mamils on bicycles. Back home everybody is riding bicycles and it doesn’t matter if you have the gear or hi-vis,” says the environmentalist and grassroots cycling activist as she pulls up a stool at No 12 Easton cafe.

Originally from Oregon – a template, if there is one, of a pedestrian- and cycle-friendly culture – environmental scientist Zoe moved to Bristol via Munich and Cardiff.

When she first arrived in the UK, she says she “felt quite marginalised, like literally marginalised, squeezed to the side of the road and often fearing for my life”.

And that is partly why she turned her hand to flying the flag for better cycling infrastructure and, crucially, better integration of hard-to-reach communities into the often-intimidating world of cycling around her adopted city.

“In general, in this country you just see pictures of mamils on bicycles. If you do see women, usually they’re Olympic medallists and not just regular people. And you also don’t see any people of colour. You don’t see any Asian people, you don’t see any black people,” she says.

One of the ways Zoe is crusading for change is by teaching women from more marginalised backgrounds to take their first ride on a bike, with the aim of eventually setting them free on the road, inviting women to join her cycle instruction programmes at Easton Community Centre.

“There are a lot of Asian women, African women, and some from the West Indies too, all getting on a bike for the first time. It’s pretty amazing. I’ve taught my son to ride a bike when he was three, and then you’ve got someone who’s in their 50s or 60s who’ve led their whole life and never been on a bike.

“It’s much more daunting for them – but at the same time it’s an amazing experience to watch them have – having that confidence and finding that ability to do that on their own.

“It’s a form of independence,” she adds as her bowl of porridge flecked with fruit and berries arrives.

She barely glances at it after a quick thank you to the waitress before continuing, enthusiastic and unstoppable: “It gives them a sense of independence, and some of the women who’ve learnt to ride a bike have gone on to do other things like learn to swim and things like that that they in the past felt there was a barrier to – so it’s really empowering and just an amazing experience to watch someone go through that journey.”

Zoe says some of the women on the course often come from a background where it may not even be culturally acceptable for women or girls to ride a bike at all.

Many of the women who go on Zoe’s course are also invited to get their children involved in the Kidical Mass rides which Zoe also has a hand in organising.

Kidical Mass – mass bike rides for children – is an idea borrowed from Zoe’s Oregon home, but has expanded across the world. It’s an idea Zoe took a special interest after the birth of her son in Bristol five years ago and the fears she had about getting back on the road with her baby in tow.

She says she obviously felt less compelled to take risks, but adds that the environment also need to be more encouraging. Looking back on Munich for example, she says the differences in attitudes and culture for cycling are worlds apart. “It’s a massive, massive difference,” she says. “In Munich you’d see really elegant women in high heels cycling around.

“Here, it’s starting to change but it’s still an issue here cyclists are too often these guys commuting to work, trying to beat their personal best times.”

One of the ways she thinks the culture can change is the way cyclists are represented in society here and the media.

“We need to make the spaces more attractive, but we also need to show women and other people doing it to show people it’s something normal for everyone. We need to show more and more people on bicycles using the space. It’s not just something that middle class white men do.”

Illustration by Anna Higgie – www.annahiggie.co.uk

Read more: ‘We need public spaces that are healthy and inviting’