Experience The Ride: A Living Archive!

The Fancy Women Bike Ride began as an international, women-focused, trans-inclusive cycling event advocating for better city policies and infrastructure to make women feel safe, welcome, and seen while using their bikes. The movement, born in Izmir, Türkiye, ran from 2013 to 2023, with approximately 200 cities’ women participating simultaneously each year.

Edmonton cyclists joined the international cohort in 2021, led by Heather Young-Leslie and Nicola DiNicola. When, in 2023, originators Pinar Pinzuti and Sema Gurr declared the goals of the international event reached and advised individual cities to organize their own, locally targeted activities, Edmonton’s co-organizers recognized our city’s ongoing need for advocacy that emphasises women's urban cycling needs. The Ride of the Fancy Women continues the original, international movement's saga while also fine-tuning the mandate to the local context of Edmonton. Since its inaugural ride in 2021 with approximately 30 participants, Ride of the Fancy Women has become an annual Edmonton event, with participants in the 120+ range, pedalled by community, feminism, and a love of bicycling as transportation. In 2025, several of the women who made the Ride of the Fancy Women a success coalesced to form the not-for-profit Bikeology Guild of Canada. 

Filter through our archive to see Ride of the Fancy Women in action throughout the years so far!
You can also look forward to the items to come, as our living archive will be updated with each new year, along with online community submissions.