No one left behind on the Expresso trail: fifteen years of Tuesday rides with Girls Outside

On a Tuesday evening above Snowmass Village, Colorado, a group of women gathered at the trailhead with their mountain bikes. Dana Dwyer had been away and warned the others that she would be slow. Sara Shaw was not having it. “You always say that, and then you kick butt somehow,” she said, as Aspen Public Radio reported in August.

They were members of Girls Outside, a group in the Roaring Fork Valley that has been mountain biking together in summer, and skinning (climbing uphill on skis) in winter, for the better part of 15 years. Rachel Brenneman, one of its co-founders, is 50, which makes her one of the younger riders. Most of the group are in their mid-50s and 60s, and some are in their late 60s.

How it started

The reason for the group was simple. “We were just so sick of riding with dudes,” Brenneman told Aspen Public Radio. She leads most of the Tuesday rides, on trails near Snowmass Village such as the Expresso trail. “There’s not pressure or intimidation or fear,” she said.

The group has one rule, which works as its motto: no one left behind. After each ride, the members tailgate together. On the evening Aspen Public Radio joined them, Ann Driggers cooked pulled pork tacos for everyone.

“It’s pretty incredible that it has lasted this long,” Brenneman said.

What it has done for them

Driggers says the group has made her a more confident rider, and she planned a 360-mile bikepacking trip for September. Kelleigh Condon joined feeling intimidated, as one of the older members, and has since moved up to the middle of the pack. Shaw has ridden with the group for nearly a decade and races in the Aspen Cycling Club’s mountain bike series.

For Shaw, the talk matters as much as the trail: family, friends, menopause and “life in our bodies”. Driggers is blunter about what Tuesday means to her. “My Tuesday nights are pretty sacred,” she said.

Brenneman does not pretend the sport is gentle. Mountain biking, she told the station, is “a very challenging, physically aggressive sport”.

Why this matters

Mountain biking up and down hills counts as vigorous exercise. The NHS (the UK health service) lists riding a bike fast or on hills as vigorous activity, and both the NHS and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, plus muscle-strengthening on at least two days. A weekly ride with real climbs counts towards that.

The group is the other half. Megan Hiles, a preventive medicine doctor at Aspen Valley Health, told the station that riding in a group like this is “actually … multiplying all these benefits”. A fixed night, people who expect you and a rule that nobody gets dropped remove most of the reasons not to go.

How to start, or step up

Read the grades. In the UK, Forestry England grades its singletrack: green is for beginners on flat, wide routes with no challenging features; blue adds small roots and rocks and short steep sections; red is for proficient riders, with challenging climbs, descents and drop-offs; black is for experts. In North America, the International Mountain Bicycling Association has its own trail difficulty rating system. IMBA Canada says it rates technical challenge, not physical effort, and that trails should be rated relative to others in the same region, so the same rating can mean different things in different valleys.

Ride with people who wait. Look for a women’s ride, a club “no-drop” ride or a beginners’ session at a trail centre. If none exists, the Girls Outside model needs only a day of the week, a trailhead and a rule.

If you already ride, use the group to push. Repeat the section that scares you, take turns leading, and add one longer trip a season.

For a gentler way in on two wheels, read our guide to swimming and cycling. For riding on a much bigger scale, read how Craig Johnston crossed Australia by bike.