Think Out Loud

Group aims to make bike community more inclusive

By Rolando Hernandez (OPB)
Feb. 9, 2022 5:38 p.m. Updated: Feb. 16, 2022 11:19 p.m.

Broadcast: Wednesday, Feb. 9

Kailey Kornhauser and Marley Blonsky of All Bodies aim to make the cycling community more inclusive and welcoming to all.

Kailey Kornhauser and Marley Blonsky of All Bodies aim to make the cycling community more inclusive and welcoming to all.

Todd Sonflieth / OPB

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Cycling is an activity that can be enjoyed by all. But for some body types, it can be difficult to find the right sized gear or a bike that can handle your weight. All Bodies on Bikes aims to make cycling more inclusive by spreading awareness of issues in the community, educating and changing the industry, and making cycling safe for all. Kailey Kornhauser and Marley Blonsky are the founders of the group and join us to share the work they do.

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The following transcript was computer generated and edited by a volunteer:

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB, I’m Dave Miller, Kailey Kornhauser and Marley Blonsky found each other online and felt an immediate kinship. They were both cyclists and we’re sick of seeing images of fellow cyclists that didn’t look like them. Those images often featured skinny men on bikes and they’re neither of those things. So they started their own group called ‘All Bodies on Bikes’ to foster a more inclusive cycling community and it has taken off. Kailey was on the cover of Bicycling Magazine in 2020. The duo were featured in a documentary put out by Shimano last year. Tomorrow, they’re going to be on a segment on a PBS Oregon Field Guide. Kailey Kornhauser and Marley Blonsky, welcome to Think Out Loud.

Kailey Kornhauser:  Thank you so much.

Miller: Marley, first. Did you grow up riding bikes?

Marley Blonsky: Kind of, so I grew up in Texas in the 90s, I’m 35 and we used to ride our bikes to school and it was just what we did for fun, but I kind of stopped when I was a teenager and into college and didn’t pick it back up until maybe eight years ago.

Miller: What led you to pick it up again?

Blonsky: Oh my gosh, I went through like this awful divorce and I was heartbroken and I moved from west Seattle...so I lived in Seattle… to Capitol Hill, where having a car is just super impractical and it was taking me 45 minutes to take the bus, three miles and I was like, there’s gotta be a better way. So that’s how it started and it’s really become my whole life.

Miller: Kailey, what about you? Does riding a bike go way back for you?

Kailey Kornhauser: Yes. Such a similar story to Marley’s. I grew up riding around my neighborhood in the suburbs of Chicago and then put the bike away for most of my young adulthood and picked it up again as a commuter in Salt Lake City and then realized it could be this tool for fun and access to outdoor recreation in a way that I hadn’t seen adults do before about six or seven years ago.

Miller: How did all bodies on bikes come to be?

Kornhauser: Marley and I met each other online as you said, on Instagram in 2018, and we both have been pretty outspoken about the fact that we’re both fat women who ride bikes. We connected through our shared love of bikes and bike packing and our shared experiences and realized there was this need to start talking about body size, inclusivity in the cycling space. We’ve seen that conversation happening in hiking groups and other forms of outdoor recreation, but not in the biking space. And so we started hosting workshops and working with companies and different brands to talk about how they could make products for people in larger bodies, but it wasn’t until the film with Shimano that came out last year, that really solidified us as ‘All Bodies on Bikes,’ and this organization and now online community.

Miller: Marley, Can you give us a sense for the equipment or clothing availability that Kailey is talking about?

Bonkley: Sure, it’s challenging, especially if you are a larger fat person, a lot of people don’t know this, but bikes have weight limits which you can find in the owner’s manual, but it can be kind of hidden and then if you wear above a size maybe double XL, which is, in the bike world, still fairly small. It’s really hard to find a raincoat, rain pants, even a pair of bib shorts with a shammy. We always say you don’t really need bike specific clothing, but it does make your experience more comfortable and more enjoyable, and when you’re hitting those barriers, if you walk into a store and are looking for a pair of bike shorts and can’t find them or can’t find a bike that is safe for you to ride, those are just really big barriers to even get onto a bike.

Miller: How much has that changed since the two of you have been bringing more awareness to the cycling world?

Blonsky: You know, it’s a slow process. A lot of the companies, we’re working with are big multinational corporations and we’re working with some brands on, like their 2024 line of clothing, but since we started doing this work, I can think of probably four or five brands that even a year ago didn’t have ab ove a double XL and now they do. So we’re definitely getting there and there’s just so much more visibility to people on larger bikes already doing this activity that need the proper equipment. So I’m hopeful, it’s a slow process, but just trying to be patient.

Miller: Kailey, you wrote a piece for Bicycling Magazine a few years ago about not needing to fix your body as a cyclist, instead you said that the real problem with the sport was our image, society’s image of athleticism. What do you mean by that?

Kornhauser: You know, there’s an expectation that people in larger bodies if they move their bodies, if they choose to exercise, they’re doing that because they need to change the way that they look to make themselves become smaller and that that’s why they’re moving their bodies – that’s sort of how we’ve expected and assumed that people in larger bodies move for a really long time. And I think Marley and I and others in this space are working to change that and to invite people in larger bodies to move their bodies because it feels good, because they like doing it. For us, that means we like riding bikes and we invite other people to ride bikes, but really it’s about whatever brings you joy and feels good. I think ‘All Bodies on Bikes’ as an organization, we’ve worked to both address the access issues to bikes and to clothing, but also address that culture of who’s invited to be an athlete and who’s invited to be a cyclist.

Miller: Marley, one of the ways you do that is with workshops as you mentioned, what do you find that you bring up most often in those workshops?

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Blonsky: Language. I think Kailey and I use the word fat to describe ourselves and a lot of people bristle at that and are initially like, ‘No, you’re not fat, that’s… why would you use that word?’ And then, you know, as we get into it, it’s just a neutral description of our bodies, and we don’t assign any moral value to it. People in smaller bodies that we’re having these conversations with have a lot of questions, because it’s just something we don’t talk about. We also spend a lot of time just talking about community building and how bike clubs or companies who run bike rides can be more inclusive, fairly low hanging fruit, but things that just aren’t thought about, like, you know, having a sweeper at the back of the group to keep everybody together. So the workshops really range in topic, but a lot of it is around, just language and why this topic matters. It’s more than just clothing.

Miller: Kailey, what role does social media play now in your overall strategy? Obviously that’s how the two of you met, but how do you use it?

Kornhauser: That’s a great question. I think social media for us and for other people in larger bodies has offered a way to see other people that look like us doing different forms of outdoor recreation for fun. And so we have been really fortunate, Marley and I, to gain fairly large online platforms to share our own experiences. Then we’ve also created an Instagram page and a Facebook page for other people to share their stories and talk about their challenges, but also talk about what they love about biking, and to meet people that way. So, the online community is just so key.

Miller: Marley, is this your job now? I mean being a bike inclusivity and social media influencer?

Blonsky: As wild as it sounds, yes, I quit. So I was working in corporate America, in Logistics and found that I was spending more time on bike stuff and so about, I don’t know, I guess it was August, I quit and I’m doing this full time, which is a dream come true, honestly.

Miller:  So am I right that one of the ways you can do that is with sponsorships?

Blonsky: That’s correct, yeah. So I’ve got some phenomenal sponsors – Pearl iZUMi, Chamois Butter, a couple other ones who give me a monetary stipend to basically ride bikes for them and to create communities and make things more inclusive and I’m so grateful.

Miller: I mean the companies, obviously, they want your eyeballs, the audience that you have built, and in return you get money or perhaps goods.

Blonsky: Yes.

Miller: How do you decide which companies to align yourself with?

Blonsky: I love this question because I think a lot of quote unquote ‘Influencers’ aren’t picky, and I really am, you know, first thing, our values have to align. Like do they really believe in getting all bodies onto bikes? And that might mean they’re working on a product line or getting towards there, looking at their diversity, equity and inclusion statements. I also take into account their sustainability practices. It really has to line up all across the board and actually be a product I use. You know, I’ve had companies approach me and I’m like, ‘You don’t even have my size, why would I promote you on my social media channels?’

Miller: Kailey, how often are you recognized when you go on rides these days, recognized from social media or from the various media you’ve done?

Kornhauser: It’s pretty wild in our Oregon Field Guide episode, you’ll see that we got recognized a number of times on our bike packing trip, especially when Marley and I are together, people really put it together that we’re from that ‘All Bodies on Bikes’ film, or from the magazine article or social media.

Miller: That’s why I ask because I got to watch a preview and I should say again, it’s going to be airing tomorrow evening on OPB TV, and on this loop you did in Mount Hood National Forest, a number of different groups recognized you. Is that a daily occurrence now?

Kornhauser: Yeah, I don’t know if I would say daily, maybe Marley gets recognized more often, but I think when we’re doing, especially bike packing, because that’s what Marley and I do and are most known for probably, in the biking space, we get recognized really frequently, which is just a wild feeling and it’s also just an honor to be able to connect with people about body size because we all have a relationship to our bodies and we all, in this case, we all love bikes. So we’ve got a lot in common. So it’s been great to meet people out on the road.

Miller: Marley along those lines, has bicycling changed the way you see or experience your own body?

Blonsky: So much. Oh my gosh! And I talked about this in a couple different places, but you know, didn’t always have the most positive relationship with my body, and biking really helped me move away from what it looks like and instead really value it for what it does for me whether that’s riding a big gravel ride 50 miles or going bike packing or even just letting me sleep really well, biking has helped me see the power and the strength of my body, if that makes sense.

Miller: Kailey, What about you?

Kornhauser: I’d echo what Marley said. I think just understanding my body as a source of power and movement and I’m very appreciative of the places my body has taken me and the people that it’s allowed me to meet in the natural places that I’ve gotten to see from my bike. It’s all really amazing. I think sharing that joy with other people. I hope we inspire other people to get on a bike and have a similar experience and connect with their body if that’s what they choose to do.

Miller: Marley, we just have about a minute left. But what would you say to somebody who’s listening now in a larger body, but despite everything you’ve said is still hesitant to get on a bike?

Blonsky: That your feelings are valid. It can be a really scary thing, but I would say start small. You know, if there’s a bike share in your town, just rent one and take it a couple of miles. The fitness will come, the endurance will come with time. Also, make sure your bike fits and make sure that you’re comfortable. Your bike shop can help you with that, but otherwise you will be miserable and you won’t have a good experience. Start small, get a bike that you like and that fits you and do it in a way that’s joyful to you.

Miller: Marley Blonsky and Kailey Kornhauser. Thanks very much.

Blonsky / Kornhauser: Thank you.

Dave Miller: Marley Blonky and Kailey Kornhauser are the Co-founders of the group, ‘All Bodies on Bikes.’

Tomorrow on the show, Oregon Health officials announced this week that the statewide indoor mask requirement is going to go away no later than March 31. That includes the masking requirements for schools. We’ll talk with Oregon’s State Epidemiologist about the data behind the decision. If you don’t want to miss any of our shows, you can listen on the NPR One App or wherever you get your podcasts. Our nightly rebroadcast is at eight p.m. Thanks very much for tuning in to Think Out Loud on OPB and KLCC. I’m Dave Miller, we’ll be back tomorrow.

Narrator: Think Out Loud is supported by Steve and Jan Oliver, the Rose E Tucker Charitable Trust and Michael and Kristin Kern.

THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR:
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