TandEM cycling training in Brussels and Tallinn
- Maria Lindmäe
- May 13
- 2 min read
The last weekend of April TandEm Women in Cycling gathered in Brussels for a hands-on training organized by EIT Urban Mobility, BYCS and Pro Velo Brussels.
The 15 ladies who were selected for the program met for an intensive 2.5 day training where we were given numerous tips for organizing our own bicycle trainings. This involved everything from balancing exercises to guiding a vélobus and bike repair. We rode through the city in our big bunch which was at times hectic, but nothing too extreme for someone (me) who's repeatedly taken groups of 20+ cyclists around the center of Barcelona...
The practical part was extremely helpful as we really learned the basic steps of teaching anyone to cycle. Yet the best part of the Brussels weekend, without a doubt, were the participants. Connecting with women cycling enthusiasts from Riga to Zagreb, Olocau to Vienna, immediately made us discuss the possibility of a Tallinn-Granada bike ride, to celebrate the northernmost and southernmost towns involved in TandEM. After all, it would only take a little more than a month to cycle from A to B. Wether this dream comes true is uncertain for now, hearing other women's inspiring stories of solo-cycling in remote areas sure pushed me to start organizing my own cycling holiday.
Training in Tallinn
In addition to the rather active social program that some of us enjoyed during the three days, the training helped us define the last details of our own cycling courses. In collaboration with the Estonian Refugee Council, mine took off on May 9th with six wonderful participants who did a great job in their first-ever cycling lesson. The trainig consists of two lessons aimed at balancing, overcoming obstacles and anything else necessary for starting to cycle autonomously. In addition, there will be one lesson dedicated to bike repair and one shared bike ride where we will hopefully cover part of the coast of North-Tallinn. The training is completely free for the participants and without barely any advertising more people than I can 'handle' signed up, so I hope that in the future I can get funding to organize another round of lessons. Below you can see the flyer of the event and a few photos from the first day.
