It’s Saturday morning at Malaga Cove Plaza in Palos Verdes Estates, and the fog is beginning to lift as the PV Bike Chicks get ready to ride. Currently the group has about 80 active members, and a solid 20 of them ride three to four times a week. Since the group started, some women have even come from Colorado and Florida to ride.
The PV Bike Chicks is comprised of women of various ages—20s to 80s—and abilities. The routes range from the beach to steeper climbs.
“It’s so unique here—I feel like I am in Europe,” says program director Carolyn Maynard. “You can take pictures and just enjoy the overall landscape. However, it is a challenge, and we have a rule where no rider is left behind.”
The group rides about 30 different routes. The Lunada Bay Loop is the easiest beginner’s route at 7.4 miles with a 419-foot ascent. The longest is Mandeville Canyon, a 55.2-mile ride. The PV Bike Chicks usually complete more than 50 rides a week, which equates to over 1,000 miles and 100 hours on the bikes.
One of the more unique and fun rides is the Strava Art route, which looks like the shape of a unicorn when completed. Another route is specifically dedicated to lighthouses, including riding past mailboxes with a lighthouse design.
The group started simply enough. In the spring of 2010, Kim Trimpert was working at the PV Bicycle Center in Rolling Hills Estates and began meeting women at the shop who were purchasing bike gear for their husbands. When asked if they rode, some said they did occasionally with their husbands but not as often as they might like because they did not want to go alone.
Plenty of things can happen during a solo ride. You can get a flat tire, or a chain can come off. So hearing that story enough, Kim started collecting names and email addresses to put together a roster of women to ride together. Since their first meeting, with about a dozen women in attendance, around 200 women from the South Bay and other parts of Southern California have at some point been a part of the club.
“We support each other so much, something I didn’t expect when I first joined,” says Carolyn, who’s been with the group from the beginning. “We’ve been there for each other through breast cancer, the death of family members and so much more. It doesn’t stop at the end of every bike ride.”
The riders aren’t there for just each other but also for local charities. A few times the group has helped support families in need during the holiday season through the Salvation Army.
One of the other unique things about the PV Bike Chicks is that, in addition to learning from each other and becoming friends, the group also holds free bike maintenance clinics regularly where riders can learn how to change a flat tire, what to carry while they ride and basic bike maintenance.
Recently one of the women got a flat rear tire during a group ride. The second it happened, a handful of women stopped to help. It once again showed that no rider would be left behind.
The group has three women in their 80s, showing that age is just a number. One of those is Marcia Watanabe, who is age 81 and has been riding with the PV Bike Chicks for seven years. She loves to set goals and knows this group is the perfect outlet for her both mentally and physically.
“It is an extraordinary and diverse group of women. It doesn’t matter your age, race, religion or background. That all goes out of our heads the second our foot hits the pedal,” says Marcia, whose love for riding partly has to do with her love for the outdoors.
She could have easily given up riding as she got older and after having hip and knee surgeries. However, she’s still been able to go on the more intense rides thanks to a pedal-assist bike. While she isn’t sure when she will stop riding with the PV Bike Chicks, Marcia does know she will have friends for life.
“The friendship and camaraderie doesn’t happen just while we are riding together, and that’s what makes it so great,” she says. “The theme of the women in this group is all about support and never giving up.”
