Worcester bike bus founder on most inspirational list

Katie Collier said after picking up cycling in lockdown, she called herself "the accidental cycling advocate"

A woman who runs a "bike bus" for dozens of people has been named among the UK's 100 most inspirational women in cycling for this year.

Katie Collier, 38, from Worcester, set up the weekly rides in which up to 40 families go to school together.

She only picked up cycling again in lockdown, but has appeared on the 2023 list by charity Cycling UK.

Another Worcester woman named, Georgina Tucker, 42, set up the Cycle Sistas group in the city for women's rides.

Ms Collier had not been much of a cyclist since she was a child, but started the activity again when she needed a way to get to work in London.

A move to Worcester followed and she told BBC Hereford & Worcester she "decided to sell a car and invest in a cargo bike" - a large one people could put children in.

Katie Collier said it was great when people wanted to do big leisure rides, but she just wanted to get to work and her children to school

"I call myself the accidental cycling advocate, because it was never really something that I had been interested in.

"It seemed ridiculous that we didn't feel safe always going out on our bike.

"We thought 'well, other families and other children should be able to cycle to school and so if we're doing that as a group [on various bikes], that would really empower everybody'."

Georgina Tucker set up a group for women and girls just socialising and using "any type of bike"

Georgina Tucker had not been on a bike since her early teens when she signed up to a 25-mile cycle event in 2019.

Her partner was "really, really into mountain biking", which encouraged her, and she noticed there were not many women on mountain bikes.

The hairdresser said many clients were struggling with mental health during lockdown and were either single or "wanted to get out and change themselves".

She said she first set up a group in Essex to encourage "normal people to get onto bikes".

"It's not like 'let's all put Lycra on and go really fast'," she added.

Ms Collier said cycling was still seen as a very male thing "in lots of ways".

She added: "I think that's why I'm so passionate to be out and about and to be quite visible, as I [class] myself [as] a really very ordinary, non-sporty, 'really enjoys a cup of tea and a cake' kind of woman."