March Updates

Who is ready for riding outdoors? I know I certainly am! With the lack of favorable riding conditions, things have been going in full planning mode.

We are going to have a busy season this year with different events and rides- we're stoked! This means there will be even more opportunities for riding, engaging with other riders, and learning more things.

Deadline for ordering your Fearless Women of Dirt jersey is March 11th. We highly encourage anyone who is looking to own a sleeveless FWD jersey to order through the store as Decorah Bicycles is not planning to carry sleeveless FWD jerseys at this time.

Decorah Bicycles has fresh stock of *new* Decorah Bicycles and Fearless Women of Dirt socks! $11.95 and you can mix/match the pairs if you're feeling spunky. We have S/M and L/XL options available for both styles. Super cool secret message on the bottom of the FWD socks!

Tuesday, March 13th we are having a women's clinic that is co-hosted by Decorah Bicycles and Specialized Bicycle Company. This will be a mini-maintenance clinic where you'll learn how to fix a flat and common things to do to make sure your bike is in good working order. We'll also discuss our FWD rides, the upcoming Triathlon 101, shoes/pedals, and other accessories that can make riding more enjoyable. The event is free, but you must register as there are limited spots available.

Decorah Bicycles will be hosting a Tri 101 discussion with local triathletes geared towards women on Sunday, March 25th. The event will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and will be an educational format in which folks who are curious about Triathlons to come and ask questions. We know this isn't an off-road specific event, but there has been increased talk/interest in the triathlon scene in Decorah. We see this as a way of partnering up with folks who are involved and being able to talk about cross-training opportunities that can be had with riding off-road.

April 1st is when the Fearless Women of Dirt membership officially opens. $20.00 cash or check donation to DHPT: Decorah Human Powered Trails will give you awesome perks for the 2018 riding season! We are super excited to be working with the local businesses who are providing perks for members. It's greatly appreciated!

Your donation to DHPT: Decorah Human Powered Trails will be super important as they will start groundwork for new trails this year! We will share and discuss more details about the new trail system during our FWD Women's Night. These new trails will provide an excellent opportunity for new riders and youth to have fun on the dirt.

Tuesday, April 24th is the first Fearless Women of Dirt Women's Night of the season! Please register by clicking "going" or send an email to josie@decorahbicycles.com so we can have an estimate on those attending. We'll have some fun samples from doTERRA and Shaklee available along with door prizes from local FWD supporters and Specialized Bicycle Company!

We will be opening up registration for our Mother/Kid rides on Tuesday, April 24th during our Women's Night. There will be FWD Mother/Daughter rides and FWD Mother/Son rides. You can register for as many/few rides as you like. We will have ride waivers available for you to fill out or take home.

Experience level: Child has been able to ride a bike w/out assistance for a year and age range approx. 5-14ish

We are still hammering out details as to how many adults/kids we should have attend. If we have other moms join who are familiar with riding off-road, that might increase the # of participants we can handle. Figure 5 moms to 5-6 kids, depending of a mom has multiple children who would want to participate. Big thing is we ideally would like 1 adult to 1-2 kids and hopefully a fellow FWD volunteer to assist!

If you do not have kids and are interested in volunteering with our FWD Mother/Kid rides, send an email to josie@decorahbicycles.com

We will not be charging a fee for those attending these rides, but we will be accepting free-will donations to DHPT: Decorah Human Powered Trails towards the construction of a new trail system that will be more new-rider friendly and NICA compliant.

Decorah Time Trials is scheduled to be on Saturday, April 28th! This is a race-style event, but all are welcome to attend or spectate. There are plans to have a shorter course, which will be excellent for those looking to get their feet wet with their first event along with youth.

Travis and Josie also plan to host a couple mini skills clinics that will go over the basics of bike handling. The plan is to have one in May and one in June. Currently they are in the finalizing stages of the day/time setup. The topics will include how to properly brake, how to shift, how to climb/descend with your butt off the seat.


We have been asked about FWD Wednesday rides, and yes, they are definitely happening! The first Wednesday ride will be Wednesday, May 2nd leaving from Decorah Bicycles as close to 6 p.m. as possible.

You can see our regularly scheduled rides here. (Including dates for Mother/Kid Rides)
Rides hosted by our Ambassadors will be scheduled as they can- we will update our website and Facebook pages along with sending out an email to everyone on the FWD mailing list.

Don't forget! You can follow Fearless Women of Dirt on Instagram!

February Updates

We are looking forward to the upcoming months, that's for sure! Before you know it, the riding season will be in full swing! Until then, it's dreaming of dirt-covered singletrack vs. ice covered. Riding has been pretty minimal at this point, but we're hopeful that conditions will improve and we can hit the trails!

We will be using this website as a platform to share FWD business be it events, additional rides, ride cancellations, changes, etc. Consider it a newsletter that you don't have to sign up for!

If you would like direct-to-your-inbox updates for rides, cancellations, or events send your email to: josie@decorahbicycles.com

Team Store-
One big update for Fearless Women of Dirt is the re-opening of our Team Store through Borah Teamwear! Available this time is the option of ordering a full-zip, sleeveless or short sleeved Team Cut jersey. A sleeveless jersey option has been commonly requested, so now is your opportunity to get one!

You have until February 28th to place your order!

Borah Teamwear is based in Wisconsin, so very local. Plus they have great customer service and have been a blast to work with. We feel very fortunate to have the opportunity for Team Store so we can more easily provide the FWD jersey.

Some of you may be looking at the Team Store and wondering "Where are the Freeride jerseys?!" Have no fear! You can order a Freeride Jersey directly from Decorah Bicycles. As of writing this post, there has been an order placed for more Freeride jerseys, so if we figure out what size you will be in search of, we can set one aside for you! We can also order additional sizes if needed. There will be a wait time, but if we order now you'll definitely have the jersey before prime riding season!
Do not hesitate to email: josie@decorahbicycles.com or message our Facebook page for further details.

Freeride jerseys cost $69.99 and it'll be $4.00 for shipping.

More news on the style front- we will soon have Fearless Women of Dirt socks from SockGuy! We are very excited for the opportunity to represent FWD not only on a jersey, but on wicked cool socks! We do not have any sneak peek images yet, but they will be themed to match well with our FWD jersey and Decorah Bicycles jersey. Decorah Bicycles socks are being made as well!

Events-
We will be working with Specialized Bicycles with a women's-only clinic that will be held on Tuesday, March 6th. We will release more details on our Facebook page when the event is finalized. There will be limited spots available for this clinic- you'll learn how to fix a flat, about group rides, and more! We are planning it to run from 6-8 p.m. Some details might change, so we'll keep you posted! We will update to the Decorah Bicycles page and Fearless Women of Dirt pages once we have details hammered out.

We are gearing up for our Fearless Women of Dirt membership that will be opening up officially on April 1st! We are very excited about this and we hope you will be, too. There are some GREAT perks that will come from your $20.00 cash or check donation to DHPT. Decorah Human Powered Trails is the group that builds and maintains our soft trails. (Soft Trails: off-road/mtb trails)

We will release more information as April draws closer. You can also get an in-person rundown of the membership if you join our FWD Women's Night on Tuesday, April 24th!

If you would be interested in being a Fearless Women of Dirt sponsor- please send an email to josie@decorahbicycles.com

We are thinking about additional FWD Women's Nights that would be used as general skill building either on bike or further knowledge on some mechanical aspects- flat fixes, helmets, flat pedals/shoes, etc. We will see what our summer schedule allows, but we are aiming to have more clinics in the fall/winter months. We will consider having a clinic of some sort in the summer season if there is enough interest!

Rides-
One thing we are implementing this year is a straightforward start and end time for our Wednesday and Sunday rides in May-August. We'll start heading back to the shop at a set time, which should help us end either at or slightly before the "official" end time. We will do our utmost to be aware of the group and experience levels to ensure we can keep our schedule on point.

We currently have a survey open to see on interest for some additional morning rides for Fearless Women of Dirt along with Mother/Son rides. We would love your opinion!

We will have a post published before the riding season that will talk about tips and suggestions on making your group ride experience enjoyable!

Additional news-
You may have noticed that our Fearless Women of Dirt page has changed from FWD - Fearless Women of Dirt to just Fearless Women of Dirt.
#1. Easier to search for or explain to someone where to go.
#2. We purchased fearlesswomenofdirt.com
#3. We're on Instagram as fearlesswomenofdirt

Also, the Fearless Women of Dirt group is no longer. All activity is on our Facebook Page.

Fearless Women of Dirt stickers exist! They are free at Decorah Bicycles, or if you live within the United States we can mail you a sticker. Woot!