FIAS Resources and Research

FIAS Toolkit

The Toolkit is for you if you’re interested in setting up from scratch a mountain biking community for women+ in your area; or if you already run, lead or take part in a mountain biking community and would like to support its growth and sustainability.

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FIAS Framework

The FIAS Framework is designed to inform gender progressive strategy and planning in organisations working in and alongside the mountain biking sector. It is a comprehensive tool offering clear goals, evidence and guidance for addressing persistent gender inequality in mountain biking. The FIAS Framework provides a roadmap towards a more inclusive sport by helping organisations shape a culture that provides systematic opportunities for women+ to participate in and lead mountain biking.

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FIAS Event Guidelines

These FIAS Event Guidelines have been created to help organisers make off-road cycling events more welcoming and inclusive for women and marginalised genders (women+). Events play a key role in shaping cycling culture and visibility, making them a powerful tool for inclusion. The guidelines are adaptable to all event types and provide practical examples – commitment from organisers can create safer, more inclusive, and welcoming events for everyone.

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Our research

The emergence of new mountain biking media practices: toward a culture of inclusive mountain biking –

Fiona Spotswood, Martin J Hurcombe, Maria Moxey

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Mountain biking has grown rapidly in the past thirty years, yet only 20% of participants in the UK are women. Prior research on media representations in action sports identifies its role in reproducing masculine sporting cultures. Focus on mountain biking is limited, and has failed to give voice to women’s experiences with the sport’s media, nor explore the entanglement between sport and media practices. This study takes a practice theory approach. We theorise women mountain biker’s media practices, bringing these in dialogue with a content analysis of two online mountain biking media sites. We find the media continues to anchor male authority and reinforce hypermasculinity, falling short of its transformative potential. Women disengage and can feel disconnected from mountain biking, yet also reject and curate an alternative culture through online media practices which opens up spaces for new schemas of meaning and practice performances to emerge.

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