There are very few sports with a culture more heavily steeped in traditions and "old-guard" ways than road cycling. You have the unspoken rules everyone seems to play by, trajectories to follow if you want to make it as a pro, and then the icing on the cake—it's a predominately white male sport. In the words of the USA Amateur Crit and Road Champion, Justin Williams, that has to change.

Host Jen Whalen met with Justin to talk representation and inclusivity, which left us contemplating what we can do as an industry to make it easier for people to break through the walled garden that is cycling culture. Watch and read more on Justin Williams’ perspective, and then join the conversation.

HEATHER RUSSELL

In a sport dominated by competition and time-honored shots of suffering on a bike, it's easy to forget that for many people, it's not about that at all. Bikes can offer more than the power to explore. As a survivor of sexual trauma, Heather Russell—founder of Sacred Cycle, an organization dedicated to helping survivors of sexual trauma find a way out of their pain—feels lucky to have found a path to recovery through riding bikes.

We often think of freedom on a bicycle as being an escape from a physical location, but as Jen Whalen finds out as she rides with Heather, they can also help unlock minds and bodies stuck in a traumatic memory.

JENN KRISKE

Jenn Kriske, Machines for Freedom CEO & Founder, is proof positive that when the market is not serving you—or a large swath of the population for that matter—you have to step up and do it yourself. From frustration comes the potential for social change.

With her eyes set firmly on inclusion of all body types in the marketing and design of women's cycling clothing, Jen Whalen chats with Jenn in her studio and on a ride to discuss her journey to now and what she's hoping to achieve with Machines for Freedom as the brand continues to champion representation across the board.