Petit Yellow Velo, embraced the natural partnership between coffee and cycling, and cake, with their café offering tasty drinks and treats to visiting cyclists and by providing a much needed supply of coffee beans to Handsling Alba Development Road Team to fuel their riders.
Jennifer Kaczmarski of Petit Yellow Velo told us: “having a daughter has made us more determined to make sure that her experiences and opportunities are the same for girls and boys.” She has noticed more teenage girls riding bikes in her local area compared to when she was younger, suggesting things are moving in a positive direction. The family are determined that their daughter grows up in a world where opportunities in cycling are equal for both males and females.
To help drive change, Petit Yellow Velo have taken part in key events and discussions highlighting female cycling. At the Youth Tour of Scotland in April, they provided coffee for the after-party at Bramblers café, with Jennifer also joining a panel on the future of women’s cycling. At the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women final stage in Glasgow, they hosted a panel chat with the Handsling Alba team, continuing to shine a light on women and girls in the sport.
Jennifer told us: “We are a proud sponsor of Handsling Alba Development Road Team. We are constantly inspired by them, their drive and their determination to support and create better opportunities. They all work so hard, often juggling studies and other employment and their efforts are really paying off with multiple Scottish riders now on world tour teams! It’s incredible.”
That inspiration is also felt at home. Jennifer shared: “We were particularly pleased when our daughter said without us prompting ‘when I grow up, I want to cycle for Alba’. It has been great for her to meet the team at our shop, see them on race days and just generally normalise women in cycling.”
Their support for cycling has also taken a creative turn, with artwork inspired by Alba designed by Glasgow-based Emily Wylde for a coffee collaboration with the team last year. These labels caught the attention of families buying coffee, sparking conversations and sharing information about the cycling-themed artwork. As Jennifer highlighted: “just a subtle inclusion in seemingly every day situations does actually help not only in spreading the word and creating talking points, but also chips away and makes it more relevant to a wide group of people.”
When asked what she would wish for if she had a magic wand, Jennifer said:
“If I had a magic wand then I would write a big cheque for Handsling-Alba, to free them up to concentrate all their time on developing riders, achieving their goals and pushing the sport forward.” For anyone able to support a team, she added: “Reach out – do it. We thought we were too small for Handsling-Alba to be interested but their Director could see that while we could only offer things in kind (coffee beans) that this is something that the team would really like.”
For women and girls thinking about giving cycling a go, Jennifer’s advice is simple: “cycling should be something that you just do whether that’s going to meet friends or as part of your main weekly exercise” and most importantly, “have fun with it as it can be really sociable.”
And finally, her own mid-ride café order? “Something a bit out of the ordinary so whatever guest filter is brewing would be my choice.”
Thank you, Jennifer, for sharing your experience with Mel, our Women and Girls Development Manager.
If you’re a business, large or small, interested in supporting our mission to inspire a nation of cyclists, please get in touch with Pete, our Head of Marketing and Communications. He’d be delighted to have a conversation with you.