The Earn-A-Bike Women's Wrench Night
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As a mechanical engineer, I see how hands-on experience can affect me each and everyday. After building something once by myself, I have the confidence to try building more things, to design new things, and to ask more informed questions. Each new task is scary, but after struggling through the things I am unsure of, I gain new confidence and am empowered to try new more difficult things.

As a young girl, my parents were pretty good about letting me use tools in the garage and building weird things in the backyard, but still very much recall growing up having men take tools from my hands because I hesitated and having them do the task for me. Women have a tendency to shy away from technical tasks, not because they are less competent but because people give them less opportunities to learn.

Bicycles are vehicles for independence, creating freedom from fossil fuels, bus schedules, and those unfortunate fears of walking on the street. Women’s independence and opportunities will create better communities for both men and women alike. By empowering women to be knowledgeable cyclists, we are supporting healthy families, equality, and community involvement.
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The San Antonio cycling community is much like the city itself-- highly diverse and insanely spread out. There are road riders that never see downtown, urban commuters that will never bike in the hill country, and mountain bikers who could care less about bike lanes on S. Flores. EAB Coop can be a place for anyone from any group to help contribute to the cycling community and San Antonio. If women get left out of this conversation, we only get half of our community participating. I hope this women’s group, whatever it may look like in the future, continues to support the EAB mission growing San Antonio into a destination for riding and thriving.

Besty Farris - Earn A Bike Womens Wrench Night Founder

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