When Being Recognised Raises Questions That Matter
Counting Women: What This Moment Reveals
Zoe Portlock, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Bikeworks
Looking Back as We Approach Twenty Years
As Bikeworks approaches its twentieth year, Jim and I have been reflecting on the values that have shaped us since the beginning: inclusion, accessibility, community and respect for identity. These are not abstract concepts or strategic aspirations. They are the foundations that have guided every decision we have made as co-founders, partners and leaders in building an inclusive cycling organisation across two decades of change.
Bikeworks has never focused on individual achievement. We are a purpose with a business, and any impact we have created belongs to the people who participate in it, deliver it and shape it alongside us. Our work is, and has always been, collective.
As we approach our twentieth birthday year, I was delighted to be named in Cycling UK’s Top 100 Women in Cycling 2025 list within the Industry Mogul category. The timing of this recognition arrives in a year where a debate on inclusion has taken centre stage in our sector. To be recognised on a list at the very moment when questions of who we include are being debated so openly in our sector feels significant, and it makes this the moment to speak from the values we hold at Bikeworks and from my role in this sector.
It raises a much larger question about what, and who, is being recognised in our sector right now.
Why This Matters to Me
Part of my perspective comes from the people in my life. I have a community of loved ones who identify as women and are not biologically female, and loved ones who identify as men and are not biologically male. Being close to people whose identities are questioned or misunderstood has shaped how I think about inclusion, belonging and recognition. It has taught me that identity is lived, not theoretical.
So when Cycling UK narrows who it recognises as a woman, it affects people who matter deeply to me and to our community. It sits in tension with the values that guide us as leaders, and with the purpose that has shaped Bikeworks from the beginning: creating spaces where people are seen and respected for who they know themselves to be.
What the Awards Are Meant to Celebrate
The 100 Women in Cycling initiative exists to celebrate the breadth of women contributing to the cycling world: community champions, innovators, influencers, industry leaders and the many people whose everyday actions encourage more people to ride. At its best, it widens representation and highlights the different experiences and forms of leadership that shape our sector.
That purpose sits in direct conflict with this year’s eligibility criteria.
By limiting nominations to biological women only, a celebration designed to broaden representation now actively excludes women who belong in this space. Instead of honouring the full diversity of women in cycling, it redraws the boundaries of who is allowed to count. It is a contradiction too significant to overlook.
How Values Show Up in Decisions
Cycling UK has framed this decision as a matter of legal interpretation. But nothing about a celebratory list requires excluding women who do not fit a biological definition. This was a choice, and choices show where an organisation places its values and ultimately shape the kind of sector we become.
This reveals a wider issue: the point where organisational risk management overtakes purpose. For those making decisions, this is the moment when caution overtakes courage, policy overtakes people and being legally safe comes at the expense of being meaningfully inclusive.
At Bikeworks, our values shape our culture, and our culture shapes our decisions, not the other way around.
Why This Moment Feels Bigger Than One Decision
This decision does not sit in isolation. We are living in a time where definitions of belonging are tightening politically, socially and economically. People who should be at the centre of decisions are often absent from the rooms where those decisions are made. The gap between policy and humanity continues to widen.
This moment raises important questions.
Who gets to decide who counts?
Who was in the room and had a seat at the table?
Whose voices shaped the criteria?
Whose identities were included?
Whose were left out?
These questions matter because inclusion is not a legal position. It is a cultural one, a moral one and a leadership one.
What Twenty Years Has Taught Us
For nearly two decades, Bikeworks has worked to widen the lens. To recognise people for who they know themselves to be. To build spaces of belonging. To challenge the narrow definitions that limit participation.
We have always widened the lens, not narrowed it.
We have always built belonging, not boundaries.
We have always understood inclusion as a practice, not a box to be ticked or a risk to be managed.
As we enter our twentieth year, that commitment remains unwavering.
An Invitation to Reflect and Reconsider
This is not a post to celebrate a place on a list. It is a moment to say something important.
If our sector wants to champion women in cycling — all women — then decisions like this need to be reconsidered. We can do better than this, and moments like these are opportunities to realign with the values we say we hold.
We can widen the lens.
And I am asking Cycling UK to do exactly that.
