Feeling Rooted: An all-female and non-binary mountain biking festival in Western New York

Words by Erin Hassett

Between Lake Erie and Chautauqua Lake in Western New York lies a bicycle shop, Loud Performance. While the facade appears to be a regular bike store, with images of cyclists on all terrains and in all seasons blanketing the storefront, once a year, the shop’s property becomes flooded with women and non-binary folks. These riders are of all ages, skill levels, and body types, equipped with suspension mountain bikes and ready for an extended weekend of two-wheeled festivities.

The Rooted Mountain Bike Festival had its small, inaugural kick-off in 2020 when the festival creator, Heather Kinal, realized that there were no local opportunities for women and non-binary riders to join forces, learn mountain biking skills, and ride together. Now, four years later, the festival welcomes 150 participants from across the United States and Canada.

Two riders high-five at the first day of the Rooted MTB Festival, 2024.

Having never attended an all-women mountain bike event before, I traveled four hours across New York State to directly learn more about Heather and her festival. On Saturday morning, July 13^th, skills clinics were already bustling with activity by 8 AM, and riders were lined up, taking turns riding downhill and jumping over a raised platform. With this as our backdrop, Heather and I found a shaded spot to chat more about the festival.

“The inspiration [for the festival] came from my friends and I simply throwing sticks on the ground and practicing wheel lifts over them,” Heather explained to me. “We didn’t know what we were doing. We would watch videos, try to learn, and then teach each other what we were learning.”

When Heather searched for mountain biking opportunities for women, the only events she could find were over a 20-hour drive away. This was the inspiration she needed to begin her event, which she aptly named Rooted, a nod to the sensation of feeling rooted in the environment and to the physical root-covered terrain of the mountain biking trails. Heather wanted women and non-binary folks to both feel grounded in the land that they were recreating on and experience a sense of “coming home” when attending the festival.

A group of riders hold hands during the opening ceremony of the Rooted MTB Festival, 2024. Photo by Valerie Sorrells.

“We care to make sure that beginners feel really welcome,” Heather continued. “We started with very basic fundamental kinds of clinics, and, as we've grown and as people are progressing, we've been able to add advanced clinics. I really want people to come here and be able to experience something that challenges them a little bit.”

The overwhelmingly positive response to this festival—both in its attendance reaching max capacity every year and its encouraging reviews afterward—speaks to how important this space is for women and non-binary people in the mountain biking community.

Blazing a trail for women in mountain biking

Since the dawn of the bicycle, women have had to fight societal norms for a place on top of the saddle. In her book Revolutions: How Women Changed the World on Two Wheels, Hannah Ross describes how women had to battle claims that they were less fit than men for biking, that biking would lead to “bicycle face” (a syndrome that turned women’s faces more masculine), and the preposterous assertions from doctors of the time that women were both scandalously seeking pleasure by sitting astride a bike seat and that biking would make women infertile. Though women are socially allowed to ride bicycles today in much of the world, it remains challenging to see equal numbers of men and women in the sport, particularly in mountain biking.

According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, the gender disparity today largely begins in childhood: by the age of 14, girls drop out of sports twice as often as boys. This high dropout rate is due to physically having less opportunities to play sports compared to boys, being discriminated against and bullied, having fewer positive role models in sports, and having a decreased quality of girls’ sports programs as focus switches to supporting boys’ programs. Supported by a 2018 survey study, more men indicated that they rode bikes as a child than women. Since younger individuals in this study were also more likely to engage in riskier activities, this would allow boys a head start in navigating advanced, technical downhill terrain. With fewer females biking in childhood (including learning bike mechanics), this means not only fewer mountain biking women later in life but also more unconfident women riders. As a result, mountain biking environments may be intimidating for women to improve their skills in a patient and empathetic setting, particularly when outnumbered by men who are more likely to perceive themselves as advanced riders.

As such, female-only groups and workshops are essential to help riders overcome these barriers.

“It’s very much a male-dominated culture all around mountain biking. I feel there has a been a lot of progress, but we need more [events] like [Rooted],” Heather confirmed.

Cait Arnett, also known as the “Suspension Queen,” taught workshops at the festival and explained why she travels across the country for Rooted every year.

“Rooted is special because of the people,” she said to me. “I feel very welcomed in this space, and as somebody who's worked professionally as a mechanic, sometimes that isn't always the case. I've had guys take tools out of my hands. So, to be with other women mechanics who are incredibly supportive and that you can collaborate with is so rad. I don't know any other space that exists like this.”

Catherine Neff [left in pink] and Amy Brown [right in blue] teach attendees about MTB techniques during skills clinics at the 2024 Rooted MTB Festival.

Another bike mechanic at Rooted, Belle Amie Seymour, teaches Bikes 101 and Fix-a-Flat clinics. She wanted to lend her knowledge and expertise to other riders at the festival to empower them to feel comfortable working on their own bike repairs.

“I hope people take my hand so that I can walk them through bikes and make it less scary for them to learn how to do it themselves,” Belle Amie explained to me. “I know that there's a bit of a step for female riders–– to get their own hands on their own bikes, so bridging that gap [requires] just breaking down fear. Fear of making something wrong and making it worse and then not having their bike. Anyone can do it, and all it takes is maybe an hour of getting to know your bike to bridge that fear.”

Like Heather having the inspiration to create Rooted, other trail-blazing women have filled outdoor recreation inclusivity gaps. For starters, Ashley Rankin founded the company SHREDLY in 2012 which helped “empower women to adventure in style” after realizing that there was a deficit in adequate biking clothing for women of varied body types––it’s no surprise that many of the Rooted attendees were sporting the colorful and diversely-sized SHREDLY apparel. Andrea DiMaio, panelist speaker at Rooted, founded Ample Movement to encourage people of all body sizes to engage in activity and love their bodies through group hikes and yoga classes. Alongside Andrea as a Rooted panelist, Julie Cornelius is the executive director of World Ride MTB, a non-profit organization that has programs across six countries which teach, support, and empower women to mountain bike. Together, all these women are prime examples of how fostering inclusivity in outdoor recreation can make a difference in the world. 

Not only does Heather and her team at Rooted bring together riders of all ages, skill levels, and body types, but they even provide scholarships to help financially assist select women from disadvantaged backgrounds, allowing them to attend the festival for free when they otherwise would not be able to.

First time Rooted attendee, Lindsey Hosking, was one of the recipients of the 2024 Rooted scholarships, and she told me that being able to participate in the festival was a life changing experience for her.

“Receiving the scholarship gave me an opportunity to attend the festival without financial strain,” Lindsey explained to me. “I’m a single mom to two boys, and all three of us are neurodivergent, so prioritizing my time and finances is a crucial part in being able to meet their needs. I didn’t have to feel worried about the cost of attending the festival, which gave me the freedom to make myself a priority and enjoy myself, guilt free!”

What to Expect at the Rooted MTB Festival

At the festival opening on Friday morning, Heather welcomed the large crowd of excited riders, each clutching their mountain bike handlebars in anticipation of the first group ride. Repeat attendees were mixed with first timers as everyone cycled through the woods via an interconnected mountain bike trail system. Periodically, groups would bump into each other and exchange riders, encouraging attendees to mingle with new people and form new connections.

After the opening ride, the festival broke out into multiple workshops stationed at different locations across the grounds. Riders could plan their weekend of activities according to which skills and lessons they wanted to learn, including techniques like MTB basics, cornering, wheel lifts, and jumping.

However, the festival is not exclusively for those looking to ride bikes on technical terrain––some attendees even chose not to ride a bike at all. Outside of riding, there were plenty of activities to do, including open discussions on Community Building, Menopause & Hormones, Intro to Riding Bike Parks, and Forest Bathing Practices & Principles. Other non-biking activities included bike-themed crafting projects, self-defense classes, yoga, stargazing, campfires, and the greatly anticipated Rooted Fashion Show. Throughout the festival, bike mechanics were also available to teach repairs and lead workshops on bike suspension, tubeless tires, and fixing flats.

Heather Kinal and Sheena Dipple [left] and Heather [right] show off new SHREDLY clothing at the 2024 Rooted Fashion Show. Right photo by Valerie Sorrells.

By far, the most popular event of the festival was the Saturday evening costume ride. This year, the theme was Out of This World. Donned in lights, alien-themed costumes, and space-inspired outfits, participants grouped together and cycled through the woods to the local state park to watch the sunset over the lake. Costumed riders crowded together with their friends, old and new, to take photos by the shorefront as the day drew to an end. To cap off the evening of joyous and celebratory festivities, attendees cycled back to the festival grounds and joined together to sing and dance by campfire.

Rooted 2024 festival organizers posing for a picture at the end of the themed group ride. Back row left to right: Dawn Page, Kim Dulski, Jessica Devine, Christina Gavin. Front row left to right: Ally Livelsberger, Heather Kinal, Aja Gibson.

Making an Impact

The Rooted MTB Festival has accomplished a lot in the short time it has been in operation, and it shows how important it is to create more diversity and inclusion opportunities for those who have been underserved in outdoor recreation spaces.

This festival not only positively impacts women and non-binary riders by giving them community, friendship, and mountain biking skills, but it also has rippling effects into the lives of those around them as well. Paul Marko, the husband of one of the attendees, shared to the Rooted Facebook page: “[Rooted] has impacted my life for the better as well…it has helped my wife become a more impassioned, skilled, and confident rider, which only leads to happier…mountain bike adventures.”

Aja Gibson has been at Rooted for two years now. She was both a panelist on Community Building, and she acted as MC for the Fashion Show. For Aja, it was difficult for her to choose a favorite part of the festival. “There are moments throughout that really have meaning. During downtime when a bunch of ladies are sitting at the table, we just talk about life. Bikes bring us together, but we end up going off into different conversations about everyday life and our experiences that bond us even more. Going out on group rides with women from different states, different cities, different experience levels. You get to be silly, you get to be fun, and you get to see women step out into their own and just be who they are. I feel like all those little elements make the whole thing really enjoyable.”

For Lindsey, the recipient of the scholarship, Rooted gave her the freedom and opportunity to discover more about who she is outside of motherhood. “Since I started riding,” Lindsey explained, “I’ve grown strength, confidence, and resilience within myself, while also finding a community and sense of belonging that I’ve always searched for. Rooted gives women a chance to embody the joy that lives within us all and put it unapologetically on display, on and off our bikes. It’s an opportunity to relate, encourage, and learn alongside other women through a shared experience, which I believe is something that we all need but is harder to prioritize as we grow older. I think the growing success of Rooted MTB Festival is not only proof of that, but it serves as a catalyst for more empowerment in the mountain biking community!”

[Left] Aja Gibson (left) and Heather Kinal (right) pose for the 2024 themed costume ride; Photo by Valerie Sorrells.[Right] A group of women dress up for the Out of This World themed costume ride at the 2024 Rooted MTB Festival.

SHREDLY’s Ashley Rankin spoke to me in an interview about the importance of the Rooted MTB Festival and other women-only themed events. “There’s a difference in the atmosphere, vibe, and space when there are no men,” she explained to me. “It's immediately more relaxed. I don't think you can even do a good job explaining the magic of what happens when there's this space that is intentionally created for a certain group of people. It’s so cool that Heather had the vision for Rooted…bringing new people into the fold in a way that is not intimidating. Just seeing the connections that are made there––it wouldn't be the same if it were couples or mixed men and women going.”

Meanwhile, Heather has dreams for more: “I just want there to be more [opportunities like] Rooted, so people don’t have to travel so far,” she concluded towards the end of our conversation together. “What I would like to start doing is [something like Rooted] for girls but as a one-day or one night event. I would love to also get a couple bike libraries, so that we can take people from the city and bring them out. Being in nature is empowering, and being on a bike teaches you that you can do things that you didn't know you could. I just want to get more people on bikes!”

As another year of the Rooted MTB Festival came to an end, many attendees were and are already looking forward to participating again in 2025. If you want to participate in Rooted, be sure to keep an eye out for when registration opens!

Erin Hassett is a Ph.D. student at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) in Syracuse, NY where she researches greenhouse gas cycling in wetlands. She is an editor for ESF Unearthed, the campus literary magazine, and she maintains a blog on environmental topics and outdoor recreation, called This Footprint. When not writing, you can find her on two wheels or a mountaintop. Contact. Instagram. X.