Latest / Zone2Speak Podcast / From Basement to Bike Icon: Georgena Terry’s Women‑First Revolution

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From Basement to Bike Icon: Georgena Terry’s Women‑First Revolution · Zone2Speak Podcast

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  Now, let's get into the episode.
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  Welcome back to Zone to Speak. Today, I have a true trailblazer of cycling with us, Georgina Terry,
• 3:27
  founder of the world's first women-specific bike company and a mechanical engineer
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  who built her first handcraft frame in her basement in the 80s.
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  She revolutionized cycling with bikes, saddles, and handlebars designed specifically
• 3:43
  for women, and her designs continue to empower riders around the globe.
• 3:48
  Georgina's journey from tickering in her basement to being named one of the
• 3:53
  outside magazine's cycling innovators and founding community rides like the
• 3:59
  Wild Goose Chase has made her an icon in the world of cycling.
• 4:04
  Today, she builds custom steel bikes and continues to inspire a generation of cyclists.
• 4:10
  Let's dive in into her story.
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  Georgina, welcome to Zone to Speak. Thank you. So happy to have you here.
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  So you are a mechanical engineer with a passion for bikes. You earned degrees
• 4:22
  in drama, mechanical engineer. You have an MBA.
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  And your first frame was literally built in your basement.
• 4:31
  How did your diverse academic background and early experimentation guide you
• 4:37
  towards building women-specific bikes?
• 4:40
  Well, I think probably as far as my academic background went,
• 4:44
  it's my degree in mechanical engineering that's certainly been the most helpful. Yeah.
• 4:50
  And, you know, I guess the other two were also good. Drama was fun,
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  but I don't know that I'm an actress.
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  And MBA was good, but at the time when I got it, it was more focused on corporate, not entrepreneurial.
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  So it hasn't been all that helpful, to be honest.
• 5:16
  Got it. But maybe at least showed you, you know, where you want to be.
• 5:21
  Right, exactly. Exactly. And I think even today, you know, I mean,
• 5:26
  there's you, but there are so many other brands that are not catering for women.
• 5:30
  So what sparkled you to start doing something for women?
• 5:36
  Well, when I first started building custom frames, I built for both men and women.
• 5:41
  Okay. But I was getting more and more interest from women because I think they
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  felt they could identify with me. I'm a smaller woman.
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  More so than other builders. And I just thought, gosh, there are zillions of
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  places you could go if you're a guy and you want a custom frame.
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  You know, you've got a lot to choose from. But women don't really have anything to choose from.
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  So maybe I should just work in that market and forget about the men's market.
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  They're doing just fine. And I would be a small voice in a huge market,
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  but not so much so in a women's market. Yeah, that's right.
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  I'm not tiny, but I'm not a
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  big person and i have a short reach so it's
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  also such a challenge to find a frame that fits me and sometimes i think the
• 6:28
  frame fits me and i've been through this before where okay the frame it's my
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  size but then i have to put the shortest stem in the markets and the bike is so responsive.
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  And you know i mean it's not unsafe but maybe unsafe for me because i'm a little
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  clumsy But, yeah, I do wish there were more options for women.
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  So what were the biggest challenges you faced then technically,
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  culturally, and in the marketplace to design bikes that actually fit women bodies and needs?
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  I think technically it was pretty easy, actually, because the geometry behind
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  a smaller frame and the proper use of components enables you to do a lot of stuff.
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  And because I was just on my own working directly with customers,
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  I really didn't care what was going on in the rest of the market.
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  And I didn't need to get into the rest of the market for that matter.
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  Yeah. It was just me doing my thing.
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  And I think it was at a good time because that was all happening in the mid 80s.
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  And women were getting a lot more into, hey, what about us? We're a good market, too.
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  You know, don't ignore us. Not only with bicycles, but probably with other products as well.
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  So it was really timely in that respect And there were also lots of bike rallies
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  that you could go to around the country Take my bikes with me show them let
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  women test ride them that kind of thing And there's not quite as much of that anymore.
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  So I think it was kind of a golden time Actually for the bicycle industry as
• 8:04
  a whole I think in the 80s because there were so many Neat things going on and
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  so many great ways to Talk directly to your customers it was it was really nice
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  i think it would be much harder these days to break into that market,
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  that's true and i
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  mean i it's wonderful to have the access to so many things globally online but
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  nothing to me in my opinion beats the one-to-one the face-to-face of going into
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  a bike shop and learning about the product and finding something that really
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  works for you Exactly, exactly.
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  That's really important. Internet is great, but there's nothing like riding
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  a bicycle, talking to people about it, seeing it.
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  You really have to have that connection.
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  Affiliation, I think, with a bike, or know exactly what you want,
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  and then you don't have to worry about any of that.
• 9:00
  Just go find something with the specs you like, and you're set. It's true. That's true.
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  By 1991, you patented Women's Settles, and then by 94, I believe,
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  you introduced handlebars designed for smaller hands.
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  What was the moment you realized these innovations were game changers for women riders everywhere?
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  Well, I think certainly with the saddle, that was pretty immediate because something
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  had been in demand, I think, for a long, long time in the market and never really
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  served that industry properly or cared to look into it, whatever their reason was.
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  So that took off very, very rapidly.
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  And to this day, Terry continues to make women's saddles, and that's a huge market for them.
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  The handlebars were a little more subtle. I mean, the idea that you had this
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  kind of cutaway in the bar that would bring your hand a little bit closer was
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  cool, but it just didn't resonate, I don't think, with quite as many people.
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  But it was still kind of neat. Yeah, it is neat. And I think a lot of people
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  don't know, actually, about differences or something even exists.
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  Because I didn't know. I remember I come from triathlon.
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  I never had really problems with any saddle, so I guess lucky.
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  But then when I started doing ultra distance, I started to having issues.
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  And my friend Vitor, who owns a shop in the UAE called Ingrupeto,
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  he told me, how about you just get a women's saddle? And I'm like,
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  what? There is such a thing? What's that?
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  Like, you know, in my head, I was even thinking about those big clunky gel,
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  you know, I was like, I don't know.
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  That's not what I want, but it's not, you know, it's just like,
• 10:45
  it's fits better your pelvis bones because we have wider pelvis. Right.
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  And yeah, it was life-changing. And shorter too in the nose.
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  Exactly yeah yeah yeah
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  and and i still think a lot of brands are
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  designing nothing about women because i have now on
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  my bike first time i have shram and
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  it's the old shram and it's huge it's huge i mean i love the mechanics it's
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  amazing i mean really enjoying i've been with shimano forever and i bought this
• 11:20
  bike came with shram i'm like oh i'll try it and it's great but the levers are like yeah like hello.
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  I think even for a man that's too big but okay yeah yeah,
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  exactly exactly that's been a problem too luckily now a lot of those levers
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  have a reach adjustment in them so you can bring them a little bit closer,
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  to fit your hand better because I mean that's such a if you can't get your hands
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  around the brake levers that's not a very safe situation no no Yeah,
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  I can reach, but it's just, it was such a big change.
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  And yeah, it's something that I need to invest in making a change once I can.
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  But yeah, it's so exciting to have someone that it's like designing for women needs.
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  I just had also Luca Kuhn, and she's designing cycling gear for women.
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  And it's so neat, you know, like you don't have to do acrobatics to get into your sports bra.
• 12:22
  That's a good way to put it yeah,
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  So I think you sold your company in 2009, is that right? And now your craft custom still frames.
• 12:32
  Yeah, I sold the company to an investor in Vermont who I think really much more
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  interested in the apparel and the saddles.
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  Those are high margin items compared to bicycles.
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  So I left the company but took the rights to my name with me.
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  Okay, good. Since then, I've been building hand-built bicycles and haven't touched
• 12:54
  apparel or saddles because that's not really my thing. I like bicycles.
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  So you really enjoy the hands-on craftsmanship compared to Terry Precision.
• 13:06
  The building anymore of the bicycles.
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  I do the design and the frames and forks are actually built in Seattle by a
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  super-duper bike shop out there, one of the iconic bike shops in the United States.
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  Called R&E Cycles, and they've been around.
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  They actually started their business before I started mine. They started in
• 13:27
  the mid-'70s. Wow. And they started off building a lot of custom frames,
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  erickson and rodriguez two different people one guy was the builder one guy
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  was the salesperson and that frame shop is still there they still do custom
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  work so they build my bikes for me which is.
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  Fantastic really that's really cool yeah and are you also based in seattle or
• 13:50
  no no i'm in rochester new york okay long way from seattle yeah yeah opposites coasts totally,
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  A new sponsor, Women's Race Teams, launched the Wild Goose Chase Charity Ride since 2008.
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  You raised funds for conservation. How do cycling community and environmental
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  advocacy intersect in your vision for a better world?
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  Well, I think it's really hard to go for a bicycle ride and not be aware of
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  your environment and ecologically what's around you.
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  I mean, if you're out in the country, you're hearing birds, you're seeing fields,
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  you're seeing destruction of things like that and wondering why it's happening.
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  The two just seem to go really well. I mean, the bicycle is such an environmentally
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  friendly mode of transportation that it really should be in a world that itself
• 14:49
  is environmentally friendly.
• 14:52
  I find that whenever I'm on a bicycle ride, I've become much more aware of everything
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  around me in a way that you certainly wouldn't in a car. You might when you're walking, for sure.
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  But on a bicycle, you can see so much more in a shorter period of time.
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  So the two, to me, just always seem to go hand in hand.
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  If you don't have a place to ride because it's all been built up or destroyed
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  or whatever, then that's not good for bicycling.
• 15:18
  So we need to take care of our environment. So we have something we can enjoy as well as promote.
• 15:25
  And is there anything that you're working on as far as rides or raising money for any cause?
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  I mean, I'm still associated with the Wild Goose Chase, which is happening in September.
• 15:37
  Nice. This year, by the way, we're looking forward to another really good year down in Maryland.
• 15:42
  So that's as close as it becomes. And can you tell me a little bit more about
• 15:47
  the Wild Goose Chase? How does it work? How far it is?
• 15:50
  Yeah, the wild goose chase is held in a little town called Cambridge,
• 15:53
  Maryland, which is on Maryland's eastern shore.
• 15:57
  So we're not over on the Baltimore side or near D.C. We're literally on the
• 16:01
  other side of Chesapeake Bay.
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  And it is a small town, has a lot of history to it in terms of civil war and
• 16:10
  all that kind of stuff. It's really quite nice.
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  But the magic of it is a huge national wildlife refuge called Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.
• 16:20
  And within Blackwater, they're just fantastic riding on a wildlife drive.
• 16:25
  I think that's about five miles round trip.
• 16:29
  But all sorts of roads that go outside of Blackwater. Harriet Tubman wandered
• 16:34
  around in that area and lived in that area for years.
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  So you have all of that history there. There's a huge memorial.
• 16:42
  It's like a museum devoted to Harriet Tubman. And it's just absolutely phenomenal.
• 16:48
  So it's a great location because you don't have to worry about traffic.
• 16:52
  The roads are nice and quiet. And the idea is to come and see what this environment
• 16:58
  is like because you have an interesting situation of sea level actually starting to rise.
• 17:05
  And at the same time, land there is starting to subside. So there's a lot of
• 17:10
  loss of habitat that's going on.
• 17:12
  I think it's important for people to understand that and to spend a weekend
• 17:17
  just surrounded by all of the stuff going on.
• 17:20
  It just kind of opens your eyes up to the plight of that area, if not to the world.
• 17:30
  And hopefully gets people a little bit more involved in their environment and
• 17:34
  in thinking about it. Yeah, I agree.
• 17:38
  There's a lot of amazing people that are passionate about the subject and doing things to change.
• 17:44
  And some others obviously are concerned, but if you don't see it,
• 17:49
  sometimes it's just like a faraway problem.
• 17:52
  So that is a great initiative so that people can actually see one of the,
• 17:57
  global warming, climate change problems that is infecting everywhere.
• 18:03
  It's happening so fast down there. It's almost happening real time.
• 18:07
  I mean, we started that ride 2008.
• 18:10
  So here we are, what, 17 years later, about to introduce one.
• 18:15
  And there are roads down there that we could ride on without any problem at
• 18:19
  all in 2008 that are now permanently flooded.
• 18:22
  And you have to think, I mean, there are people living on those roads.
• 18:26
  Their homes are there. Their families have been there for generations And now
• 18:30
  they're seeing all of that Just go underwater Unbelievable,
• 18:34
  Really, really sad But it gets the message across really quickly Yeah,
• 18:39
  yeah There's this, I also, I forgot the name now There's this tiny little island I think it's,
• 18:45
  I think it's close to Australia. Forgive me, I don't have the correct information, but it's also drowning.
• 18:53
  It's subsiding, the ocean is taking over, and the entire town is getting visas
• 19:00
  to relocate to Australia because they are going to lose their entire island,
• 19:04
  not just home, the entire island is going under.
• 19:07
  Right. And just, I mean, think of how many generations might have lived there.
• 19:11
  And to lose all of that. That's, wow, it's awful.
• 19:15
  Well, that's a beautiful cause to encourage people to be aware and maybe start doing something.
• 19:22
  And like you said, obviously, we are in nature.
• 19:24
  You know, usually people that cycle wants to enjoy nature and we need to take
• 19:28
  care of this planet. I want to quote you. I hope I get this right.
• 19:33
  You once said you encourage women, and I quote now, to think for themselves,
• 19:38
  to be stubborn and to break the rules.
• 19:41
  What encouragement or wisdom you have for the next generation of women,
• 19:47
  engineers, cyclists, entrepreneurs, creatives of today?
• 19:51
  Well, I think it's to follow your intuition about things and to just shut out the naysayers.
• 20:01
  If you have an idea that really gets you excited, that you totally believe in,
• 20:08
  you know, you certainly want to put out some feelers and see if it's real.
• 20:11
  But I would say if you put out the feelers and somebody tells you that you're
• 20:14
  crazy, that you don't need to talk to that person anymore.
• 20:17
  We want to keep this very optimistic and on a positive track so that you can keep going.
• 20:23
  And I think to have faith in yourself, to not feel like you have to have this
• 20:28
  support group around you all the time.
• 20:31
  I mean, if you're on fire about something that that's crucial right there you've
• 20:37
  got 90 of the problem solved now you just have to to work on the other five
• 20:42
  percent but i yeah that's what i would say.
• 20:47
  That's that's very powerful thank you for sharing and are you still writing
• 20:53
  yeah awesome awesome i ride probably about 6 500 miles a year,
• 20:59
  That's impressive. That's like about 10,000 kilometers. That's a lot.
• 21:03
  10,000 kilometers, 6,200 miles, right? Yeah. Yep.
• 21:07
  Yeah. In winter, I do that on Zwift, which is, you probably are familiar with Zwift. Yeah. Yeah.
• 21:15
  And I mean, that is like riding on the road.
• 21:18
  I mean, as close as you're going to get in terms of the physical activity,
• 21:21
  but also because of the social side of it.
• 21:23
  We have a really neat group of people we ride with and meetups,
• 21:27
  and we can talk to each other on a discord channel and it's
• 21:30
  like yeah it's like being on a ride with
• 21:33
  your friends outside you're chitty chatting away about stuff and you
• 21:37
  know at the same time oh here comes a sprint and then everybody shuts
• 21:40
  up and goes through the sprint like crazy wow and
• 21:43
  then we all talk later if anybody's on Zwift and
• 21:45
  you want to join a really neat group of women in the winter ride with
• 21:49
  us let me know i would love to would you
• 21:52
  oh gosh we'd love to have you absolutely i have
• 21:55
  to see if the time zone works but i would love yeah let's
• 21:59
  let's chat offline in or you can tell is everyone
• 22:01
  here i'm in spain okay so you
• 22:04
  are six hours ahead of us right yeah so you
• 22:08
  can probably do it our rides start at about nine which will be three in the
• 22:12
  afternoon your time i can do that i'll keep you on the mailing list thank you
• 22:18
  so that'll be so much fun yeah i would love that It's neat that you're riding on Zwift in Spain.
• 22:26
  Yeah, well, I have, you know, I'm super busy during the week.
• 22:32
  And I used to get so much anxiety because I need to get my workout.
• 22:37
  I need to get on my bike. And then I have meetings. I can't get out.
• 22:40
  And then I was just like, you know what?
• 22:41
  During the week now, I'm just going to do Zwift.
• 22:44
  Because I can do between meetings. I can do before work. I can do after work.
• 22:47
  I don't have to stress about finding the time to go outside. Exactly
• 22:51
  And that brought a lot of peace to my life And then on the weekends I have all
• 22:55
  the time in the world I go out Yeah Even though we have good weather here Most
• 23:01
  of the year Yes And also Zwift has a very You can do a very structured workout I know,
• 23:09
  And sometimes outside you can't. Yeah, you can have a 45-minute to cure yourself,
• 23:16
  while outside you have to stop for traffic lights or people crossing.
• 23:21
  The workout might be a little bit different, depending where you're riding.
• 23:26
  That's neat. So since you're in Europe, are you following Tour de France?
• 23:31
  I haven't watched this year. I really want to, but I've been following on social
• 23:36
  media a little bit of what's happening. How about you?
• 23:41
  Yeah, I've been watching it every night. I watch a rerun. Yeah,
• 23:45
  I do the YouTube highlights.
• 23:49
  It's been good, but it's just been so chaotic, as I'm sure you're seeing.
• 23:54
  Yeah. It's just unbelievable.
• 23:56
  So are you going to watch Tour de France Femme? Absolutely. That's my favorite
• 24:00
  one. Isn't that amazing?
• 24:02
  Last year, the fight. What do you think?
• 24:06
  I don't know. I think all of them, Wolverine, Kasia, I think a lot of them have a lot of fire.
• 24:16
  And I think all of them really want it. So I think it's going to be a good fight.
• 24:21
  I think it's going to be a good fight.
• 24:23
  Definitely. It's going to be very exciting. Yeah.
• 24:27
  Yeah. I would love to see Kasia win it again. Me too. I don't know.
• 24:31
  I think it's going to be a stretch.
• 24:33
  Yeah. Yeah. It was so emotional last year. I couldn't believe.
• 24:36
  I think she won what, by four or 14 seconds?
• 24:39
  Four seconds. Four seconds. Just amazing.
• 24:43
  I was so excited for her. I mean, it's been a long time coming. It was great.
• 24:48
  Yeah. Yeah. Me too. Me too. She seems like a sweetheart.
• 24:52
  And yeah, I'm a big fan. Yeah, for sure.
• 24:57
  Well, Georgina, I want to thank you so much.
• 25:01
  Your journey from basement to industry pioneer.
• 25:04
  Show us all what stubborn vision can achieve what a journey i i think in the presence of a,
• 25:13
  legend and so happy you you gave that your time to zone to speak well thank
• 25:20
  you so much for having me i really appreciate it i thoroughly enjoyed it one
• 25:24
  more question actually where can people look up your frames if someone wants
• 25:29
  a you know custom made steel frame yeah they could go to my website,
• 25:33
  which is just georginaterry.com.
• 25:36
  Great. And I'll put that on their description.
• 25:40
  Thank you. No, thank you. And that's all for today's episode.
• 25:45
  I want to thank the listeners for tuning in.
• 25:48
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• 25:52
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