Every year for the past three years, groups of women large and small have gotten together to do something slightly different on May 10 (U.S. Mother’s Day): ride their bikes for an event called CycloFemme.

Whether its mountain biking or recreation riding, taking to the city streets for a leisurely transportation ride or hitting the road for some training and some hills, the women who ride know that they ride together on this day.

CycloFemmeTattoos

That’s because Sarai Snyder, the originator of the CycloFemme concept in 2012, from the start wanted to empower women and girls to do the type of cycling that suited them best. Here’s Sarai’s description of CycloFemme:

“Our annual Mother’s Day ride unites riders, regardless of gender, age, ethnicity or bicycle preference to share in the joy of cycling. Year round, our global community inspires and empowers other women, by making their passion public and the joy in cycling contagious. In our first year, 163 rides were registered in 14 countries with many others joining in to celebrate in their own special way. By our third, we grew to 303 rides in 25 countries, including participation from Bicycle Share programs in three metropolitan areas to reduce the barrier of owning a bike. Ride with us as we Honor the Past, Celebrate the Present, Empower the Future of Women in Cycling.”

Marne Duke rides CycloFemme 2014.

Marne Duke rides CycloFemme 2014 in her Dutch Orange Nutcase.

CycloFemme is a volunteer-driven effort to spread around the bicycle joy. This year for the CycloFemme 2015 ride, thus far, there are 262 rides registered in 19 countries, from Anchorage to Australia to Argentina and from Chennai, India, to Christchurch, New Zealand. This year the cities of Boulder, Colorado and Portland, Oregon are tied with eight registered rides each for CycloFemme.

When Sunday is here, thousands of riders will slap on the CycloFemme temporary tattoo and get out on their bikes.

Want to do your own CycloFemme ride? Register here. It’s not too late to ride together.

(Bell featured above is the Air America. See more here.)