How do I help support these young women?
This is exactly what I had always hoped
is that we'd find a way that we could normalize bikes
so that we could get girls bikes to get to schools.
( applause )
Hi, everyone. Thanks so much for coming out.
I am truly, truly honored to be here
at
So, let's be clear.
I did not go to Afghanistan
intending to ride a mountain bike.
I don't think anyone goes to an active war zone and thinks,
"if only I had brought my lycra and my single-speed."
You know, what was I thinking.
No, I started in Afghanistan, my first visit in 2008
to work with women and girls.
Afghanistan is repeatedly ranked by numerous indexes
as the worst place in the world to be a woman.
And yet, as a country where I have focused my attention
for the last seven to eight years
because I believe that women and girls are the future.
Not just in Afghanistan, but around the world.
Afghanistan is a country that begs to be explored.
It's insanely beautiful.
And I'm sure there may be one of two of you
that have been able to see the country in the 60s and 70s
when it was part of the tourist trail.
It was literally part of the hippie trail.
It had great marijuana, and people were traveling through
to experience this in the 1960s and 1970s.
It has a history with the Silk Road.
There's a lot of sports in Afghanistan now
that are open to women and girls.
Bikes are the anomaly.
Cycling is a sport that is
inherently taboo for women and girls.
This is a shot from 2008.
And this while she is in a burkha
you have women in headscarves as well
riding side saddle, riding horses side saddle.
Riding motorcycles side saddle.
Regardless of their dress they are not allowed
to straddle a bike seat, motorcycle seat, or a horse.
It is considered culturally obscene.
And no good girl would do this.
As a matter of...
I live in Colorado and point of fact
I'm a mountain biker.
It is the sport I have come to love.
It is the sport that keeps me sane and grounded.
And I started to explore when I was in Afghanistan
this concept that was presented to me on my very first visit
of being a hybrid gender.
In Afghanistan, as a foreign woman, I obviously do not blend.
I stand out and what I found was rather than a hindrance
that was actually one of my greatest assets.
Because I wanted to work with women and girls
but in Afghanistan the men are the gate keepers.
And what I found was that I was considered an honorary man.
They knew I was a woman, but yet they treated me like a man.
They conversed with me like a man.
They invited me to dinner like a man.
So, over the next four-five years
I started pushing on those gender barriers
and enjoying the interactions that I had with Afghan men.
Laughing and joking with them.
Fishing with them in the Panjshir River.
They've allowed me to ride horses.
This is a Buzkashi horse.
If a woman rides a horse,
the idea is that that Buzkashi horse will never compete again.
So, it was a huge honor to be able to ride this horse
that later competed in that game and did well.
And it was only really a matter of time
before I would decide to bring my bike to Afghanistan.
And on my third visit in 2009,
I brought over my single-speed 29er.
And experimented in the Panjshir Valley.
I'd been working there, asking people if they thought
it would be okay if I rode a bike
I mean, would that offend them, and tried to source that out.
Everyone was supportive of the idea.
And I went in an area where I knew
that it was clear of land mines,
that I knew was... relatively safe and
where the locals knew me.
And I started doing little rides
just to experiment what would happen if a girl rode a bike.
Afghanistan is one of the only countries in the world
where girls and women are not allowed to ride.
It's not illegal like it was in Saudi Arabia.
It's simply not allowed.
The men that I encounter are so flabbergasted
and so overwhelmed with curiosity
that the normal barriers that we have are just blown away.
So, security guards, Afghan National Police,
the Army, they've all ridden my bike.
I may have ridden theirs if they had one.
And what I realized was that in that sharing,
that I could maybe finagle a back door.
And in one case in point it was Darul Aman Palace.
Darul Aman Palace was the king's palace in Kabul.
It was... it became ground zero during the Civil War
before Taliban times for a lot of different base camps
for Mujahedin fighters, there's bullet holes all throughout
Islamic graffiti inside.
I wanted to visit inside and
see what the inside had looked like, desperately.
And I kept going back every visit.
I've been there 19 times now, and I, every single time
was like "I'm going to get in.
It's going to be a different day, a different guard
charm him, he's going to let me in."
And, no, never.
So, I had my bike one day
and went for a bike ride with a friend
up to, and just did hot laps around Darul Aman Palace.
We were just riding around... the roads.
And this man comes up.
Turns out... through the access of
I'm on a bike, you're on a bike, let's talk bikes.
He's the gardener.
He's been the gardener since he was nine years old.
He says that he's 88.
But in Afghanistan very few people
know what their real age is.
But he says he's 88,
that he's been the gardener since he was a young boy.
So, he's seen everything.
He's like little nugget of history
embodied in an amazing man
who immediately said, "well, why are you here?"
I said, "well, I just...
I'm fascinated by the history of this place.
I've always wanted to go inside."
And he walks over, he's like,
"go give him your bike."
And walk, and not give it to him, give it to him.
Like, let's give it for a ride.
So, I asked the security guards if he wants to ride my bike.
They come out, discover the joys of disc brakes.
And he face plants.
( audience laughter )
And I think we've ruined any chance
that I've ever had to get in this place.
And he dusts himself off, and shakes, kind of embarrassed.
But he's blood-free, thank goodness.
And all of them take, there's three security guards,
they're Afghan National Police, guarding this place.
They open the gate of barbed wire, let me in,
not just me, myself, but me, myself, and my bike.
And allow me and my bike to go inside
and ride up and down the halls and experience what was once
one the most incredibly beautiful
places in Afghanistan.
The King's Palace.
But it was one of those experiences where you realize
that again, it's access, it's a human connection.