Mildred Locke’s gear of the year 2021

Mildred Locke's GOTY
(Image credit: Mildred Locke)

Following a very quiet 2020 where I took the ‘stay safe, stay home’ mantra a little too seriously and became a quiet hermit, when 2021 rolled around I decided I would make more of my time, in spite of all the hideousness going on in the world. The first couple of months were quiet, and I eased into the year with some gentle but fun gravel rides with my partner (now my fiancé!), and once we were allowed to start venturing out with friends, that’s immediately what I did.

For me, the biggest game changer this year was joining Steezy Collective, an inclusive cycling collective made up of women, trans and non-binary cyclists from all disciplines. My first outing with them involved doing my first solo cross-country bikepacking trip, complete with almost freezing to death in a field, and spending an unforgettable weekend with the coolest bunch of people I’ve ever had the pleasure of riding with. Not only did that weekend give me some newfound confidence to head out on an overnighter by myself, but the sheer excitement of making all these amazing new friends, meant that suddenly I wanted to spend as much time with them as possible. As the summer came around, we were enthusiastically planning all the bikepacking trips we could think of, and I made every effort to attend as many as I could.

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Image

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Mildred Locke

Mildred joined as Reviews Writer for Cyclingnews and BikePerfect in December 2020. She loves all forms of cycling from long-distance audax to daily errand-running by bike, and does almost everything on two wheels, including moving house, and started out her cycling career working in a bike shop. For the past five years she's volunteered at The Bristol Bike Project as a mechanic and session coordinator, and now sits on its board of directors.

Since then she's gone on to write for a multitude of cycling publications, including Bikeradar, Cycling Plus, Singletrack, Red Bull, Cycling UK and Total Women's Cycling. She's dedicated to providing more coverage of women's specific cycling tech, elevating under-represented voices in the sport, and making cycling more accessible overall. 

Height: 156cm (5'2")

Weight: 75kg

Rides: Stayer Groadinger UG, Triban RC520 Women's Disc, Genesis Flyer, Marin Larkspur, Cotic BFe 26, Clandestine custom bike