This might be a silly question, but do women missionaries bike? I was biking in my skirt today on my way to mass and wondering if the female missionaries were allowed to do the same! Could be hard, I think they were longer skirts, right? - Jackie
I researched this one by stalking my friend’s on Facebook. 
As my friend is demonstrating here, they certainly do on P-day (the day when they do laundry, write letters, play sports, explore the area they are serving in, etc). On the days when they are dressed up though… I actually don’t know, and I’m not sure how to find out the answer as this isn’t really something I can look up and verify.
So I thought I would open it up to some of my readers and ask if those who have served missions or knows a female who did. What about in countries where *everyone* bikes, does it happen there?
Missionaries get around their area in a variety of ways. Some, like the missionaries out in the middle of nowhere where my parents live, have cars. There is absolutely no other choice for them. Some have bikes. Depending on the area though, a lot get by with a combination of walking and public transportation.
This is my cousin, currently serving in Brazil. He is doing so much walking that he received special instructions regarding how to best care for his blisters!
This is what my aunt wrote on Facebook:
Sterilize a needle and thread it. Insert needle at base of blister on one side and exit it on the other, leaving the thread hanging out both sides. Trim thread. The thread will drain the blister and keep holes from healing up. This drains the blister and keeps skin intact.
As far as when to take the thread out? I have no idea, she didn’t tell us that part.
I’m hoping one of you can help us all learn a little bit more about what the LDS mission experience is like! Do sisters ever ride bikes in their skirts?
July 24th, 2011 on 8:17 am
We had sisters in our area and they wore skirts and biked on some very dangerous roads.
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July 24th, 2011 on 8:49 am
Road bikes in my mission.
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July 24th, 2011 on 9:00 am
When I was a youth, I had at least two leaders who biked in skirts on their missions, one served in Korea and I think the other served in California.
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July 24th, 2011 on 9:25 am
DH served in Chicago and he said the sisters there rode bikes in their skirts.
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July 24th, 2011 on 10:40 am
here in phoenix, arizona i have seen sisters on bikes.
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July 24th, 2011 on 10:59 am
Just another voice saying that yep, I’ve had friends who rode bikes on missions. Some of them used clothespins or safety pins to keep their skirts from getting caught in the gears. Most found it to be a pain.
Fortunately they recently changed the dress code from mid-calf length skirt to skirts that cover the knees while sitting. Hopefully that makes bikes a bit safer.
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July 24th, 2011 on 11:12 am
Oh, yeah. I was fortunate to never have to serve in a bike area, but many of the sisters in my mission rode them. They usually wore specific skirt for bike riding. It was a pain (sometimes literally).
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July 24th, 2011 on 11:24 am
omg you are never supposed to do that with your blisters. you are at an increased risk of infection if you do that.
here’s the proper care - http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/first-aid-blisters/WL00008
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July 24th, 2011 on 11:40 am
I always puncture blisters, but do it that way with thread seems very dangerous, as your body would recognize the thread as something foreign.
In my area, I’ve never seen females on mission, only pairs of young men.
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July 24th, 2011 on 12:00 pm
YAY for Brazil missions!!
I believe it is up to the mission president on the bikes and sisters. Here in the Dallas Mission the sisters are not allowed on bikes for safety reasons.
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July 24th, 2011 on 12:13 pm
I don’t know about missionaries, but when we went to Newport and Cape Cod one year I saw tons of women wearing skirts riding bikes.
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July 24th, 2011 on 12:47 pm
My husband said that they do ride bikes and that have little clips for their skirts so they hold in place and don’t fly up and expose them.
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July 24th, 2011 on 1:33 pm
Yes sisters ride bikes as you have seen in the previous comments. I never did in my areas because I always served out in the boonies! However, I know a lot of the girls wore bike shorts underneath to help and the clips. I think it would be a good thing, since it is some exercise! I never got enough exercise as a missionary!
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July 24th, 2011 on 1:48 pm
Depends on the mission! I’ve had female friends that have done both.
I have personally know or seen sisters riding bikes in CA, Arizona & Japan.
In Ethiopia there are only sisters in the capitol city of Addis. No one in Addis is on a bike it would be too dangerous.
Many missionaries sisters or elder are on foot and rely on public transportation depending on the mission.
&hearrts: Celina
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July 24th, 2011 on 3:46 pm
No info on missionaries here but I wouldn’t recommend leaving thread inside an open wound, seems like a huge risk for infection! Sterilize the needle, puncture, drain, and cover with a bandaid is my recommendation!
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July 24th, 2011 on 4:27 pm
They do indeed! Here is a picture of my sister on one:
http://paigola.blogspot.com/2011/03/paige-on-bike.html
She’s currently serving her mission in Brazil and mainly walks there; this picture is from when she was serving in Tacoma Washington while she waited for her visa to go through. If you can’t tell, they bike no matter the weather or temperature.
And to avoid blisters I always duct tape my feet before I start hiking or skating or whatever (kind of like how you’d wrap an ace bandage). Weird I know, but very effective:)
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Jenna Reply:
July 27th, 2011 at 10:44 pm
That duct tape idea is really brilliant. Totally filing that away for the future.
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July 24th, 2011 on 5:27 pm
I used to think that missionaries only rode bikes if they lived in a flatter, non mountainous area as I observed growing up in Phoenix - when we moved to a more mountainous area of AZ (Payson) I noticed they drove, so I assumed because it was in the mountains!
I found out later that it doesn’t really have to do with terrain, but with the size of the area to be covered. Those in Payson had to cover a great distance, so they drove - those in Phoenix had smaller areas (with lots of people in them) so they could get around on bikes.
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July 24th, 2011 on 6:13 pm
Thanks for answering my question! I guess if you have those sidewalk style bikes then getting on/off in a skirt would be easier. I didn’t know missionaries were allowed to go do things on their days off. I thought they had to comply to the missionary dress code the whole time too, days off or not. Neat!
When I did 2 years in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps (kinda like a Catholic ‘mission’ I guess except it wasn’t focused on evangelization, rather on social justice work) we didn’t have cars so we biked everywhere. In the winter we just took the bus. I loved it - so much more fun and better exercise than driving.
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July 24th, 2011 on 7:36 pm
Awesome! Where is your cousin serving? My brother served in Maceio, Brazil and came back with the most awful toilet-related stories. Still love to hear those…
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Jenna Reply:
July 27th, 2011 at 10:48 pm
I was able to find the answer on Facebook:
Brazil Ribeirao Preto Mission
Thanks Facebook!
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July 25th, 2011 on 2:27 am
My mom road a moped on her mission in France…back in the 60′s
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Jenna Reply:
July 27th, 2011 at 10:49 pm
Ah-mazing.
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July 25th, 2011 on 6:02 am
Im happy to say that we didn’t have bikes in my mission (Temple Square) and when I served my four months in New York, we had a car.
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