The Post That Almost Included Data

There's been a bit of a hooplah on the local racing listserve about a women's field that was pulled from one of the best stage races in the region.  The hooplah was not necessarily undeserved - it's a crap move to pull the women's field.  But, what's done is done, and this post isn't about jumping on the bandwagon of bashing that promoter.  Rather, the response to that choice has generated both some nice "fire under our bottoms" from some of the top women's teams and lady-friendly promoters - who are now thinking of ways to improve things for us gals - and some really unfortunate (but not unexpected) opinions and criticisms of and about women's racing.  Here are a few of the things that have been mentioned in the past few days with translations when necessary.

"Why can't you just race with the men?  That's allowed, you know." 

 

Translation: Just because we offer a Men's 3/4, 1/2/3, 3, 4, 5, 4/5, 35+, 45+, 55+, and 65+, you want us to offer a WOMEN'S race?  Pshaw - you can just hop in with the men.  That's totally fair.

Response:  I have no problem racing with the men's fields.  I've done it before, I will do it again.  But, to tell me that's the only option that I have when a Cat 3 man over the age of 35 has sometimes up to three or even four OPTIONS for racing in a single day's event is really pretty pathetic.  Come on... I'm not asking for equal payouts or anything, just the chance to COMPETE on my bike against my fellow ladies.

Oh, and by the way, this isn't entitlement to ask for our own race.  I've heard the responses of "racing is a privilege, not a right" from the very same guys that have multiple options for racing every day or every weekend.  That's a crap response, and you all know it.

"Well, let's face it... women's races are pretty boring to watch.  Unless it's an NRC race."

Translation: All you ladies do is ride around in circles admiring your manicures and sharing muffin recipes.

Response: First to the 2nd part of the statement.  Yep, Women's Pro racing is amazingly awesome.  Point of fact... the first 5+ minutes of this.

But, here's the thing...we admire these women and want to emulate them.  In fact, some of the younger ladies that I race with right now will BE those women in a few years time.  In order to become those women, these young ladies need chances to race, and support from the people involved in this sport.  Saying that our races are boring, that we don't "actually" race, or any other iteration of this statement is not supportive of cycling and, quite frankly, is highly offensive.

Yep, sometimes we noodle around... waiting for something to happen.  I, like many women, HATE those types of races.  But, most of the time, we attack, we counter-attack, we chase, we run tactics, we sprint, etc.  We race hard and we want to compete.  Sorry if you think that's less exciting than a Men's Cat 5 (or 4 or 3 or 35+ or 65+, etc.) race.  But, we don't.

While the races this past weekend might not have looked exciting for the 3.5 seconds we were directly in front of the spectators/officials/finish line, the moves that were repeatedly made throughout both races made me want to spit out my lungs.  I'm just sayin'.

We ladies are out there to crush souls on our bikes.  We're not out there to look pretty, or to trade recipes, or to pay $35 for a Sunday group ride.

If you've never clipped in for a Women's race, might I suggest that you keep your armchair quarterbacking to yourself.  Or, put your money where your mouth is... I'm sure that I speak for the other ladies when I say you're welcome to hop in the peloton (regardless of your gender) and give it a go.  We'd love to hear your favorite muffin recipe.