Racing with the men

[gsteel]

Although the topic comes up every year, I've been hearing a lot of opinions lately on women racing the "men's" races (I'm putting "men's" in quotes because they are technically open to all genders). Interestingly, these opinions have not come from women, and they generally haven't been supportive. The most frequent thing that I hear is that if women don't race the women's races, promoters will stop offering women's fields. While this is certainly a valid argument, no one seems to be soliciting women's opinions on the topic. I do not think any us want the women's fields to go away, and I know that our local promoters have done a great job of listening to us and responding with ways to make this male-dominated sport better for us. So in the interest of letting promoters know what influences our choice to race with the men *and* supporting the future of women's fields, I would like to welcome women to share their opinions!

For those women who race with the men: what factors influence your decision to race with the men? Examples may include larger fields, more challenging, ability to double up on races, exposure to new race dynamics, race start time, etc. Do you ever feel pressured to do the women's races, even when a "men's" field would better meet your goals?

If you are a woman who only races in the women's fields: How do you feel about women "opting out" of the women's races? Do you feel let down by their lack of participation in your field, or have concerns that the future of a women's field is threatened? Or, if some of the fastest women opt out, does it make the women's race more fun for cat 4s & newly upgraded 3s?

[tbjames]

Gwen you read my mind! I think this is a hot topic and one that should be openly discussed.

Personally I’m very pro women racing and want our promoters to continue offering a separate field for our races. However I completely see where they are coming from when women decide not to race lady’s and go with a men’s race instead. It makes for a less exciting race for the women that do toe the line. Obviously if we (ladies) all decide to race with a different field there will be no women. This will lead to fewer women joining the sport because it’s intimidating.

I feel like there was a big push last fall to get more women involved and to come out. Maybe it was more specifically to the track. I thought this was a great idea and even last night two of my new teammates were able to try racing the track on these sponsored dollars to see if they like it. Sounds like it was a very positive experience. These ideas are great, but if we continue to leave our field for others it’s going to change that encouragement. I’m more than happy to see the women out there racing with the men. I plan to do it too. But I’m going to be doubling up. I still want to promote our sport as a female. There is a huge difference in the way a race feels from 6 to 9 women or 9 to 15 women. This spring there was a fair amount that showed up to Opus and it was fun. I just really want us to stick together and build it up. I think we had a lot of women upgrade from 4s to 3s last year and if we all showed up to a race, it would be a good size group. Sometimes even adding one more to the field can change the outcome or tactics involved.

I know there are some big races coming up and some women may be training for that. I just hope after they are over that the women will want to come back to racing in our woman’s field. Or again do both (build your endurance?!?!). This season it doesn’t seem like any one women is cleaning house, so we still have a lot of challenge in our field. It’s hard for me to continue sticking to my guns on always racing the women if all my ladies are leaving.

I’d love more women in every race! Even if it means I get last. I’d rather get last with a strong group of women, than first out of five.

tj

[mkelly]

+1 to everything Terra said.

I don't think this is a big issue for 3s and 4s on the road... perhaps for the 1s and 2s? I'll let them speak to that...

The track is a trickier thing because there are so few of us (roadies! come try racing us, we'll cover your first night! bring your friends!). Further, the disparity between an experienced track lady and a new track lady is way bigger and less overcome-able feeling than the disparity between a new track lady and a new track dude. That's probably just my opinion... anyway, I plan on racing both.

Regardless of what I'm doing, I don't think any woman should have to take flack from anybody for choosing the race or races that are right for her. No one individual needs to be responsible for maintaining the sizes of our women's field (if every dude showed up to every race, we'd have to turn some away, right? so why should we expect the same of women?). But if every lady started bringing a friend to the races she does attend, we could grow the field and take some of the pressure off.

Terra, your teammates were awesome last night! Thanks for getting them up there!

[LHamilton]

First off--I thank Megan for this sentiment: "I don't think any woman should have to take flack from anybody for choosing the...races that are right for her. No one individual needs to be responsible for maintaining the sizes of our women's field."

I have spent many hours over the past six+ months 'promoting' women's cycling (albeit focused on the track)--raising money to support women's cycling--encouraging teammates/competitors/friends to race--speaking at MWCMR clinic--e-mailing women about the track, collaborating in teaching the women's track class.... And still, I'm not sure how to increase our field sizes.

It strikes me most at the track--the lacking size of the women's field. It happened also over the holiday weekend for the Memorial Classic race--Field sizes of 3, 5, 6 for the women's 1/2/3 field. While I feel an obligation to support women's racing--at some point I made the decision that I could not support the collective 100% if it wasn't going to also benefit my own personal goals.

In racing the men's field both on the track and at the Memorial Classic, I am constantly learning lessons about tactics & positioning--I am consistently challenging myself to push harder and longer and faster that I ever thought possible. I am challenged--and that is what makes racing my bike not only fun--but exhilarating!

I try to double up at the track as much as possible--racing both women's and men's events--and that's fine for race nights where I'm 'training' through my races. But on weeks when I want to be 'on'--I choose to focus my energies on the races that will challenge me the most--and if that means racing the men's field, that's what I plan to do.

I'll admit, I was thrilled to see the race flyer for the State Fair crits with a link to a table indicating what races a women could alternatively race if she can't make the 5:15 start time for the State Fair races.

It's a hard decision to make. Racing men's fields vs. women's fields.

I support women's cycling. Some days I will support it by racing with the women. And some days, I will support it in other ways.

[gsteel]

Thanks for the responses!

For me, the pressure to "support women's racing"--no matter how that may manifest itself--is always there. I suspect the same would be said by nearly any woman who has been racing for longer than a year or two, as we know there's a fragile balance between supporting the sport for the greater good and being able to participate in a way that is beneficial to our individual goals & wellbeing. The volunteerism, administrative work, mentoring, and general "giving back" that goes into supporting women's racing can easily drain the time & energy we have to spend on our own training and racing. If our sense of obligation to "support the women's field" contributes to burnout, we're hardly supporting women's racing anymore! All this to say, the choice to race with the men is not made without much deliberation. This makes it particularly grating to hear from men that we should be "supporting women's racing" by racing in the women's field.

The two main reasons I have chosen to race with a men's field in the past are to experience dynamics that only happen in a larger group and to challenge myself with a faster pace. Exposure to these factors is critical in preparing for larger or out-of-town events, but it's also great to take newfound skills & fitness back to our local women's fields.

The race dynamics become predictable when you have the same small group of women with disparate ability levels who regularly race together. As an experienced rider, this can take the excitement out of racing. As a new rider, I appreciated those occasions (in the absence of a cat 4 women's field) when experienced racers chose to race with the men so that new racers could feel like a factor in the race.

[nwollan]

Being a male in this sport with a fiancée that just started cycling I am very eager to see more women cyclists racing. I understand cycling is a male-dominated sport but there are a lot of women cyclists that haven’t been introduced to racing. Two reason my fiancée has not entered any races this year is because she feels she can't keep up with other women cyclists and she can’t justify paying the entry fees of $30ish + usa license for a quick race only to find she will be riding alone in the Cat 4. I know I am not the only male that has introduced their significant other into cycling and would like to see them race.

I am sure this has been discussed but I would like to see an "FREE" alternative race (not a group ride but a race) for women cyclists (Open). Held at another race with a lot of people (state fair crit or something). Have terms that say you must use a “road bike - NO mountain bikes". Put flyers in local bike shops and inform all teams of this event. I think you would be surprised how many women would give it a try and most likely continue with the other races. I know my fiancee would try since I will already be going. If the women enjoy their first race they will do more and eventually upgrade to Cat 3, 2, and 1. If you give somebody a reason to try something they will and FREE is a good reason. Maybe this can't be done but I think it would help introduce new women to competitive cycling.

[gsteel]

I do not disagree that "citizen" races for beginning women could be a great point of entry into the sport, but there could be some issues with running this in tandem with a USAC-sanctioned event. But I want to keep this thread on topic, so I encourage you to open a new thread.

What I'm interested in is why cat 1/2/3s women opt out of women's races, particularly on the road, so we can avoid the unintended consequence of losing the women's cat 4 races altogether. The logic is that if there aren't enough women to justify a 1/2/3s field, the promoter will have just one women's race--and the cat 4 race will (in theory) be the one that gets cut.