Do you race?

Hi ladies,

It seems the women's racing scene is a bit fractured, particularly at the grassroots level. I'm trying to find ways to address this problem in my area. I'm hoping you might be willing to help me understand some of the issues?

Do you race? If so, how often/how do you find the community/what would make you race more often/who do you generally train with?

If you don't race, why not? Is there anything in terms of clinics, group rides, other touch points that would make you consider racing? Is there a divide between people who race/people who don't - do you do mixed group rides?

I'm definitely missing a lot of factors, but I'd love to engage in a discussion about all this stuff!

I don't know how helpful this will be for you, but here's my point of view...

I don't race, never have, because I'm just not interested in it.

I've always been pretty average speed on the bike, which is part of the reason I've never been interested in racing. I wouldn't do well, and I'm not interested in doing the kind of work that would be needed to be faster. But also, competition would make cycling more stressful for me, rather than a way of dealing with stress from other parts of life.

I belong to two cycling clubs and do various centuries as well as club rides. I keep track of my speed on rides and like to see improvements. In some ways I do have a competitive personality, but not when it comes to cycling.

This year I decided to try racing, so here's my perspective as a newbie who won't get serious about it.

I have done a couple of road races, a couple of time trials and one crit. I find crits intimidating. The cornering is tricky, and yet, I think I would do a few more were it not for the fact that they are usually very early (cat 4 or cat 5 women) in the morning, 1 hour or more away from my place. I just don't think it is worthwhile to get up at 5AM on a weekend, drive 2 hours and ride 25-30 min. Another turn off is the amount of junk bike racing requires! Load the bikes and normal gear, then to some races, an extra set of wheels (for the support car in case of a flat), a trainer to warm up, etc

I'd like to see more clinics where cornering skills are taught, some bike handling (e.g. riding and cornering in tight quarters, touching/pushing other riders), perhaps also starts in TTs and even sprinting drills.