CX Hurts....

I'm constantly trying to get women into cycling and racing here in northern rural arizona. It seems to be a lot harder when you have a smaller pool of women to draw from. I lead women's rides, offer to give clinics, etc. and there are a couple of other ladies (pro mtn bikers) that lead rides as well.

More than half the time, we only get a couple of people to show for those rides so it gets kind of frustrating. You feel like you are wasting your time! I keep trying tho. I usually try to target the new women riders and I've been pretty successful with getting ladies to ride road bikes, but not too successful in getting ladies to start racing.

There is mostly a big age discrepancy between me (46) and most of the ladies that seem to be, or might be interested in racing in this town. This is a college town and most of the ladies that have some interest in racing are much younger. Sometimes I think since I'm not the greatest climber in the world and they can beat me up hill that I don't have anything to offer them. But, they say they are interested in learning, but they never seem to come out when the opportunity is there for them???

A couple of years ago, I talked the guys who were running one of our clubs into doing a great women's team - same deals that the Cat 3 men were getting from the club PLUS, but I could only get a few older ladies (my age and older) to commit to it and then that fell thru cause the guys who agreed to do that women's team dropped out of the running of the club and I and a couple other people started running the club, putting on a stage race, and 3 other races, etc. so my time to train was nothing and I really never got fit enough that year. I think if I had been able to I could have gotten the 4 other older ladies to get motivated but without me there, they just didn't come thru. The club has a ladies team now, but it is all based out of Tucson down south (we are a regional club, mostly Tucson people and Flag people). Still no one from Flag that wants to commit to the expense and training it takes to race like that!

I really have decided not to road race anymore - just don't have any interest in it anymore so it is even harder to encourage ladies to race when they don't see you out there doing it anymore. Oh, well, I keep trying:)

Not actually racing yourself shouldn't stop you from developing women racers (if that's what you want to do). I actually find that the times I'm not racing myself I can dedicate more time to the club & team and other projects than when I'm racing myself.

But, I understand your hesitancies. When I became a coach in 2001, I had never raced myself. All the local coaches told me I would fail trying to start a race team. I proved them wrong, obviously. My secret was that I didn't try to market our team to experienced racers. Instead, I recruited women who may not have considered racing before.

Around the same time I started the team, I also got quite sick. I lost my health and fitness over a three year period. I gained weight and lost my climbing ability. I had many days that I couldn't even get out of bed, nevermind hop on the bike. This definitely affected my self-esteem and my feeling that I could coach others. But I stuck to it and had some good support systems (some of my racers and clints who believed in me) and was able to produce some CAT1 and CAT2 women -- women who had never even thought of racing a bike before they met me.

While I've regained much of my fitness, I've also gotten older. I may never be a kick-butt racer. But I'm an enthusiastic advocate for women's racing and I've gained the respect of the local racers and promoters (men and women) because I've been able to develop and retain so many new women racers.

With women, I've learned that we need to recruit in non-traditional ways. Look at the club rider, the triathlete, the spin class devotee, the marathoner. If someone has some fitness and a lot of desire and a competitive gene in her body, you can teach her to ride/race her bike.

One of your biggest advocates will be a local bike shop -- they see women riders all the time. Get involved with the shop -- hold clinics, lead rides, get them recruiting women for you. You'll give back to the shop by bringing women into them and keeping them on the bike. And they'll be able to recommend you to every woman who walks in the door.

And don't give up! It's tough work and it's frustrating when you don't see results right away, but if you stick with it, the rewards are HUGE. I firmly believe that by contributing to success with these women in cycling, we're improving every aspect of their lives.

And, of course, I can live vicariously through the women I develop. I may never win a national championship but I developed a racer who did. I may never upgrade to CAT1, but I've developed lots of racers who have. I may never even win a local race, but I've helped other women win plenty of races. And that makes me a winner, too!

Wow, I didn't mean to shut everybody up!!! I guess this thread has reached it's useful life. It was fun.

So, who's racing this weekend?

I've been off the bike about a month (for several reasons, a hurt hand, and just disinterest) so I'm not sure I want to go get my butt kicked (even if I might be the only woman to show up) I have to ride with the Men B's.

I also have friends that want to go for a hike and breakfast which is luring me a little more since I've been off the bike so long. So, we shall see.

Marin on Saturday and Velo Bella on Sunday (hangover permitting). Marin hasn't had a cross race in eons, so hopefully lots of people will show up. Hint Hint...

I'll be there, Allison!

Do you have a costume for Sunday yet?

I'll be racing this weekend....maybe in a Halloween costume or maybe not...

http://www.wicycling.org/CycloCross/...cross20006.pdf

I'll be racing on Sunday in MA also. Going to meet up with ChainsofLove!

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend, and don't forget the race reports!

SheFly

Yep, but I am not sure how well cross and a tube top mix....

A couple of years ago at one of Dave Gill's cx races Stella, Hillary, Kathleen and I did the relay race in bikinis. It was a nice day thank god, and it felt oddly good.

You guys were hot! So gutsy. I've been thinking pink body paint or liquid latex, but I've got too many jiggles to pull that off. or a bikini for that matter.