CX Hurts....

[madisongrrl]

I started racing XC this year, too, and it seems fields are smaller for women than in the past.

How big are your fields for Beg, Sport & Expert?

[velogirl]

Beg = 10-15
Sport = 10-15
Expert <10

[madisongrrl]

Beg = 10-15
Sport = 10-15
Expert <10

That sucks....

Our WORS series:
Citizen (Beg.) & Sport = 25-40 typical for each category....once in a while we might get 50-60
Expert = 10-15 with an ocassional 20

Many women fall off the wagon after they race sport. They have to upgrade, but don't want to. Then they quit. The jump from Sport to Expert is a big one.

[velogirl]

Yup! And no masters women's categories this year at all, which means the old ladies like me have to race with the 20 year old studs. Makes it all the sweeter when I stomp on em!!!

Of course, then there's Sea Otter, with lots of women and lots of categories -- almost too many categories.

[eteamer]

Interesting that cross has shrunk in NorCal. I started racing in 2003 and it seems that it's gotten bigger, but there aren't any results I can find online anymore except CCCX. Where have the fields shrunk, Allison? As? Bs? Cs? I'd guess As. Were there specific clubs that were active in bringing teams of women to the races or was it mostly individuals.

We had 53 women (finishers) at the first Pilarcitos and 52 this week. I was impressed.

I started racing XC this year, too, and it seems fields are smaller for women than in the past. One of the things I see in both sports is the huge amount of turn-over of beginner women -- many women do one race and never come back. Velo Girls is going to sponsor the beg. women at CCCX (mtb) next year in an attempt to fix this. We're going to give each beg. woman a t-shirt and also lead a course pre-ride and de-brief (beer) post-race.

Actually, I just looked again and the average was between 40 and 50 for most of the Surf City races. I think you are right about the A's. That used to be the biggest category. But this year is better than last. It seems like the turnover from B to A is not happening. Who from last year's B's are racing A's? I think just Katrina B - last year's B dominatrix (and she pretty much has to upgrade or be labelled).

[velogirl]

I think it's intimidating for the prospective As when they've got world-class athletes to compete with. But look at Bev Chaney. She just blows everyone away most races. She races expert or pro mtn bike and definitely belongs in the As. There are some other Bs who I think should be racing As as well. Heck, if I were faster I'd welcome the opportunity to get spanked by you girls. Maybe in a year or two when my fitness is completely back. If Sheila can do it, I can do it.

It's a dangerous trickledown. The Bs who should be As don't upgrade, so the Cs who should be Bs don't upgrade which just makes it tough on the truly beginner Cs. That's why I finally stopped racing Cs this year, even though I wasn't winning races last season. I'm not a beginner and the beginners truly deserve the opportunity to race against each other. And it's frustrating racing with the Cs as well (you gotta get through the crashes and there are always some super-fit genetic freaks who will win their first race).

But I guess until we've got more women there's not a lot we can do to improve it.

Or, until USAC institutes mandatory upgrades. But, as Casey would say, there's no such thing as a mandatory upgrade. And even so, it would take at least 5 wins to get that many points, which for some racers, is all they race in a season.

[eteamer]

Its good to see there is some pride though. The newbie that was dominating the b's early this season is already moved up. Of course, she's on the same team as Dave Gill and I think they might offer encouragement in the right direction...Also, same goes for Rona on Rock Lobster. She moved up too. Next!

[velogirl]

Of course, the other dis-incentive to upgrad mid-season is the HUGE prizelist that some of the promoters are offering for the series. One of my girls won her first two C races. She's a total newbie, but her times would also place her well in the Bs. She didn't totally destroy the field -- the margin to 2nd was less than a minute in each race. But why should she upgrade now when she's in a series?

[spokewench]

You california gals should be glad of the size of the fields now.

Most of the time here in Arizona, (haven't raced yet this year cause cross is hopefully just starting up again), in northern arizona races, we might have 2-3 sometimes 6, sometimes 1 or 2 women show up. So consequently, we don't have ab and c races. The women race in one category unless they want to race against the men and get scored in the A's or B's. Every once in a while a pro lady will show up and race with the boys.

I'm no where near good enough to do that, so I just race in the women's race (sometimes its just me (Cat 4/masters (45-50) road, expert mountain) a Cat 3 young girl, a pro/expert young mountain biker that show for the races so we all race together. I came in second in the state one year to a pro but there was only one other woman at the race (The Conditions Were Atrocious, Freezing with about a foot and a half to two feet of snow!

The southern az races will have maybe 10 women total.

This year, there are going to be 2 cross races up here up north and the ladies (desert foxes) who put on the cyclocross down south in Tucson and Phoenix are having trouble with parks & rec so their race series in doubtful.

Be glad that you have good racing and you have field sizes like you do. Sure wish we did.

[velogirl]

We're thankful, but it's also taken a lot of work (and funding) to get where we are today. Allison's been around the scene longer than me so I bet she can share more insight.

It's a viscious cycle. You don't have a separate race because you don't have enough women. And you can't get more women unless you can have a separate race.

I've been recruiting and developing racers (road, mtn, cross) since 2002. In that time, I've gotten almost 150 new women out there racing (road) and another 30 or so (mtn and cross). It's taken a big investment of my time and also finding sponsorship to incent them.

Our clinics have been one of the best ways to get more women racing. We've also provided all the prizes for one of the series so the promoter would add a C women cateogory. Velo Bella did the same with the Surf City series (and now they're promoting it themselves). I still donate prizes to a number of races.

I think the women's road programs we have here help the cross scene too. We have a women's point series for CAT3 and CAT4 racers on the road. This recognizes the beginner women, many who then race cross as well. There are half a dozen very strong women's teams (many of them spin-offs of Velo Girls or Velo Bella) who are encouraging women to race. And there are some great co-ed teams that have strong women's teams too!

You also need a cheerleader, someone willing to encourage women to get out there and try it, someone willing to bug the promoters, someone willing to keep talking about it to anyone who will listen, someone willing to stand up to the guys when they want to cut our categories or tell us how to run women's racing.

Luck is one thing. But it's a lot of dedication and hard work too! I guess we're lucky that we've got women like me, Sabine Dukes, Sarah Lightfoot, Cathy Wong, Phyllis Orlich, Brooke Kuhn, and others who are focused on getting more women on their bikes and racing!

[spokewench]

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

[velogirl]

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!

[velogirl]

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?

[spokewench]

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.

[eteamer]

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...