/Warning - long rant ahead...

Ok. Can you let me know if I'm being silly here? I've ridden with this club affiliated with a LBS the past 2 years. It's all men for the most part, which is fine I guess. But I'm getting a little bit peeved lately. Most of them are older, former racers, that still have that cocky mentality. The others are nice guys that acknowledge the attitude of the others. But will jump and hammer when the others go because they're still competitive. I'm the only woman who has consistently ridden with the club. Other women show up and try to ride with them, but they just get dropped. Then they don't come back. This also happens with men who show up who aren't THAT into cycling.

We had a meeting in the off season and I recommended an A and B group to help retain riders. And for everyone to be a bit more aware of when other riders are struggling. Maybe they need a few minutes to recover but could hold on if the group would just wait a minute. This has worked ok for the Saturday rides, though the B group is much smaller. Sometimes it's just me and another guy, who is really nice. The problem I'm having is I'm too fast for B pace and cannot maintain A pace for as far as they go without them easing up for a bit, which they won't do. Because B is so small, it cannot be broken up if some riders are faster but not good enough for A.

We have week day evening rides which I'd missed for the past month or so, until this past Tuesday. The pace was really high, anywhere from 20 to 26 mph. Normally we take it somewhat easy and sprint the last strech of the loop we do. It's considered a free for all there, where you hammer til you can't any more. Then we all meet at the stoplight and repeat the loop. We do this 3 times. A new woman showed up, and I was really excited. She was dropped even before we reached the first turn in the loop. I never saw her again, so I assume she went home. Another woman stopped after 2 loops. We also dropped at least 2 guys. I barely hung on with another guy on the 3rd loop, and didn't even sprint the final leg. At least a couple guys waited for me at the light to head back as a group.

I put a post on our bikejournal page about the pace and dropping people. The retort I got from one guy was that if we slow down we're going to lose the "stronger riders" to the other club in the area and suggested A&B for the weekday rides also. I agreed with him, but I'm annoyed. Instead of trying to help other people get better, they just keep going. I also don't enjoy riding the entire time at my peak threshold. They certainly have made me a stronger rider, but the 'tude is getting to me. Maybe I'm blowing it out of proportion, but I'm annoyed and am wanting to join another club. Ironically, it's the other club that the guy was talking about. They have a woman's racing team and a much more diverse set of riders.

So should I jump ship for the other club? I've already been exchanging emails with the woman who heads up the woman's racing team. I rode with them once last year, and they're certainly fast. But when I got dropped a few people held back and stayed with me.

Have any of you experienced this with male dominated clubs?

/rant over