I have to vent. I don't like to rock the boat or complain, but this just shocked me.

I did a road race yesterday. I race cat 4 women group. I was in shock when the official prior to our race referred to us as 'girls.' I mean, this is not really offensive to me, but then, said official proceeded to give us 'girls' a 5 minute lecture about how it was a bike race. I was confused about the official's demeanor, etc. It seemed a bit umm, unprofessional if you ask me. He went on to say that it was not time to ride slow, sit in, etc. I know about not mixing fields and I never do that or pass when it is against the rule (we have the double line rule here). So, I know this official was just doing his job and telling us what to do rule-wise, but it felt like his delivery was a bit rude to us. I noticed none of the other fields had a five minute lecture about being too "slow".

Geesh!

Ugh!

Help!