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!