Gender and pro cycling

[spazzdog]

Bounce, though I understand your wondering at the "fairness" of it and at the concept of "level playing fields", I'd ask you to consider this:

Michelle, the cyclist under discussion, is a big woman... 5'10" or 5'11", 180 lbs and extremely athletic. She is lesser is stature, due to the female hormones, than she was as a male. I would ask that you look at a few of our U.S. collegiate womens basketball teams. Women of equal size and athletic prowess, though in a different sport. I'm guessing that their heart and lung capicity is probably comparable due to their lives playing in a sport also dominated by men... meaning they created their level playing field by raising their game.

I firmly believe that, given the talent and the willingness to dedicate oneself to a sport, a woman has as much of an opportunity to be as good as any guy.
That is not to say we women will necessarily make the same money... but we can be as good. It's society at large that continues to place our monetary worth as "less than".

Another athlete... a male, wanted to be on the national synchronized swimming team. He got so much crap. I can't remember the outcome, but I heard about it and said "more power to him". We should be free to pursue our passions... sport is a free expression and should be free of gender limitations, discrimations and preferencial treatment.

God knows if, at 50 yrs of age, I suddenly popped up with enough talent (due to hard work) to be competitive on the amateur road racing circuit, questions would be asked, accusations made. It's sad really.

As to Michelle's perceived advantage in the womens field, I'm with Missy Giove. I believe her quote was "Quit bi#$ing and get off the brakes!"

spazz - hoping she made sense with that tome of blather