where do you live?: Suburban Boston

how would you classify your riding (commuting, leisure, competitive): Lots of racing, but I also do for the love of the ride, and as my main social activity. All of the activities at our house revolve around cycling.

how long have you been riding a bike in the way that you do now? About 11 years.

did you pick it up again after years of not riding?: nope

what type of bike(s) do you have?: UGH - too many bikes... Specialized StumpJumper (about to be replaced with a Marathon) MTB; SS MTB; 2 Specialized Cyclocross bikes; a Flyte cyclocross bike built up as my winter ride; a Mongoose Titanium road bike for training; a Kestrel Carbon road bike for racing; a Cannondale Ironman for time trials; and two Cannondale tandems - one for road riding and one specifically for time trials.

do you notice more females on bikes in recent years than before?: yes

do you notice more focus on females who bike in the media recently?: no

do you think there are female specific concerns in cycling? Yes!

what would they be? (buying appropriate bike/equipment, stigma, safety):
I agree with Andrea here. In racing, the disparity between men's and women's fields is incredible. Payouts are less, and options are fewer. In many cases here, beginning racers are forced to race in the same fields as P/1/2/3 racers, causing frustration for everyone. We have a race promoter in the area who balks at putting on a women's race, and when he does, doesn't provide the same level of support as the men's races...and tells us that we ride too slow (although our average is often over 20 mph on hilly courses).

For equipment - I don't buy into the whol WSD thing except as a marketing ploy, but I am bigger than a lot of women (5'10", and fit better on men's frames). I do agree with some others, however, that having some better selection available (colors, etc) WITHOUT sacrificing quality and performance would be ideal.

Quote Originally Posted by Andrea View Post
I think that (once again, from a competitive standpoint) there is a stigma that women's racing isn't as competitive. I even had someone at my last race tell me that normally watching a women's race is like "watching paint dry," but our race had *actually* been exciting to watch.
And an AMEN to that!

SheFly