Thanks for entering into this debate, spokewench. The more I watch of road racing, the more I wonder why the difference is so huge.

You say women are smart... in this instance (road racing) I beg to differ. To me smart would be understanding that any televised event is show-casing women's cycling, and if they treat it as a "tootle" then time and money will not be invested. Therefore "smart" would be to mix it up, to make a break, to chase a break... to me, that would be the smart move. Do you see where I am coming from and what has me so bugged?

Racing should be about courage - the courage to have a go... to risk everything for glory. Thats what a race is fundementally about - whether you are racing others for gold / a yellow jersey... or whether you are racing yourself for a personal best.

If men didn't take risks, then names like Armstrong, Evans, Hushovd, Dean and Contador would not be household names... household names to even non-cycling folks.

By the "smartness" measure, the men who make it to Paris-Nice, to Le Tour, to the Giro, to Paris-Roubaix etc etc etc are pretty damn stupid, right? Of course not. They calculate, they form alliances, they communicate contantly and above all they take risks, they are willing to give everything in order for a small chance at something. They are truly smart, because they know that if they give everything, it just might work, and if it works, money and job security and possibly immortality are theirs.

Without having to pause and think, how many of us could name more than 5 of the women who raced the 2008 Olympic RR?

Too easy? OK - here's a toughy... name 10 women who raced in the last Olympics - or in one of the womens protours...

I bet if most of us thought about the men's RR or one of the pro-tours, we could find 20 mens names with less effort than it took to find 5-10 womens names?

Why? Because men have courage. They will take risks. They will lay everything on the line, and come back tomorrow and do it again...

Why do women at this level lack courage? How do they learn it and demonstrate it? When will see it from more than just a handful of our top female representatives?