Yeah, the state of women's racing sucks. It sucks some places worse than others, compared to other women's sports it's 20 years behind.

Some races here advertise having a women's CAT 4 race, and a CAT 1/2/3 race, but when you go to line up there are so few women they combine the fields (and sometimes throw in the Jrs. ). The smaller/more local races are less likely to have a female pro team show up, but depending on what the local talent is like it may not matter.

I only started racing in August, but when I went to the Carolina Cup, I did the women's cat4 and the women's open (1-4) race. The women's open was crazy, Candice Blickman (from Quark) took SECOND (she's top 10 in the US). I was dropped and lapped, but so were several CAT 3 women who had team contracts. It's intimidating, but the faster/better a rider is the nicer they are, and pro women especially really want to see more ladies out racing.

I agree that if possible you should get on a club team now (for one, kit orders go in in Oct or Nov, and they usually don't order extra women's stuff). When does racing season start up there? Any chance of getting out for a few group rides before it gets really cold?