I like the article! I can contribute a little bit to local racing today. I just started racing last season (road) after many years of riding and attending races with my husband, who races. We had both come back from being away from the bikes for several years, and I decided to see just how fast I could go, handle my bike, and learn.

I live in Florida where there is an active effort to increase women's participation in races. We are, of course, limited by small fields. There are many strong female riders, many of them are too intimidated to try racing. Partly because we have many crits here, a few circuit races, and a handful of road races. Also, our fields have been so small in many cases all women's categories have been combined, or the women have been put with the masters men. Some of the guys don't like racing with the women, so that can cause some frustration for all parties. Some new racers are intimidated by the fact that they will be racing with Cat 1/2 riders, and as previously mentioned getting shelled off the back in the first few minutes isn't really motivation to return.
So, to combat that, for the upcoming season there will be women's cat 4 races, and the 1/2/3 will be combined. Hopefully this will allow for learning, safety, and upgrade ability so that everyone will be happier.