Quote Originally Posted by jusdooit View Post
Our local rides are usually one third to to one half female. Unfortunately, many of the women feel compelled to get fast enough to keep up with the men. This just perpetuates the problem & ends up making average female cyclists feel inferior.
Quote Originally Posted by Biciclista View Post
i don't see why women excelling should perpetuate the problem. Although i will never be the one in the front, I find it inspirational when I see a woman that CAN out ride the guys.
Exactly, Mimi! I am one of those women, who sort of ended up riding "with the boys" by accident. I LOVE to ride my bike, and I ride A LOT. I am also competitive, and in the region I live, need to train reasonably hard to maintain my fitness through a very long race season. I am often out on my DH's advertised "Left for dead" rides, trying to keep up with the guys - it's GREAT training for me. The other reason I go? I have LOTS of female riding friends who aren't at the same level for lots of reasons - I love to ride with them too! I have fun riding regardless of pace or ability, and work VERY hard to mentor other female riders, and to share the passion that I have for the sport.

My frustration comes in when those same women don't want to ride with me because they are "too slow", "not fit enough", etc. Despite my welcoming stance, and the fact that I do actually play nicely with others, I am often left to just ride with the boys instead. Frustrating on many levels.

I JUST WANT TO RIDE MY BIKE, and I don't care! Unfortunately, not everyone gets this.

Quote Originally Posted by indysteel View Post
I understand why your buttons are getting pushed, but I also sense that you fully understand how WSD bikes are getting marketed and know how to look past the marketing hype to help your female customers get the best fit. That's awesome and I truly applaud you for it.

But not every bike shop owner/LBS saleperson gets this. Instead, they buy all the marketing hook, line and sinker. They're either not adequately trained or lack the incentive to help their customers look past the marketing so that they get the right bike. Instead, they just repeat whatever the bike rep told them as selling points for the bike.
This makes me nuts. I am 5'10" and get steered towards WSD in shops. I don't fit WSD anything. Unfortunately many shop employees look at a female customer and instinctively point her in that direction. It's great that there are so many options available for women in the sport, but education around what FITS, vs. what the marketing hype is about would go a long way.

SheFly