I haven't done a lot of organized rides, but here in New England, it's seems to be fairly evenly matched in terms of gender. This hasn't always been the case, though. Whenever my son comes to visit, he always comments, "I can't believe how many woman are riding around here," as compared to when he was racing in the early 2000s. Generally, I would think that even 60 miles is more than most rereational riders do. We're just skewed in our thinking!
Owlie, yes I was active before I started riding, but in a way that was very different. It was at the gym, didn't really involve other people, not something I shared with my family, and was always done so as not to interfere with the parts of my life. Now, it is my life. That is fairly new, maybe in the last 10 years, out of my 15 years of riding. And, when I started riding, I was not really active. I was 15-20 lbs. overweight, was rarely going to the gym, and I hated the way I felt and looked. My friends all told me it was "the natural course of things." One day I got so angry at myself and jealous of my DH, who had started riding (he was always the inactive one in our marriage), that I went out on a 90+ degree day, with no water and did a 5 mile walk that included a long 3 part hill (the name is Hill Rd., so you get my drift). I knew I made a mistake not taking water, but I was pissed! But, I was also scared. Generally, I was brought up to not try new things, but when I got home, DH said, "If you can do that, you can ride," so I swallowed my fear.