Thanks for emphasizing that, Petra. I personally think skills are one of the most important aspects to successful racing. I cringe when a woman who's never raced tells me she's doing a given race (and I make sure to stay away from her in the peloton). Luckily, because everyone in this area races a lot, you know who's who. Also, most new racers aren't part of teams (so they wear plain jerseys). Or they have other tell-tale signs (leaving a pump or saddle-bag on their bike, using a bento box, wearing a helmet with a visor, etc).

Bike racing is unlike running, triathlon, or swimming. It's dangerous. You can hurt yourself and you can hurt someone else. With the exception of time trials (where racers start at intervals and drafting/close riding is against the rules), bike races are mass-starts. That means that 50 women all start together and remain together until something in the terrain (a hill, corner, descent, etc) or a lack of fitness splits up the pack. You need to be able to handle your bike (hold your line, corner and descend at speed, drink while riding, take a little contact with other riders) and be able to ride in a pack.

In the bike racing world, we fear triathletes (please don't flame me, I'm just telling the truth). Many of them have sub-par skills (and zero pack experience), but a high level of aerobic fitness. However, they can't respond to surges (a reality in bike racing).

The stupidest crash I've seen in a race was a couple of years ago in a road race. There was a tri team from out of district who participated with 6 women. They were nervous about riding in the pack so they sat at the front most of the race. During the entire race, we watched them doing dangerous things -- swerving when they drank, braking when they didn't need to, coasting, etc.

At the final sprint, one of them couldn't control her bike, ran into her teammate on the left (knocking her down), ricocheted to the right, ran into her teammate on the right (knocking her down), then fell down herself. Right behind her were the other three of her teammates (they all went down too). Luckily, the other women in the pack anticipated this, gave them a little gap and had started channelling to either side so no one else went down. It was a horrific finish to a race -- ruined because unskilled riders got in a bit over their heads.