We Beat The Guys

[Cali Sunshine]

Has anyone had this happen to them before?

This past weekend myself and a few of the girls were out on a bike trek, when a group of guys rolled by laughing saying something about how we needed to "peddle faster" and how we can "do better than that girls." Of course that was irritating and made me furious.

The guys were all proffessional looking with their expensive bikes and their proffessional-looking bike jerseys and cycling bibs and spandex shorts and long tights and knee-length capri-knickers and cycling shoes and sporty helments and all that other stuff... all of them were in shape too. We just had on whatever we could scrounge up.

Me and the other 4 women asked each other should we do a race against them. We all agreed.There were 5 guys and 5 girls, both of equal age range (mid twenties). So we decided to battle it out.

We caught up with them and offered them the challenged. They laughed and said sure. These guys were obviously arrogant, pompous, overly-confident, and full of pride. One of the men said they've never been defeated in a race and that therefore this race would be a sinch for them.

Well, we both agreed to doing a 10-mile race. We were on a road that was wide enough and open enough and long enough. We estimated where the 10 mile marker was (a cross street). Anyway, we started and of course the guys took off and grabbed a great lead. We were way behind for a while until we hit the hill. We pushed up the hill and once at the top we could see the guys in front of us. This was about mile 8. They were obviously tired from pushing up the hill. We still had a lot of energy (perhaps from the anger and determination), so we decide to push hard and take advantage. By mile 9 they were only about 50 yards ahead. A couple minutes later we were neck and neck and these men were both shocked and nervous and began to peddle faster. We told each other to give it all we had and soon thereafter we broke away from them, beating them by at least a good 30 seconds. I don't know how we did it. Perhaps we paced ourselves and they just were overconfident and raced in streaks. We did our push after the hill.

It was a great scene to witness -- all that pride and ego and conceited attitude melted away -- the men were visibly broken, defeated, sweat-drenched, humiliated, shocked, and embarrassed. They had their hands on their hips staring at the ground in disbelief and some were arguing with one another. One was crouched on the ground saying "I can't believe we just got our butts kicked... by these girls!" They didn't even want to look at us or shake our hands! So we parted ways. It was definitely a sweet victory for the ladies that day.

[spokewench]

You probably educated them that just cause they are guys doesn't mean that they can go out and not ride and beat ladies that ride a lot!

Hopefully, they won't be so obnoxious to ladies the next time!

[mimitabby]

what a great story! balm to my soul.

Good work, gals!

[telegirl]

Maybe some day, if they practice hard and are good little boys, they will be good enough to ride with the girls.

Good Job!

[chickwhorips]

ahhh yes.... way to go. now that story made my morning!

[CyclChyk]

I AM SO IMPRESSED! You just proved that men are so overrated!

[Cali Sunshine]

I AM SO IMPRESSED! You just proved that men are so overrated!

yes they are so why do they get all the attention. i mean the men get the bigger sponsors and get more spectators and people take them more serious and all that. i'm jealous/envious of how the men get all the good accolades and credit for cycling.

[madisongrrl]

Has anyone had this happen to them before?

This does happen and when it does, it feels good. Congrats!

Many of the Sport level women that I race with will beat 25%-50%+ of the the Sport men's field during mountain bike races. While many of the men (who start the race many minutes earlier than the women) who get passed are gracious, there are a select few who are a little less nice about it. They won't give you a pass or they grumble at you. So it's nice to floor it and leave those men behind! That will teach them some humility!

Congrats and way to keep those male egos in check.

[velogirl]

Many of the Sport level women that I race with will beat 25%-50%+ of the the Sport men's field during mountain bike races. While many of the men (who start the race many minutes earlier than the women) who get passed are gracious, there are a select few who are a little less nice about it. They won't give you a pass or they grumble at you.

Here too! What's amazing is that you could be the leader of the women's field and the dude in 80th place in the men's race won't give you the track. I guess he's busy battling it out with the dude in 79th. Drives me nuts!!!

[Bluetree]

Cali,

Your post made me a bit uncomfortable, the way you describe it. I'm not disagreeing that it happened that way, I just haven't come across too many men who still harbor those outdated, macho ideas. My cycling group includes crit racers, cyclo(psycho)cross riders, Ironmen, and guys who have completed Breathless Agony, Badwater and Death Ride. If anything, they have an utmost respect for women cyclists and have all been humbled (at one time or another) by some of the female pros in the area. Hard to make fun of "mere girls" when its Hillary Biscay http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/edi.../0000062.shtml blowing past you.
I hope it's just indicative of their relative youth, and something they will soon outgrow.

Congrats for the great ride!

P.S. PLease introduce yourself in Open Topic > Getting To Know You thread!

[BikeMomma]

Just one word: SWWWWEEEEEET!!!!!

Power to the Females!! I love it! Let that be a GOOD lesson to those who underestimate our resolve.

Good job, Cali S. and to your "team" as well!!

~BikeMomma

[Offthegrid]

Nice work. I once was keeping up with a skinny man on an expensive mountain bike with clipless pedals while I was on a rented cruiser without toeclips. That was cool.

[light_sabe_r]

Good on ya Cali Sunshine!

it always feels good to win. the fact they were bad sports about it is egg on their face.

Silly boys. When will they learn.

(Meanwhile BF is still riding rings around me)

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

The guys were all proffessional looking with their expensive bikes and their proffessional-looking bike jerseys and cycling bibs and spandex shorts and long tights and knee-length capri-knickers and cycling shoes and sporty helments and all that other stuff... all of them were in shape too. We just had on whatever we could scrounge up.

Golly Cali, were they wearing all THAT?? What kind of weather was it, and weren't they too hot wearing all those proffessional-looking bibs, shorts, capris-knickers and tights?? Maybe the weight of all that was too much for them.
Weren't you girls wearing "sporty helmets" too? If not- you're gonna konk your noggin' one of these days!

Impressive how you and "a few of the girls" turned those "arrogant, pompous, overly-confident, and full of pride" boys into "visibly broken, defeated, sweat-drenched, humiliated, shocked, and embarrassed" mere shadows of their former selves in just 10 miles! Utterly AMAZING!!
It's so amazing that it almost sounds like a story that a guy might imagine girls would be wanting to hear about....

[roguedog]

Woo HOO. I LOVE this. This is just sweet given they were such prissy little sh**s.