I was given permission to post this from Tania Worgull, concerning the April Fool's joke from Trek travel-


Trek Travel Email Response Hello Rebecca,

I wanted to reach out to you regarding the email I sent last week. I received your email and voicemail and have been reading the comments on Team Estrogen. I have been out of the office but will be in tomorrow if you would like to set up a time I would love to chat with you.

First I am sorry that my email offended you. I meant it only as a light hearted April Fools note to poke fun at me personally and did not intend to offend. I very much support women in sports. I competed at a very high level in basketball and am an avid cyclist myself. I do a lot for Women in cycling and sports in general, not to mention my general support and advocacy for cycling. In no way was this joke meant to reflect a negative opinion of women. Women’s cycling has a way to go in terms of offering professional opportunities for women to compete on an international level and I believe we will get there.

I thought I would highlight some of the work I do for women in sports:


1. I coached women’s high school basketball
2. I coached girls middle school track
3. I mentor 1 young woman and 1 young man in the Madison area
4. I host a bike maintenance 101 breakfast each spring just for women
5. I co host a Friday morning bike ride just for women every Friday during the summer
6. Trek Travel is the only tour company that I know of to offer women specific designed bike on our tours
7. We support Trek and their Women Who Ride club
8. We offer Women Specific Trips
9. We support the Trek Tri series just for women through participation, sponsorship and trip donations
10. Trek Travel supports bike advocacy groups like Bikes Belong, IMBA, League of American Bicyclists
11. Trek Travel supports the Breast Cancer ride through trip donations each year
12. Trek Travel supports the local LuncaChix cycling club through donations and participation in their rides
13. I attend the National Bike summit in Washington DC to advocate for more funding for bicycles. Including Complete Streets, Safe Routes to Schools, Bicycle friendly communities etc.


Some other interesting facts about me:

1. I ride – a lot
2. I commuted to work by bike over 1000 miles in 2009
3. I played Division 1 Women’s Basketball and continue to support Women’s athletics
4. I have completed two Ironman races (slowly)
5. I have completed the Etape du Tour 4 times (Race an entire stage of the Tour de France - 8500 entrants and only 400 of them women)
6. I own and run my own business – Trek Travel


I also have to say that I was surprised and flattered that people including some of my close friends and Step Mom believed the email. They obviously have not ridden with me in a while


Again I appreciate your feedback and although we may disagree on the humor in the April fool’s email I hope you can look at all of the good things that Trek Travel and I do and consider all these points before making a final judgment.

Thanks for your time,
Tania
Tania Worgull