Melissa Boyd

At yesterday's Firecracker race, the Sport women took a vote and chose to
race 2 laps instead of 3. Many thanks to the organizers for allowing that!

The agreement afterward was that it was a really fun race and a great
(though challenging) course, but that it would NOT have been fun to do that
third lap...

Melissa

On 6/2/08, John Hinke wrote:
>
>
> I agree that racing is hard. But it's also supposed to be fun, right? I
> mean, not too many of us make our living racing. Most of us just enjoy
> hanging out with like-minded people doing something fun.
>
> I'm starting to get prepared for the Jedi state championship XC race coming
> up and was looking at last years results to try to gauge how much time it'll
> take me. Most of the men in my category took between 3-4.5 hours to do the
> Jedi race last year. Ouch! I'd better train some more.
>
> I also noticed there were only 5 women who did the race. Their times for
> the pro/expert women were off the charts and very unreasonable for just
> about any "normal" mountain bike race. The pro woman took 4h14m to complete
> the course, while the expert woman took just under 5 hours! That's right: 5
> hours. (Better start training more, eh?) How many people want to race that
> long or can race that long (ignoring all of the 12 hour and 24 hour racers
> out there)? That's a long time to race. I'm not sure I'd come back to a
> race if it was that long. I also understand that it's a tough decision for
> the promoters. If they make the course too short or easy, people will
> complain. If they make it too long people will complain. Finding that
> sweet spot is a challenge.
>
> Anyway, I love the Jedi.
>
> John
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> *From:* obra-bounces@list.obra.org [mailto:obra-bounces@list.obra.org]*On
> Behalf Of *Melissa Boyd
> *Sent:* Monday, June 02, 2008 2:59 PM
> *To:* sue butler
> *Cc:* obra
> *Subject:* Re: [OBRA Chat] Falls City Firecracker: great event,but where
> are the women???
>
> It does seem like women are avoiding mountain bike races, and some of the
> responses I heard said that it is "too hard".
>
> Races are supposed to be hard! But, some promoters seem to take great glee
> in making them as hard as possible. That may be discouraging some of the
> women who are just getting started. For instance, if half the riders in a
> category find a long section of singletrack climb (or descent) unrideable
> and have to push their bikes, is that "too hard" for that category? What if
> it's 80%, or 100% that have to walk? Is that getting excessive? If the
> beginner women find they are spending more time pushing their bikes than
> riding them, it may be hard to get them to come back and try again. And yet,
> that may be just the Best Course Ever for the Expert riders and the strong
> guys.
>
> Most races have beginner's distances that are shorter than the Sport and
> Expert races. Although it would be harder for the organizers, they might get
> more novices to give it a try if the beginner's course was technically
> easier and not just shorter.
>
> Melissa
>
>
> On 6/2/08, sue butler wrote:
>>
>> I agree that this was a great race and a lot of fun. When do you get to
>> race on almost ALL singletrack?
>> I also agree that it was extremely disappointing to have only 4 women line
>> up for the afternoon session of racing. I know the Silverton road race took
>> a few 'regulars' out of the pack, but I continue to wonder why other women
>> don't like to race their mtb's? It is great fun, great people and a great
>> workout! Stay tuned for upcoming mtb clinics that will be at the short track
>> races, which start later this month. Maybe this will help get more women out
>> there racing their mountain bikes. I think all the men that were there need
>> to work on one woman each to get them there. Because I know when you have no
>> one to race, sometimes then you don't go and the cycle continues... I was
>> just glad to be home and able to race a new venue!!!
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>
>
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