Long, Steve
I agree with Heather about racing being competitive. It sort of begs the
question, "if you don't want to be competitive, why are you racing?"
Riders can get caught in a sort of no man's (women's) land when they get
too strong for the typical local club rider and yet not quite strong
enough to race effectively. In this scenario, I can see the point of
some of the women that aren't putting a bigger focus on training and yet
still would like to race.
We looked at the numbers for our crit, "The Vancouver Courthouse Crit"
and they certainly do not support breaking the women out into seperate
fields. The numbers may support breaking them out (as Renata suggested)
in the earlier season races, but, if you ladies don't come out and race,
you're not going to get what you want. If the fields are too hard,
perhaps training more efficiently would be part of the answer. If the
stronger cat 1/2 racers don't like racing with the cat 4 women, it sort
of begs the question, "why not just drop them, at least until we can get
the numbers up?"
We, here at North River Racing have toyed with the idea of putting on a
women's specific skills transfer clinic or two. If any of you women out
there would be interested in participating in such a clinic, perhaps you
could e-mail me off list and we'll try and coordinate this with some of
the women on our team.
Some of the skills we might be able to transfer include,
efficient pacing linning,
efficient climbing,
Pedal stroke mechanics,
efficient training,
winter preperation.
attacking,
etc.
Just some thoughts, none of which is meant to anger anyone. I'm all
about finding solutions...
Steve
________________________________
From: obra-bounces@list.obra.org [mailto:obra-bounces@list.obra.org] On
Behalf Of Heather VanValkenburg
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 6:38 AM
To: Luciano bailey; cmurray@obra.org; obra@list.obra.org
Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Senior women fields
"Why do you race with the men.....What, are you just too good for
us...?"
No
I'd like to chime in. Although I focus my efforts on the track and
rarely do road racing anymore, I can share why some women choose to race
with the men during the week nights. (i.e. PIR, Alpenrose)
1. Part of it is to get the most bang for our buck. Jeff allows us to
race on a smaller buck. Might I have just jeopardized this luxury in the
future? Yes. But it is a fact. Should I race 12 laps for $12 or 20 laps
for $10. Granted I've only gotten 2.5 laps completed on a Tuesday this
year, but that is another story...
2. Sorry ladies, but you like to chat. A lot. I don't like to talk when
I'm racing. I don't like to listen when I'm racing. I want to be
challenged to pay attention to what is happening in the race. I"m out
there to have someone kick my ass and if I"m working hard enough, I
don't have oxygen to chit chat. The men don't do us any favors. If we
want a wheel, we best be aggressive and get it. If we can't keep a
wheel, they come around us tight and don't care what chromosomes we
have. I know I'm going to get hell for this one, but trust me, I will
get emails from some of you thanking me for speaking what you're
thinking.
3. I've seen the comment along the lines of, "many of us just want to
ride our bike and are not really competitive." RACING is competitive and
many of us are training for races outside of OBRA. These races are
harder and longer. There are constant attacks, teams at work, and
ruthless behavior. We ride with the men because they are harder and
longer- There are constant attacks, teams at work, and ruthless
behavior.
All that said, I agree that it's unfortunate that the numbers are low.
Many senior women I raced with 3-4 years ago have moved, started
families, are taking time away from racing, or have otherwise gotten
caught up in life. I don't have a solution to the problem. I'm a bit
out of the road racing loop. I just wanted to answer the question many
have about a possible why.
-Heather VanValkenburg
Does this bike make my butt look fast?
________________________________
________________________________
> From: rideon1@hotmail.com
> To: cmurray@obra.org; obra@list.obra.org
> Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 08:19:20 +0000
> Subject: Re: [OBRA Chat] Senior women fields
>
> I second the call for lady racers, tonight I had the pleasure of
watching 9
> women riding in a paceline outside of AVC this is a rare sight. For
womens
> racing and especially those young girls out there saying maybe me
there is
> no better marketing tool than numbers and visibility. We also have
some very
> talented junior women that could benefit by benevolent mentorship.
Dont let
> the velodrome scare you over the last couple of years many typically
road
> racers have added great speed out at the track and done well.
>
>
> >From: "Candi Murray"
> >Reply-To: cmurray@obra.org
> >To:
> >Subject: [OBRA Chat] Senior women fields
> >Date: Wed, 23 May 2007 10:59:23 -0700
> >
> >Three rivers had 2 women show up
> >Swan Island had 4 women show up.
> >These races cancelled their women's field.
> >Minimum field size is 5. Unless you want to see racing for senior
women to
> >go away, it is time you showed up.
> >Silverton is this weekend.
> >
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________________
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>
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________________________________
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