Cycletta - Cycling events for women

[clarion]

If there are riders being waited for, it's not always a good idea to set off as soon as they get to the top.  They're pretty likely to want a short rest.

[Jasmine]

Personally, I wouldn't do female only rides, except full-on competitively.

In the club riding environment, I'm fast enough to ride with the average pace guys on the flat and on rolling ground.  I'm shit on hills and require the group to slow for me to catch at the top, but I'm by no means the slowest rider there.  I'm usually the only woman in the group, but it really doesn't bother me.  Some of the guys are a bit pervy tbh but I'm fairly immune to 'banter' and anything above that is slapped down sharpish by the others.

The problem I have with female riding is that if I were to go on a female only ride locally I'd get frustrated that everyone else was too slow or only wanted to do 45 km! The difference for me is that between 'novice' and 'club' and 'leisure' riding.  Very new cyclists will be slow, and need someone to 'lead' them, which is fine, but not exclusively a woman thing.

I find it hard to compete in road racing locally due to there being bugger all other women riding in those events.  Once dropped from the pack in a race, I'd be faced with a 40 km solo ride for the reward of being last.

[Jasmine]

If there are riders being waited for, it's not always a good idea to set off as soon as they get to the top.  They're pretty likely to want a short rest.

On the subject of waiting riders, it's also worth explaining to slightly faster riders that if they dropped the pace slightly, the slower riders would draft better, and wouldn't need to be waited for.  It will increase the average speed of the whole group.

The other ploy to use is looping back.  When our faster guys ride with the slower people, they will bugger off up the road for a bit, then loop somewhere to come up behind us again, or to do a U turn after 2 miles and come back for us.

Dyfi rules on hills can also be used - whoever reaches the top of the hill first has to ride back down to the last person on the hill and reclimb.  It's better training for those who can do hills as it doubles up every big hill.

[mattc]

Jasmine:
How far are you willing to travel?

( and what's a dyfi ?)

[TimC]

I wouldn't want to go on a woman-only ride myself, however I do absolutely understand that some women would find a group that was 90% male intimidating. In a group of 10, that's one woman and 9 men. Given the way recent threads on this topic have gone I'm wary of making the observation in case it labels me once more as a man-hating radfem, however there is a perception that in male-dominated groups laddish banter and macho competition could be a problem.

Having tried riding with a couple of local clubs, I have to say that I find riding with a group of (probably faster & fitter) men intimidating, and I'm not a shrinking violet! I'm all for the idea of any kind of novice group, whether all-female, all-male, or all-any other kind of grouping, as long as it encourages people to ride, gain confidence, and eventually graduate to solo or accompanied riding outside the protection of the novice group. I think such things have to be played carefully; it's surely counterproductive to play on people's fear of the dangers of cycling, for instance, as they may feel that the only way they can ever ride would be within the cocoon of a traffic-free group, in which case, what's the point?

[mrcharly-YHT]

On the nighttime rides, I think that the first riders to the top of the hill get to fire up their camping stove and make a brew up for the slower riders 

[clarion]

I am a man

I have always found the thought of a group ride intimidating - probably from having seen Sheffield chaingangs steaming out to the Peaks.  I tend to pick slower rides than I could manage, and often end up waiting, even though I'm not particularly fast. 

Oddly enough, I seem to be in the best-matched company on yacf rides.  There's always a few people faster and a few people slower and we are, as someone said of a Clarion ride a short while ago, very 'collegiate'.

I can see how some women starting off in cycling could do with something challenging but not macho, and I hope that Cycletta are successful in providing one way for women to get into riding.

I am a man.

[Jasmine]

Jasmine:
How far are you willing to travel?

( and what's a dyfi ?)

I don't drive, so can only travel one the very crap trains from deepest North Wales.  Even Chester is over an hour from here.  I would travel several hours for a *good* race (I travel 45 minutes most weeks to TT).

I rode to the start of Mersey Roads last year.

Dyfi is a place.  Dyfi rules is the name of a local rule for some group rides in mid-Wales.

[TimC]

I am a man

[snip]

I am a man.

I am concerned that you feel the need to keep telling us this, Clarion - and not just in this thread. Is there something we should know?

[clarion]

I thought a disclaimer might be useful.  And a reminder, in case anyone had forgotten.

But yes, I must confess that my outward machismo is built on shaky foundations.

[TimC]

Well, I doubt anyone was going to confuse you with Arnie or Sly, but hang in there, bro. Being male is still legal!

[mattc]

Jasmine:
How far are you willing to travel?

( and what's a dyfi ?)

I don't drive, so can only travel one the very crap trains from deepest North Wales.  Even Chester is over an hour from here.  I would travel several hours for a *good* race (I travel 45 minutes most weeks to TT).

I rode to the start of Mersey Roads last year.

It's probably a good thing that you didn't pick up on my rather unsubtle hint

It sounds like you'd be an asset on any club ride, and it would be great if you could educate some of the males down here, let alone the women.

Dyfi is a place.  Dyfi rules is the name of a local rule for some group rides in mid-Wales.

Thanks. (You learn something new about Wales every week on YACF.)

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

I saw a women only event a while ago. It was called the Grand Boucle

Tour de France Féminin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There was practically no publicity and I didn't know it was happening so when they started closing the road up the Col du Tourmalet I was rather unprepared although they let me carry on to the summit.  Once there I was stopped from going on and watched the race. Compared to the TdF it was very low-key but the riders were impressive coming over the col. I gather it was eventually won by Nicole Cooke.

From the Wikipedia entry it sounds as if it was not exactly given much support.

[Butterfly]

The first group rides I did were joint rides with Lambeth Cyclists and the Cycling for Women Project. They were open to men as well as women, but had a large number of women and were mainly led by women. They were great beginners rides.

Several of the groups I go out with have a good balance of male and female riders or even more women, against the general trend. The main differences from other groups are regular cafe/pub stops, willingness to stop and investigate interesting things on the way and a non-competative pace.

[clarion]

B&H Clarion, in particular, are worthy of note in this respect.  The slowest rider, by far, is a man, but that's never a problem.  Cafe/pub stops are reasonably regular, and rides are short & train-assisted.  On one ride, it was fairly typical that one group had stopped to look at/feed some donkeys.  The gender mix is probably more than 50% women.  Same for Pollards Hill Cyclists.

[ravenbait]

I've been told I can't ride with our local club anyway, so I don't even know what proportion of women they have in their runs.

Sam

[Kim]

Several of the groups I go out with have a good balance of male and female riders or even more women, against the general trend. The main differences from other groups are regular cafe/pub stops, willingness to stop and investigate interesting things on the way and a non-competative pace.

I think that's probably the key to inclusivity.

I'm speaking from a position of ignorance, of course, as I'm hardly traditional cycling club material myself, but it strikes me that the women who want to ride fast (if not actually competitively) will have no problem actively seeing out others and eventually be thwarted by the general lack of numbers rather than attitudes or policies.

Meanwhile, more leisurely (which doesn't necessarily mean short) group rides will attract all kinds of riders, and are inherently women-friendly.  The Friday Night Ride to the Coast deserves honourable mention, I think, as it does a particularly good job of it.  I'm not sure whether that's because it appeals to us weirdos, or because riding at night is a good way to avoid traffic without being limited to closed roads and cycle paths, or because overnight rides make things like childcare a lot easier to organise.  Probably all of these things.

And then there's groups like the astoundingly successful Stourbug.  They certainly seem to have the right idea.

And let's not forget YACF and its ilk.  You guys have somehow managed to convinced *barakta* to buy a Trice.  How much encouraging-women-to-cycle do you want?   

[Jasmine]

Jasmine:
How far are you willing to travel?

( and what's a dyfi ?)

I don't drive, so can only travel one the very crap trains from deepest North Wales.  Even Chester is over an hour from here.  I would travel several hours for a *good* race (I travel 45 minutes most weeks to TT).

I rode to the start of Mersey Roads last year.

It's probably a good thing that you didn't pick up on my rather unsubtle hint

It sounds like you'd be an asset on any club ride, and it would be great if you could educate some of the males down here, let alone the women.

Maybe if I'm ever in the area I'll ride with your local group, as long as it isn't too hilly.

[rogerzilla]

On the nighttime rides, I think that the first riders to the top of the hill get to fire up their camping stove and make a brew up for the slower riders 

Been there, done that.  I'm not sure that Feline (the only woman out of the group) was the last up the hill though.  And I'd walked it myself.

[jogler]

I've been told I can't ride with our local club anyway, so I don't even know what proportion of women they have in their runs.

Sam

I do hope that's NOT a gender issue.

[fhills]

The first group rides I did were joint rides with Lambeth Cyclists and the Cycling for Women Project. They were open to men as well as women, but had a large number of women and were mainly led by women. They were great beginners rides.

Several of the groups I go out with have a good balance of male and female riders or even more women, against the general trend. The main differences from other groups are regular cafe/pub stops, willingness to stop and investigate interesting things on the way and a non-competative pace.

Lambeth Cyclists rides are excellent - great architecture rides with, by definition, loads of stops. Ditto pretty much all of the LCC London cycling groups, though I once had my head bitten off for suggesting that they had a relatively healthy gender mix. Agree also with the thing about investigating stuff en route - on my last led ride we stopped to check out the boat in which Shakleton escaped from the ice and the rather moving Air Force Memorial at Runnymede. GPSs are a menace on this sort of ride - heads down, no clue what you are riding past. It's perfectly possible to have a long ride (50 miles plus) and not resort to racing.

[mattc]

Maybe if I'm ever in the area I'll ride with your local group, as long as it isn't too hilly.

[simonp]

Cambridge is blessed with a CTC group which tends to suit slower riders, plus three clubs people can ride with. I've been out with Cambridge CTC, Cambridge CC and the Tri Club. All have several regular female riders. Because of the size of the clubs they can have fast medium and slow groups and riders of a wide range of abilities are catered for.  CTC run a Saturday ride for novices which is shorter than their Sunday rides.

There are it seems to me a higher proportion of female riders in the Tri club rides than any of the others, I'm not sure why this is the case. Never heard any pervy stuff. I believe one of the female riders is the senior world champion bicbw. Some of them go out with the fast group; I've yet to dare. Maybe if I brought gears? Being crap on hills isn't such an issue around here; though I've been dropped on Coploe hill every time I take my Pompino along.

[Jurek]

On the nighttime rides, I think that the first riders to the top of the hill get to fire up their camping stove and make a brew up for the slower riders  

Been there, done that.  I'm not sure that Feline (the only woman out of the group) was the last up the hill though.  And I'd walked it myself.

She wasn't. I could see her in front of me. Until she disappeared from view.

[L CC]

I wouldn't want to go on a woman-only ride myself, however I do absolutely understand that some women would find a group that was 90% male intimidating. In a group of 10, that's one woman and 9 men. Given the way recent threads on this topic have gone I'm wary of making the observation in case it labels me once more as a man-hating radfem, however there is a perception that in male-dominated groups laddish banter and macho competition could be a problem.

I quite like 'laddish banter' in the right setting. What I got was patronising smugness. Till I ripped their fucking legs off^{TM Tuggo, fotp}.
But- I'm not a 'new cyclist'. I think that makes me atypical as a female in a club context. Macho competition in inappropriate settings is something else, and the club as a whole is rethinking it's attitude and complicit approval of that, not because of gender issues, but because of safety.

The idea of paying £45 for 40k traffic free riding in the company of women is less appealing than dentistry. However, I'm not the target audience, am I?