A question for forum ride organisers ...

[LouiseL]

Not all cyclists are testosterone-fuelled, sweating-like-a-racehorse-on-speed, breathing-out-yer-arse speed freaks. Some of us like the gentile approach.

Yes indeed thank goodness! In my experience it's often the strongest cyclist of the group who is happy to keep the slow coach company at the back. They are confident in their own ability and have nothing to prove.

[QUOTE 1682473, member: 10119"]
Sometimes the risks are worth taking and the gambles pay off [/quote]

I couldn't agree more. I would say the risks are always worth taking.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

ColinJ, have you thought about asking one of your regular female riders to ''front'' your rides? I don't mean not do the rides, nor give up pushing them personally. Just, well, blokes can say that it's not testosterone fuelled till they're blue in the saddle, but some women might still feel intimidated. I suspect a woman would be likely to get a higher ratio of women to men on rides than a man would. I've no proof of that but maybe it's still worth a thought.

 

[User10119]

Since it was on a relatively mild bit of the descent, and I could see that it was about to get a LOT steeper and the point of no chance at all of stopping was quite close, I went for the 'drop off the saddle, lean back and brake with both feet toddler-stylee and the back brake on as much as I dared' technique. Not stylish, but it worked, although I may have been heard to utter the works 'Oh S**T!' quite loudly. The chap in front of me (a rather more skilled and experienced rider than me!) heard this but looked at the gravelly road surface and thought 'I'm not stopping here!' and came to a halt a few hundred yards further down the road before turning round and climbing back to see what was what.

This was a year later, revisiting the hill wot did for Valencia's brakes.
View attachment 228106
It is (and i speak as a true flatlander) an absolutely glorious bit of the world!

To be honest I think there are a lot of very dull practical reasons why many forum rides don't attract as many women riders - practicalities of childcare, maybe the fact that on average women have lower disposable income (there's many a ride I've been tempted by but just couldn't justify the cost of getting there), and as others have said the fact that there's just not as many of us out there! And realistically there's not a lot you can do about those things. But some of the possible reasons are rather more solvable. Even, on an extremely pragmatic level, the fact that (and I believe that Dellzeqq has commented on the effect of this in the past) pointing out that there is the possibility of loo stops not of the behind the hedge variety....

 

[totallyfixed]

ColinJ, have you thought about asking one of your regular female riders to ''front'' your rides? I don't mean not do the rides, nor give up pushing them personally. Just, well, blokes can say that it's not testosterone fuelled till they're blue in the saddle, but some women might still feel intimidated. I suspect a woman would be likely to get a higher ratio of women to men on rides than a man would. I've no proof of that but maybe it's still worth a thought.

I have always said that the only way of getting a female who is lacking confidence out on a ride is another female. I would ask Mrs TF to front a ride but I forsee a few problems there. I think it just takes time for a forum ride to build a reputation as being what it says it is on the tin. I can see that potentially if a female were to advertise a forum ride others might think she must be very strong to do that with the effect of once again of putting them off.
To get the level where you feel confident enough to ride with just about any group is a great feeling, it widens your horizons and means you can go anywhere with anyone. It really isn't so difficult as some might think to increase speed and endurance, most new riders can make improvements just by having their bikes and riding position tweaked. If you can spare 4 - 5 hours per week to ride, which is not a lot, in a couple of months it is possible to be radically quicker and stronger. My advice would be that if you are afraid of hills, go looking for them and keep riding them, the demons will disappear. LouiseL has the right attitude in being taken just out of her comfort zone, this will pay dividends later on.
We were all beginners once so no one should feel uncomfortable about being the slowest, keep doing the rides and one day it will be you helping someone else.

 

[ColinJ]

ColinJ, have you thought about asking one of your regular female riders to ''front'' your rides? I don't mean not do the rides, nor give up pushing them personally. Just, well, blokes can say that it's not testosterone fuelled till they're blue in the saddle, but some women might still feel intimidated. I suspect a woman would be likely to get a higher ratio of women to men on rides than a man would. I've no proof of that but maybe it's still worth a thought.

Nearly all the female cyclists I know are super-fit so it would be a bit fake really! "Come on this ride - I'm female, so you will be okay - just grind up the hills with ColinJ at the back while I race the fast lads to the summits!"

Fiona N was organising a ride last year which ended up getting called off (you must try and resurrect it this summer Fiona!), but it was harder than any forum ride that I've ever organised - 200+ kms across the Yorkshire Dales!

[QUOTE 1682538, member: 10119"]
This was a year later, revisiting the hill wot did for Valencia's brakes.

It is (and i speak as a true flatlander) an absolutely glorious bit of the world!
[/quote]
That's the kind of place that I like to cycle in!
[QUOTE 1682538, member: 10119"]
But some of the possible reasons are rather more solvable. Even, on an extremely pragmatic level, the fact that (and I believe that Dellzeqq has commented on the effect of this in the past) pointing out that there is the possibility of loo stops not of the behind the hedge variety....[/quote]
I thought about that on Saturday's forum ride. I'd drunk a big mug of tea before setting off and it was starting to trouble me but finding somewhere discrete to stop was surprisingly tricky. We were on quiet country lanes most of the time but there were enough passing cars to put me off just peeing at the side of the road. In the end, we found a broken section of dry stone wall and Hicky and I nipped behind that. It crossed my mind then that a woman might not fancy that location, and if she was wearing full winter kit like me, she would have to virtually strip unless she was carrying a SheWee (or not wearing bibtights)! Mind you, we had passed Moor Lodge tea rooms earlier so anyone desperate could have nipped in there.

 

[dellzeqq]

loo stops (or the absence of) are the biggest source of complaints. The time I spend looking for 24 hour Tescos and Asdas!

 

[Ravenbait]

I'm still the only woman on the Dumb Run.

Bah.

At max that means it has been 5:1.

Sam

 

[ColinJ]

[QUOTE 1682538, member: 10119"]
To be honest I think there are a lot of very dull practical reasons why many forum rides don't attract as many women riders - practicalities of childcare, maybe the fact that on average women have lower disposable income (there's many a ride I've been tempted by but just couldn't justify the cost of getting there), and as others have said the fact that there's just not as many of us out there![/quote]
The thing is - when I'm out on my bike, I see about 5 times as many women on horseback as men, so there are plenty of women with money and free time who like getting out in the countryside!

I think the main reason for there being relatively fewer female cyclists is a cultural one - cycling is apparently seen as a more masculine activity and horse riding a more feminine one. According to the British Horse Society, 75% of horse riders are female.

 

[Becs]

I only started cycling at weekends when I gave up the horses and moved to London - very little time to do both.

There's usually been a relatively large number (I say relatively, it's still <50%) of women interested in my rides, although they are nearly always people that know me from other forum rides so they know that it won't be that speedy. I never had a problem cycling with a bunch of randoms from the interweb but I did notice that CTC easy rides were mainly female riders and forum rides are not - perhaps there's something in the pitching of the ride, or perhaps there's just fewer lady riders out there and the forum rides reflect that.

 

[lukesdad]

The thing is - when I'm out on my bike, I see about 5 times as many women on horseback as men, so there are plenty of women with money and free time who like getting out in the countryside!

I think the main reason for there being relatively fewer female cyclists is a cultural one - cycling is apparently seen as a more masculine activity and horse riding a more feminine one. According to the British Horse Society, 75% of horse riders are female.

While this maybe very true there are those that do both. Does that make me masculine or feminine ?

 

[ColinJ]

While this maybe very true there are those that do both. Does that make me masculine or feminine ?

Or female cyclists masculine?

It just goes to show how redundant those labels are, doesn't it!

 

[Davidc]

Much of the problem is perception. A lot of women think they're inherently slower than men.

That's true when comparing very fit or elite riders, but not for a group of normal mixed ability, fitness and age riders.

On every group ride I've done in the past few years I've been one of the slowest, so nearly all of the females have been faster than me, but so have nearly all of the males. On some big rides you do get a few fast riders, and some of those are women, but the majority just go at their own speed and team up with others of similar ability. On smaller rides, CC or otherwise, the faster people just wait for the tortoises among them.

 

[kiwi-Sal]

You know - it made me feel ok reading all these posts. Being a women and reading them all - Yes I totally agree with pretty much all of it!! I keep thinking I will be slower then the guys and it is slightly intimidated being the only women. I would hate them to think....oh god - stuck with babtsitting at the back of the pack.
Hell....once I get out there the guys in the club say...what were you worried about! Its just the doing. Of course, add in the wind, rain, dark....definitely need some motivation!!!!! Cafe stops!!!

 

[Becs]

In my experience, and I'm sure others will say the same, the guys really don't mind having a lady to babysit! ;-)

 

[rich p]

In my experience, and I'm sure others will say the same, the guys really don't mind having a lady to babysit! ;-)

It brings out the feminine side in us