Thread: I Need a Break
View Single Post
Old 09-26-18, 08:18 PM
  #4  
Heathpack 
Has a magic bike
 
Heathpack's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 12,590

Bikes: 2018 Scott Spark, 2015 Fuji Norcom Straight, 2014 BMC GF01, 2013 Trek Madone

Mentioned: 699 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4456 Post(s)
Liked 425 Times in 157 Posts
Might I suggest a mountain bike??

I understand where you’re coming from though. It’s annoying/frustrating/demoralizing as a woman to race in the context that the “real” racing is the men’s fields. Seems like there’s always plenty of men’s fields divided logically by physiology whereas women get lumped together such that sometimes/frequently you’re put into a racing group that you can’t really be competitive in. Yet somehow you’re supposed to stay engaged in the process, “believe” that racing makes sense. For women our age, frequently it’s not actually a race. You just go out and race for something intrinsic, something internal to yourself. Sometimes that is adequate, sometimes it’s just flavorless.

So I question it too. Why am I doing all this work, putting so much into it? I like the precision of the TT stuff- the quest for aero optimization, riding a perfect TT, reading the wind and environmental conditions perfectly. But sometimes the racing “scene” is just frustrating. A FB post goes up congratulating all the local State TT champs, and I’m not mentioned (thankfully one of my teammates chimed in to correct that). I get mansplained about aero position until I mention who my (male) fitter is. There’s an assumption my races are easier and my results less meaningful because there’s less people in my fields.

Then on top of that, for me to be prepared for my TTs, I have to ride solo mostly. Get my workouts done. I have no peers to ride with doing the same thing. It mostly doesn’t form friendship, it’s isolating. To a large extent that doesn’t bother me, it somewhat suits me. But there’s also a sense of giving up friendships and relationships so that I can race. Again: is it worth it?

I will say for me that the mtb does make it much more viable. My mtb buds are some of my favorite riding friends. The scene is chill. I enjoy it hugely. It’s mentally great for me, just really so decompressing. Epic scenery. Can combine it with travel. Every aspect of it is challenging- sometimes literally every 6 inches of trail has something new and engaging.

Overall, I love bikes but am a little sick of how male-dominated it is. That’s accentuated I think with racing. But I’m hanging in there with the TTing because it and mountain biking seem like almost the perfect yin-yang to me. I’m really jazzed because my local TT, Piru, is run by a guy who really gets racing. He makes it about the racers, male or female, your presence is equally valued. He’s putting together a TT series and I’m going to race that starting in Jan. It’s close, he gets it right, I like him and his approach to racing. So my goal is to try to see racing a little differently- to focus on the intrinsic motivators and to ignore the BS aspects of it all. We’ll see how successful I am. But I decided I’m staying in the game for now, with becoming predominantly a mtb-er being my fallback position.

Also: you are tired. Remember that. Your brain and body are making you crazy right now.
Heathpack is offline